The Sanatorium is a suspense, thriller, mystery, psychological thriller, and gothic fiction novel written by Sarah Pearse. This book was an instant NYT bestseller and a Reese’s Book Club Pick. Sarah was always into remote, dark, and creepy places. She read an article about sanatoriums in the area, and that is where she got the inspiration to write this book. It became a hit and has been published in a variety of magazines. It has also been shortlisted for several prizes. She has no other audiobook to her credit.
The narration by Elizabeth Knowelden is one of the main strengths of the audiobook. She made it sound like a real horrifying story.
Le Sommet has always been an eerie place, half-hidden by forest and overshadowed by threatening peaks. The formerly abandoned sanatorium has been renovated into a five-star hotel, even though it was plagued by troubling rumors.
Elin Warner has taken time off her job as a detective, but troubled seemed to follow her here. Now, murders are happening here and there, and she must solve it before she is the next dead body.
The setting of this novel is a treat – an old sanatorium high in the Swiss Alps converted into a luxury but sinister hotel. It’s quite the eerie environment, and when a massive blizzard cuts off the hotel from the rest of the world, that is just the cherry on top.
Other things fell flat though, starting with the main character, the detective. She has no jurisdiction in Switzerland, but even if she did, she came off as incredibly unprofessional, naïve, and lacking in basic self-defense. Furthermore, the book tried too hard to come off as edgy in terms of twists and turns, but ultimately it didn’t stick.
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