The Sanatorium | An Okay Thriller with Too Many Twists

3.25/5 stars

Elin would rather be anywhere else than the eerie Le Sommet Hotel, but her brother, Isaac, and his fiancee, Laure, are holding their engagement party there. When Laure goes missing and a storm isolates the hotel from the rest of the world, Elin must use her own instincts to save Laure and potentially everyone else too. 

This book was bizarre. It began as a really promising thriller, but there were many red herrings and twists that made me think the plot just wasn’t planned well. Despite all the twists of “who dun it”, I still predicted the ending. There are still some plot holes I can’t seem to solve. It was a convoluted story that didn’t give a satisfying ending to a mystery. 

The characters were okay. They were not likable, but that is part of what made the plot mysterious. There was some character development, but Elin really had to be forced into some sticky situations for her to grow. The epilogue was ambiguous and if the story’s resolution had been more clear, the epilogue would be more enjoyable. Instead, we now have a potential new character without clear motivations stalking Elin. 

I wished for a spooky story full of action and suspense. There were some thrills, but the twists got old and the ending left plot holes that can’t be explained away.