Gripping novel about events in a 'designer' hotel that was formerly a sanatorium - a place of healing in a beautiful setting, or was it? There are threats from the weather, the staff, relatives, memories. Definitely a book to be read.; but not a hotel to recommend!!

Elin, the main protagonist, is a police officer on extended leave. She is invited to an engagement party for her brother and fiancee in a new hotel. And unpleasant, deadly events begin to occur ......... To say more would be to 'spoil'.

With thanks to Bantam Press and NetGalley for an ARC.

I thoroughly enjoyed this taut and atmospheric thriller. What a debut!

Sarah Pearse’s writing is confident and great at creating tension, and I felt really suffocated as the story unwrapped as seen through Elin’s eyes. I particularly enjoyed the relationships portrayed, including how much Elin’s past is affecting her present and future in terms of her relationships with her boyfriend, and brother.

The good old fashioned ‘whodunnit’ mystery at the heart of the story kept me hooked and the characters were very well drawn. I literally raced through the pages and had a hard time putting this book down. It was utterly creepy, in the best possible way.

I can’t wait to read Sarah’s next book.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

Chilling mystery with a brilliant setting. Ok so the mountains and snow made me think of the Shining and its nothing like that but I still really enjoyed it. It’s a twisty, claustrophobic and atmospheric thriller that dashes towards a breathless conclusion.

There were some good elements of a thriller that I liked, like the way the author described things, but overall the story felt too slow and couldn't keep my attention.

It bothered me how unnatural the dialogue was, and I started skimming the chapters that began by introducing a new character because I knew they'd be dead or captured by the end of the chapter anyway.

I might try picking the book up again once it's published, but for now I'm DNFing at 22%.

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read the book.

I must admit this started off soooo slow and I wanted to just DNF. I stuck it out and it did get better. It is a very very slow burn so keep that in mind. I think it is an interesting concept and quite a spooky one. I don't think you will find me in a posh hotel inside of an old sanatorium!

Totally loved this book - creepy and atmospheric - a true page-turner. Absolutely terrifying in places too.

Elin and her boyfriend Will travel to a hotel in Switzerland. It is luxury but imposing and is situated far up the Alps and once was a sanatorium.

They are there to celebrate Isaac and Laure's engagement. Isaac is Elin's brother and Laure was once a friend of Elin and is now the manager of the hotel.

But everything is not as it seems.

Elin is on edge, she is on extended leave from her job. Her relationship with Will is perhaps at a turning point. And she still has some unanswered questions about the past and her brother, Isaac.

The hotel though has secrets to give up and as the weather takes a turn and there is no escape from that or each other.

Laure goes missing.

A body is found.

No one can leave.

What is going on?

I found this book rather difficult to get into that I had thoughts of abandoning it early on, but the setting, the idea of a sanatorium repurposed as a hotel fascinated me and it was that along with the stunning scenery that kept me reading.

The rest of the plot for me was rather staged and felt like it was almost trying too hard. The interaction between the characters was almost always aggressive and whilst it may have added to the tension of the book for some readers, for me it was off putting.

I got to the end, I lurched from one theory to another along with Elin and I found the conclusion rather disappointing and slightly coming out of nowhere, with no reason I could see throughout the book for the choices made.

This book had much going for it but for me did not deliver. For some it will hit the spot and you will thoroughly enjoy no doubt.

I had real trouble getting into this book and abandoned it half way through. I am hoping to pick up where I left off at a later date.

I found this book difficult to get into ,but did persevere to the end. Not really my type of murder book.
Thanks to Netgalley for an A.R.C.

This is a book of two halves - a very slow, plodding first half filled with lots of scene-setting followed by a second-half that's filled with action. It's only my personal determination to see things through that kept me reading to the point that I started to enjoy it.

Seriously, are we really supposed to believe that everybody in the story has problematic family relationships and old childhood friendships gone wrong? Isn't it a bit lazy to give the good guys and the bad guys such similar issues? (I don't think that's a spoiler - just an observation).

Good things - the concept of a luxury hotel, a grey, looming, bleak, concrete and glass edifice based on an historic sanitorium surrounded by mountains. That worked for me. I've seen a lot of Swiss modern/brutalist architecture. (Certainly, somebody should have made the illustrator read the book before they made yet another 'twee chocolate box/music box' image of an alpine building). A protagonist with problems of her own and a career that's at a standstill. Eerie images of people in creepy masks chopping off fingers. A hotel cut off from the world with a killer or killers trapped inside with the good guys. All good stuff. And the ending more or less works. I wasn't surprised at whodunnit but I hadn't picked the right person.

Bad things - too many coincidences. Too many obviously contrived set-pieces. A first-half that drags out the lack of action to an almost painful degree.

