Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

80 reviews

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Really interesting murder mystery. I didn’t know the bad guy until it was revealed and honestly hadn’t even considered the culprit for that role. I couldn’t put this one down — stayed up til the wee hours reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Cancer, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Infertility, Medical content, Torture, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

lillamyy's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Polisen Elin Warner är på ett imponerande nytt hotell högt uppe i de schweiziska alperna. Hon är motvillig där för att fira sin bror Isaacs förlovning. 
Hotellet är vackert med storslagna omgivningar men det gör Elin nervös. När sedan Isaacs fästmö Laure plötsligt försvinner, växer Elins oro. De behöver hjälp från den schweiziska polisen men ingen kan komma upp till hotellet på grund av en snöstorm, samtidigt växer paniken hos de andra gästerna.  
Men ingen har ännu insett att ytterligare en kvinna har försvunnit. 
Kan Elin lösa detta själv innan värre saker händer?
Berättelsen börjar snabbt och jag får små ledtrådar under läsandets gång. Jag får följa Elins tankar och handlingar medan saker utvecklas och eskalerar samtidigt som stormen blir värre och värre. 
Det är lite rörigt ibland men spännande, mysigt och det var svårt att veta vem man kunde lita på. Lämnades med en cliffhanger jag inte var beredd på, får läsa nästa del för att veta mera. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

jjames_mal's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This thriller follows our protagonist Elin Warner, a detective on forced leave from her job as she travels to a hotel (previous sanatorium) to meet her estranged brother and his fiancée. But then they get snowed in, and murders happen.

I just couldn’t get behind this book. Everything the main character does so is obviously a bad idea and then she is shocked when bad things happen. For how dark the motivation was, the villain’s whole way of doing things was nonsensical. Honestly I know this is the start of a detective series, but I kind of wish the aspects of police procedural were not in this book. 

If you like your detective books to tackle serious issues but have cheesy detective tropes, you might like this one, but I won’t be continuing with this series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Death, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Gore

Moderate: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Infertility, Abortion, and Infidelity

stephtoriz's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I was so confused by the ending or the epilogue </ spoiler > I thought they saw that Laure was the one who pushed her into the plunge pool which still doesn’t make sense if she was in hiding .. so this man that’s stalking her ? He did it ? Idk 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Vomit, Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Death, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, Rape, Forced institutionalization, and Cancer

bekah1210's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Medical trauma, and Death

Moderate: Rape and Child death

Minor: Mental illness and Abortion

magical_mads's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

The characters were very unlikable and frustrating. There were at least four or five plot twists within the last 100 pages. The motivations behind the murders made no sense. And then there was a feminist twist thrown in at the very end so that the author could make some social commentary or some thing, which was handled very poorly (in my opinion). I’m so disappointed because this kind of premise/commentary is 100% sent the thing that I normally go for. But this book is a no for me.

Also, I hated how in the topic of rape was treated in this book. It felt like it was shoved in as a last minute plot twist. It should never be treated like that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Sexism, Stalking, Torture, Gaslighting, and Gore

Minor: Infertility, Rape, Abortion, and Sexual assault

zosiablue's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

With a juicy name like Sanatorium and a spooky cover of a haunted-looking sanatorium and a plot that takes place in an old sanatorium, I wanted the main deal to be about a creepy old sanatorium! I felt tricked that it was a normal murder mystery loosely attached to the sanatorium but only loosely and not until the last 20% of the story. It was fine but I guess I wanted...less conventional murder and more tuberculosis??

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Body horror, Death, and Medical content

jamiejanae_6's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Murder, Rape, Stalking, and Torture

afreer08's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death, Murder, and Medical content

Moderate: Rape

sunshinestark's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, and Grief