The Sanatorium

November 30, 2020
Pearse’s engrossing debut boasts a highly atmospheric setting. Le Sommet, originally a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients in the Swiss Alps, was abandoned for decades, until it was renovated as a luxury hotel. British police detective Elin Warner and her boyfriend, Willy Riley, come to Le Sommet at the invitation of her selfish brother, Isaac, a university lecturer in Lausanne, and his fiancée, Laure Strehl, to celebrate the couple’s engagement. The emotionally fragile Elin is on break from her job, following an intense case and the death of her mother, whose funeral Isaac was too busy to attend. When Laure goes missing the day after Elin and Willy’s arrival, Elin learns that others have disappeared from Le Sommet, long shrouded in sinister rumors about its patients’ brutal treatment. Might Isaac, whom she blames for the decades-old death of their brother, somehow be involved? The discovery of a body raises the stakes. Readers will applaud as Elin, for all her anxieties, emerges as a competent sleuth. This dark tale of family dynamics is sure to please suspense fans. Agent: Charlotte Seymour, Andrew Nurnberg Assoc.

April 1, 2021

Elin is a detective with PTSD who travels with her boyfriend, Will, to an exclusive hotel in a renovated Swiss sanatorium. They are there to celebrate the engagement of Elin's estranged brother, Isaac. But shortly after they arrive, Isaac's fianc�e, Laure, disappears. Soon mutilated bodies start turning up. The hotel is isolated by an avalanche, so the Swiss police ask Elin to look into the murders until they can get there, but her investigation puts her in danger and forces her to reevaluate traumatic memories. Pearse's debut has an intriguing premise that unfortunately peters out into a lackluster, unsatisfying ending and an epilogue that comes out of left field. Elizabeth Knowelden ably narrates Elin's point of view, though she struggles some with non-English accents. VERDICT A Reese Witherspoon book club pick, this title will be in demand in libraries, but listeners will likely be happier with recent titles by Ruth Ware or Lucy Foley.--Stephanie Klose, Library Journal

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