My Rating: 3.5 Stars
Here’s why
My sister and I read this book together and after reading Elin’s first book, The Sanatorium, we were excited to see this one hit the shelves!
DS Elin Warner is back on the job after taking a bit of a hiatus. A previous case made her take a step back, but now she is ready to face her fears and dive head first into a new investigation. One day, she gets a call to investigate a death on an island off the coast that has a horrible history, but has recently been turned into a resort. Her boyfriend, Will, was actually on the architectural team to build it. But when Elin arrives on the island, she gets a sense that not all is right here. Maybe the island’s dark history has left a stain – an eeriness – that cannot be bleached away with a new, shiny exterior. Maybe there is something that runs deeper affecting their here and now. And when more guests begin to disappear or wind up dead, it’s up to Elin and her partner, Steed, to solve the mystery before it’s too late.
***
This book had its ups and downs for me, but a plus was that it helped kick my butt into gear and get out of a reading slump!
I really enjoyed Sarah Pearse’s first novel, The Sanatorium, but probably not as much as my sister. It definitely had a “creep” factor that was engaging and scary at the same time. The Retreat had the same element, too, but I don’t feel like the storyline was as strong in this one as her previous.
Elin is an interesting character, with a lot of issues from her past that continue to be brought up because it is affecting her work life, but this story had a second POV through one of the resort’s guests, named Hana. This brought a different element to the story, which at first I was getting confused as to the timeline and if the two POVs were happening the same year or not, but after a while it made sense.
I am giving this book 3.5 stars because I do think Sarah Pearse has a knack for “creepiness” and is a good writer overall, but I feel like this storyline fell a little flat for me. There were quite a few twists – and some I didn’t not anticipate at all! – but when everything was laid out, I still don’t know if I felt like the reason was worth the actions of the “bad guy” – if that makes sense. I also felt a little disconnected from Elin as a main character, but maybe that’s because it’s been a year since I read her first novel which has some of the same characters in it as this one. All in all, the book isn’t bad by any means, but it wasn’t a wow – at least to me!
I would definitely still recommend her as an author so if this book sounds intriguing, I would recommend reading her first one first so this one would make more sense! But keep an eye out for Sarah Pearse because I think she has something special about her and I can’t wait to see what will come of it in the future.
HAPPY READING 🙂
The Sanatorium review: https://brookeandbinding.wordpress.com/2021/08/11/the-sanatorium-detective-elin-warner-1-by-sarah-pearse/
Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense/Crime/Horror
Brooke & Binding 