The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

 

"Screams, then a shout. 

The sound is muffled, muted, like it's coming down a tunnel. 

Then a face appears at the window, twisted in an expression of absolute terror."

High up in the mountains, a tuberculosis hospital is getting a face lift. It's been transformed into a five star hotel, with a minimalist design aesthetic, that echos the clinic it used to be and creepy medical themed artwork because who doesn't want to look at anatomy diagrams and archaic surgical tools when they're vacationing on Mt. Middle of Nowhere.

Elin Warner and her boyfriend Will, have just been invited to celebrate her brother Isaac's engagement to her childhood friend Laure. She hasn't seen either person in years, cutting off social ties after the death of her younger brother. After Elin's panic attacks start effecting her job performance, she takes an extended sick leave, leaving her with no excuse not to attend the engagement party. 

 

The hotel creeps her out almost instantly, but to be fair, it would take a special kind of personality to want to stay in a retired tuberculosis hospital. Coincidentally, a serial killer arrives on scene to confirm Elin's deepest fears about the whole thing... And to pull her from her semi-retirement after her future sister-in-law disappears. 

 

So first and foremost, I love that Sarah Pearse chose to give us a less than perfect heroine. Elin suffering from anxiety and a series of impulsive bad decisions, is kind of refreshing from traditional who-dun-its where the main character is an absolute genius from beginning to end. I also think there's still too much stigma around mental illness; having a fictional character search for the balance between her problems and her career is very lifelike. I like when a book has an air of believablity. 

The mystery itself steams right along, bodies disappearing and reappearing left and right, so no one at the hotel can relax. Elin's brother Isaac is acting like a bit of a creep from the get go, which is not proper motivation to end the estrangement. Her longtime beau isn't much better, originally described as laid back, go with the flow personality, he seems oddly dismissive of Elin at times (although in fairness to Will its probably difficult to understand someone with anxiety while being someone without it), putting more strain on an already strained relationship.

Not only did it have an ending I didn't see coming, it all made perfect sense when it was explained.

 

I liked this novel very much and look forward to reading the sequel.

4 Stars