The Sanatorium, Sarah Pearse, author; Elizabeth Knowelden, narrator.
Elin and her brother Isaac are estranged because of something that happened in the past. When she is invited to his engagement party, though, she agrees to move on and decides to attend. It is to be held in a remote location in Switzerland, at a hotel named Le Sommet. Once a hospital for tuberculosis patients, it has been restored as a luxury hotel. Elin and her significant other, Will, travel there for the celebration. Just getting to the place is a hair-raising experience for her.
When people suddenly go missing, including the engagement party guest of honor, Laure, havoc ensues. The party is canceled. Her brother is bereft. The weather becomes treacherous, and as it grows worse by the minute, evacuation of the hotel takes place. Before everyone is transported, however, the roads are closed. In total, only a few dozen staff and guests still remain.
Soon, the bodies of those missing turn up in grotesque condition. How can they get help and protection in the midst of this raging storm? Who is the murderer? The authorities cannot reach them. However, Isaac’s sister, Elin, is a detective on leave from her job in Great Britain, because of an investigation that went awry. She is enlisted to help solve this mystery and to protect them all. Is she up to this task? She has her own emotional issues to deal with and she doesn’t always seem to be doing it very well. Too often she jumps to the wrong conclusions endangering herself and others. She does not learn from her mistakes, but seems to make the same ones, again and again.
The book was exciting as mystery after mystery crops up and continues without a plausible explanation. Secrets are revealed as everyone seems to be hiding something. Soon, emotions are frayed. The staff and the guests are frightened, understandably. They are stranded, and they are in danger. Elin impetuously searches for the murderer and the motive. She is always in danger as is everyone she engages to help her. There are already protests against the hotel and rumors of corruption and bribery abound. If this tragic set of events gets out, how will this scandalous news effect the hotel’s future? When Daniel, one of the hotel’s business partner’s body is discovered, the other partner, Lucas, wants to keep it quiet. The news can only make matters worse. His sister, Cecile, readily goes along with his response.
Is Elin really up to the task of stopping these carefully planned murders? She is already suffering from her experience in London. It is obvious that these murders are not spontaneous, but are well thought out and planned. Only time will tell, as the weather deteriorates and avalanches are occurring, if she can perform admirably.
What ghosts lurked in the hallways and treatment rooms of this remote establishment? Rumors abound. In the 1920’s, it was sometimes a practice of husbands who were no longer happy with their wives, to have them admitted to hospitals by unscrupulous doctors. These doctors would sign the order to commit these women to medical institutions where they would be abused in a place from which they could not escape. This hospital, that has recently been converted to a luxury hotel, was once used for that very practice. How will these stories and the bad press effect this business? Who is the mastermind of the barbaric events taking place? Who pushed Ellen into a plunge pool, almost killing her? Is he still lurking around somewhere? Has the only killer been found?

I respect what the author was trying to do, but I believe it could’ve been executed in a better way.