The Retreat: A Novel (Detective Elin Warner Series)

Wow. 5 stars for me. Author Sarah Pearse defined her detective, Elin Warner, so well in this book that I liked her character so much more in THE RETREAT than in THE SANITORIUM. The overall writing was less choppy, not slow at all, and it was such a solid pageturning thriller/suspense read. Sarah Pearse's books are def auto-buys for me now.

Jo convinces her sister, Hana, to go away to a remote resort/hotel/restreat which is on a creepy island that has a very dark background. Boyfriends and a cousin, Maya, go as well; a third sister, Bea, can't go because of work. Elin's boyfriend, Will, and his sister, Farrah, have launched this whole Retreat project thus Elin's connection.

The current familiar thriller trend of 'all characters on remote location when murder occurs so it must be someone on the location did it' isn't original yet Pearse does a clever way at delivering all the juicy bits to the reader in due course. I was surprised several times during the book and even at the very end which is always a fun way to close the book. So good. Read it!!!

This is similar to the first book in the series. Elin Warner is still fighting her demons and has gotten involved with another hotel in which the guests are being murdered. This one is located on an island that is supposed to be cursed, and the possibilities are endless. Elin is somewhat of a superwoman in that she gets involved in situations that require great strength and resourcefulness, but she always manages to be equal to the task. This seemed to end in somewhat of a cliffhanger, so perhaps there will be yet another hotel in her future.

As the second in the series I am already looking forward to reading the third. It’s been a while since a story keeps me guessing with twists and turns as much as Pearse’s Sanatorium and now, the Retreat. Detective Elin is relatable and human. She is also inspiring when she finds her individual strength. A page-turning mystery that I could hardly put down!

After I was gifted The Sanatorium and, unexpectedly, loved it. I decided to order The Retreat. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and getting to know Elin Warner even better. I don't know if i would say The Retreat was as good as the Sanatorium though. The Sanatorium had a lot more of that creepiness factor to it, i think, which I quite enjoyed about the first one. The Retreat is more classic mystery, no creepy omens and not quite as dark a history here. But still very good and kept me interested to the end! I also love Elin so much as a character, usually in thrillers/mystery's the main characters development isn't quite there. With The Retreat we deal with Elin recovering from her personal issues in the first book and get some more inner turmoil.

This was not my favorite book of this author. While the writing is good, the main character has become a bit annoying to me. From her first book to this one, there is no growth for the detective. Considering what happened to her in The Sanatorium, you would think she would have more confidence in herself. And her relationship.... there is fun reading dysfunctional and then there is just meh dysfunctional. this one is meh. As for the actual case, it was a bit of a letdown. I don't want to spoil it, but by the end, I was over it.

The title is all wrong. The setting of the island hotel is more properly a “Resort” than a “Retreat.” A “retreat” is a place of introspection, or at least where people go to “find themselves” in nature. The characters in this book have no selves. They are all superficial people & thinly drawn characters – clichéd and basically, boring, especially the victims. Only Elin the detective and main POV seems worthy of the reader’s attention, but her lack of self esteem doesn’t seem believable – like her relationship with Will.

The author’s punchy, purple diction used to convey the characters’ emotion doesn’t help – in every scene somebody’s stomach is “tightening,” “flipping,” “lurching.” –unpleasant gastrointestinal sensations are so prevalent in this book, it’s comical. To that add “eyes” “lurching,” and characters “dragging” their “eyes.”

There’s a mismatch between the violent action and the intellectual effort of solving the murders – the mystery is unraveled in a just a few lines, near the end after many impossible twists of backstory have been introduced to prepare us. So it’s very unsatisfying and throughout not terribly convincing.

At the very beginning, the author plays heavily with “setting as character,” which seemed very apt for this story – but then doesn’t know how to reinforce this in the plot or in the characters’ perception of the place—which is a shame. Parts of the backstory dealing with abusive school seem to echo episodes of Endeavour.

Now if the story had been told from the murderer’s POV, using a Highsmith strategy, and creating a strong identity bond between his character & the setting she would have had a much more powerful book – especially if the victims had included Will, the architect of the resort.