Genre: Suspense, mystery, horror
This is the author's debut novel and it's eerie and claustrophobic in its setting in an isolated mountain-top hotel in the Swiss Alps. I may be a little biased since the author is married to an old school friend of mine, but this really is a chest-constricting read! The story is reminiscent of reading an Agatha Christie mystery. Hopping from room to room, curious characters in a location cut-off from the rest of the world, wondering what on earth is happening around them - people there one minute and not the next; missing...dead. The writing was compelling in a way it lifted me away from the furious heat of the on-coming summer here in India and into chilly, snow-capped mountains. I had to come up for air several times while reading this, just to remind myself I wasn't trapped in this hotel myself, phew!
Synopsis
An imposing, isolated hotel, high up in the Swiss Alps, is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But she’s taken time off from her job as a detective, so when she receives an invitation out of the blue to celebrate her estranged brother’s recent engagement, she has no choice but to accept.
Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge. Though it’s beautiful, something about the hotel, recently converted from an abandoned sanatorium, makes her nervous – as does her brother, Isaac.
And when they wake the following morning to discover his fiancée Laure has vanished without a trace, Elin’s unease grows. With the storm cutting off access to and from the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic. But no-one has realized yet that another woman has gone missing. And she’s the only one who could have warned them just how much danger they’re all in...
As taken from author's website.
My thoughts
When I think of the book, even now, I keep thinking of the horror-like descriptions of the artifacts of the old sanatorium and the way the perpetrator uses some of these in their murderous streak. Especially the gas masks... urgh! It still gives me the shivers now when I think about it. These horrible suction-like rasps and breaths. Save to say, that's entirely the atmosphere the author is trying to create.
Elin seems quite cavalier and undeterred by her surroundings and events. Perhaps as a result of her earlier experiences, a back-story we're slowly made aware of, or maybe because she's so determined to prove herself capable as a detective. She's certainly quite the detective...I couldn't work out who did it at all!
The story ends on rather a creepy note, with the promise of more. I expect we'll learn more about Elin and her background and the relationships in her life. It certainly felt in this book that she was very outwardly-guarded. While we learn of some of her vulnerabilities, I think she's still placing a barrier around herself that lends itself to considerable intrigue. I'm looking forward to the next book!
About the author
Sarah Pearse lives by the sea in South Devon with her husband and two daughters. She studied English and Creative Writing at the University of Warwick and worked in Brand PR for a variety of household brands. After moving to Switzerland in her twenties, she spent every spare moment exploring the mountains in the Swiss Alpine town of Crans Montana, the dramatic setting that inspired her novel. Sarah has always been drawn to the dark and creepy – remote spaces and abandoned places – so when she read an article in a local Swiss magazine about the history of sanatoriums in the area, she knew she’d found the spark of the idea for her debut novel, The Sanatorium. Her short fiction has been published in a wide variety of magazines and has been shortlisted for several prizes.
As taken from author's website.
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