The Sanatorium
High in the Swiss Alps, Le Sommet stands as a stark, minimalist five-star hotel. But beneath its sleek facade, whispers of its past as a sinister sanatorium cling to the icy mountain air. Detective Elin Warner, on leave and reluctant, finds herself trapped there when her estranged brother invites her to celebrate his engagement.
A menacing storm descends, sealing off the isolated resort. Elin’s uneasy feeling soon becomes a chilling reality when her brother’s fiancée vanishes without a trace. With the world outside cut off and panic brewing among the guests, Elin’s instincts scream that this is no mere disappearance.
As the snow piles higher and secrets unravel, Elin must confront the hotel’s dark history and her own buried fears. Because at Le Sommet, some guests check in… but they never check out.
- Elin - Detective sergeant, 32
- Will - Elin’s significant other
- Isaac - Elin’s brother, 30
- Laure - Isaac’s fiancee, assistant manager at Le Sommet
- Sam - Elin’s brother
- Adele - Housekeeper at Le Sommet
- Margot - Spa receptionist at Le Sommet
- Cecile - Hotel manager at Le Sommet
- Daniel - Architect of Le Sommet
- Lucas - Owner of Le Sommet, Cecile’s brother
- Elin and Will travel to Le Sommet for Isaac’s engagement celebration.
- Laure goes missing.
- The body of Daniel, the architect who went missing during the building of Le Sommet, is found buried in the snow on Le Sommet’s property.
- Someone in a mask like the ones worn by doctors in the sanatorium kidnaps Adele when she leaves work one night.
- Elin finds evidence that Laure has a second phone in her office.
- Adele’s body is found at the bottom of the pool, with bracelets bearing etched numbers found nearby.
- Elin gets a text from Laure’s burner phone asking to meet her in secret so she can explain everything.
- Elin goes to meet Laure but finds her dead with her throat slit.
- A masked person attacks Elin but Will arrives, and the attacker flees.
- Elin finds a memory stick in Laure’s pocket.
- The memory stick contains redacted patient files from a German psychiatric facility.
- Margot goes missing.
- Elin finds an unredacted medical record for Bette, Margot’s relative. It includes photos of women who were dissected, had fingers amputated, were wearing bracelets like those at the crime scene and men wearing the sanatorium masks standing near them.
- Women were being transferred from the German psychiatric facility to the sanatorium under false diagnoses so doctors could perform illegal medical experiments on them.
- Elin and Lucas find a trap door under the flooring in the archive room that leads to tunnels under the hotel.
- Margot’s body is found in the tunnel.
- Elin finds the killer’s mask in Lucas’ office but notices it smells like chlorine, and Cecile is the person who swims every day.
- Cecile tells Elin that Lucas’ building manager found Daniel dead in the sanatorium years ago and called Lucas, who disposed of Daniel’s body instead of calling the police so the hotel project would not get shut down.
- Elin confronts Cecile about being behind the murders.
- Cecile admits that she did it all to ruin Le Sommet and Lucas because Daniel raped her when she was sixteen, and Lucas was there and didn’t stop him.
- Lucas and Daniel knew about the women being illegally experimented on in the sanatorium but buried the evidence to keep the hotel project moving forward.
- Adele was with the building manager when Daniel’s body was found and was paid by Lucas to keep quiet.
- Laure was thinking of exposing the sordid past of the sanitorium but decided against it.
- Cecile killed them both for being weak women who turned away from the truth instead of exposing it and helping the vulnerable.
- Margot helped Cecile because she was angry about what had happened to her relative, Bette, at the sanatorium.
- Five weeks later: Cecile is arrested for the murders.
- Lucas is arrested for disposing of Daniel’s body and bribing officials to cover up the sanatorium’s past.
The isolated setting is what really drew me into this story, and Sarah Pearse uses it well. A luxury hotel cut off by snow while people begin disappearing, combined with its disturbing history as a former sanatorium, creates a great atmosphere for a thriller. I especially liked how the history of the building became increasingly important as Elin tried to figure out what was happening.
The short chapters usually kept the story moving, although the pacing dragged a little at times. I enjoyed the twists and thought the mystery came together well by the end. My biggest issue was that Elin’s mental health struggles and trauma from her past sometimes overshadowed the main mystery. I understood their importance to her character, but there were times when they pulled my attention away from what was happening in the hotel.
The side story involving Elin and Isaac’s past felt a little disjointed to me and got somewhat lost amid everything happening in the present. Still, I enjoyed the mystery and overall atmosphere. I love a snowed-in thriller, and this was a fun combination of isolation, disappearances, and a dark history.
If you like snowed-in thrillers, creepy sanatoriums, and dark hotel mysteries, then you will enjoy this book.
- Adele - Dead - Drowned by Cecile
- Daniel - Dead - Killed by Cecile
- Laure - Dead - Throat slit by Cecile
- Margot - Dead - Killed by Cecile
- Elin - Alive - Repaired her relationship with Isaac
- Cecile - Alive - Arrested for the murders of Adele, Daniel, Laure and Margot
- Lucas - Alive - Arrested for disposing of Daniel’s body and bribing officials to cover up the sanatorium’s past
- Isaac - Alive - Moving on with his life after Laure’s murder
- Murder
- Kidnapping
- Mutilation
- Rape
- Medical experimentation
ISBN: 9780593296691
Publication Date: January 11, 2022
Note: Details are for the original edition. Other formats, editions, and audiobook versions may be available.