The book shows lots of promise and I'd read this author again but I'd advise to do a lot less plodding scene-setting and get to the action a lot sooner.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC

Unfortunately I just couldn't get into this book, it just wasn't for me.

Thank you to Netgalley for sending it.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.
I am so close to giving this the full five stars as it is such a good book. It has the isolation of the mountains and that danger of an avalanche to add to the atmospherics. There is a nervous tension and eerieness to what is inside as well. Elin and her other half Will are at the Swiss sanatorium that has been remodelled into a luxury hotel.

Elin is a character who is struggling with life at the moment. She is a Detective from the UK who has been on leave due to a bad case and bad decisions. This has dragged up, memories from the past that she is struggling to get past and hopes that seeing her brother at the hotel will help. As she is trying her best to remain calm and to control her feelings there is something about the sanatorium that is unsettling. It is confirmed when a body is found, and then another person goes missing.

This really does have all the chilling, sinister vibes and I do think the author does a cracking job of bringing the sinister and intriguing history of the sanatorium into the story. It ups the tension and the isolation gives the feeling of a locked-in story.

As I was reading this I did give the odd feeling of The Shining coming through, a story I do love by the way. Sanatorium had that similar feeling of isolation, the feeling of something more going on than meets the eye, that there is a hidden agenda and something really bad has happened.

Without giving anything away there is definitely more to this than meets the eye. While it is a crime thriller it is also a mystery thriller, Elin's character as the detective in this story is an interesting angle. She has no jurisdiction as such as she is a detective on leave in a foreign country.

Overall this is a fabulous read and one that definitely captured my attention. I did like the locked-in eerieness and the intriguing storyline. I do admit that there was the odd little thing that didn't quite sit right, but overall I could push those to one side. One for readers who like a suspense-filled, intriguing mystery, thriller read and one I would definitely recommend.

An easy read, which I enjoyed. The characters wer realistic and the plot a little predictable. A good read

A plush architecturally dazzling hotel now exists where once a sanatorium stood. You just know from the start that there will be danger and death as an oddly goggled murderer starts a killing spree. The dreamy vacation setting of an isolated spa mountain hotel quickly turns into a nightmare for a detective who isn’t sure she wants to return to her day job. Here she doesn't have a choice. Creepy, perplexing but satisfying who and whydunnit.

It was the title of the book that drew me in! After reading what it was about I knew I needed to request to read! Thankfully I was accepted!

Based in a newly refurbed hotel that used to be a sanatorium, it started by setting the scene perfectly. Isolated, cold and from the start you could sense the unease along with the main character.

The plot was very clever, although I have a feeling it was part of a series? Which didn’t mean the story worked well as a stand alone! As it did!

Throughout it kept me engaged and I was interested to see how it ended and who was behind the mysterious killings.

I think I was expecting more of the history of the hotel and patients to be involved in the story, but it was based in real time.

Overall I enjoyed reading this and it has made me want to seek out more of the authors work.

A dark, menacing and suffocating hotel which used to be a sanatorium. Very atmospheric, very creepy. I was a bit confused by the epilogue, there was no link to that at but it certainly didn’t change my thoughts that this was an excellent read.

Beautifully atmospheric, chilling and breath holdingly tense. Gripping and more so for reading it over the dark windy nights of winted.

#NoSpoilers this story had me hooked from the get go and still hasn't let me go after I've finished it.

A fabulous read.

Recommend.

I loved this book, one to read by the fire or with a snuggly blanket and something warming to drink.

When Elin decided to reunite with her brother, Isaac, for an engagement celebration little did she know that her skills as a policewoman would be needed more than ever when her brothers girlfriend goes missing and an avalanche prevents the local force to investigate.

Full of twists and turns, the history of the hotel they are staying in is slowly revealed and I couldn’t read fast enough to find out what happened.

Reliving personal trauma and fighting against an unknown foe can Elin save those around her and herself in the process??

An atmospheric murder mystery, with some great characters and a genuinely twisting plot. A great read.

I finished this book and could not decide whether I enjoyed it or not but decided in the end that it was ok. The story is set in the Alps and the premise of the book is about a Sanatorium being converted into a luxury hotel set about from the rest of the village. Elin Warner and her partner travel to the hotel for the engagement party of her brother Isaac. She is not keen on going but feels she needs to find out more about how her brother, Sam, died when he was a little boy. She is convinced that Isaac had something to do with it as he has not been home for a long time even when their mom passes away. Elin is a police officer but has been off sick after a particularly harrowing case. Once she arrives at the hotel things start to go wrong and her police officer skills come into play. When a body is found it leads to her using all her skills but she finds it very difficult as her mental state is in question. I cannot say I really enjoyed this book but I would recommend it to friends as it does twist and turn to make the story interesting