The Retreat
A Novel
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3.9 • 27 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Sanatorium, a Reese’s Book Club pick, here, Detective Elin Warner uncovers the truth behind the suspicious deaths on a stunning island getaway.
“Devilish and deliciously twisty.”
—People
“The suspense inexorably builds to a stunning climax.”
—David Baldacci, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Long Shadows
They couldn’t wait to stay here.
An idyllic wellness retreat has opened on an island off the English coast, promising rest and relaxation—but the island itself, known locally as Reaper’s Rock, has a dark past. Once the playground of a serial killer, it’s rumored to be cursed.
But now they can’t leave.
A young woman is found dead below the yoga pavilion in what seems to be a tragic fall. But Detective Elin Warner soon learns the victim wasn’t a guest—she wasn’t meant to be on the island at all.
And they would do anything to escape.
The longer Elin stays, the more secrets she uncovers. And when someone else drowns in a diving incident, Elin begins to suspect that there’s nothing accidental about these deaths. But why would someone target the guests at this luxury resort? Elin must find the killer—before the island’s history starts to repeat itself.
Most came to recharge and refresh. But someone’s here for revenge.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Pearse's so-so sequel to 2021's The Sanatorium takes British police detective Elin Warner to an isolated luxury resort off the coast of Devon, a setting much like the first book's Swiss hotel. Elin used to investigate major crimes, but after she suffered a breakdown because she couldn't catch the man who killed two young girls, she was assigned to less significant duties. Now, she's dispatched to Cary Island, the site of a wellness retreat, where one of the guests has fallen to her death. The fatality appears to be an accident, with the victim's last moments captured on video and no indication that anyone pushed her. But after another guest's body surfaces, with ample evidence of foul play, Elin probes whether the deaths are related and whether they're connected to the island's grim history, which includes the slaughter of a group of teenagers on a school outing 20 years earlier. The plot twists and characters are unremarkable, as is the familiar story of a traumatized police officer getting an opportunity for redemption by catching a killer. Hopefully, Pearse will broaden her repertoire next time.
