Blog Tour – The Retreat by Sarah Pearse

Thank you to Anne @RandomTTours for my place on the tour and @TransworldBooks for my gifted paperback. All opinions are honest and my own.

Blurb

This is a warning for all our guests at the wellness retreat.

A woman’s body has been found at the bottom of the cliff beneath the yoga pavilion.

We believe her death was a tragic accident, though DS Elin Warner has arrived on the island to investigate.

A storm has been forecast, but do not panic. Stick together and please ignore any rumours you might have heard about the island and its history.

As soon as the weather clears, we will arrange boats to take you back to the mainland.

In the meantime, we hope you enjoy your stay.

My Review

You know the saying (used by many a mum) “I can’t even have a wee in peace” well I don’t think any of mine were quite as eventful as the one at the start of this book.

Then the timeline shifts and family members Hana, Jo, Maya and their partners are the unlikeable guests arriving at the island with Bea cancelling at the last minute. They are all dealing with tragedies and past histories but I’m probably not alone in wishing Jo the travel influencer a nasty demise.

Throw in sinister tales of a curse, plague victims and an island caretaker/serial killer and you have all the makings of one creepy setting. However now it has become a luxury wellness retreat so they want you to forget all that, especially now a body has been found.

Arriving at the island to investigate are DS Elin Warner and her partner DC Steed and hot on their tail is a ferocious storm to cut them all off. It was good to see that Elin is not as insecure in this book but her vulnerability still clung to her like a damp coat.

Sarah does isolated settings really well and while I did find her previous one in The Sanatorium slightly had the edge it was still pretty menacing especially with the weather. As the storm ramped up so did the pace and I knew a high octane ending was fast approaching.

A classic “locked room” whodunnit scenario which offers lots of theories, suspicions and twists. Will you guess who and more importantly why?

About the author

Sarah Pearse grew up in Devon, UK, and studied English literature and creative writing at the University of Warwick before completing a postgraduate diploma in broadcast journalism. She lived in Switzerland for several years before returning to the UK. The Sanatorium, her debut, was an instant New York Times and Sunday Times (London) bestseller, and was selected as a Reese’s Book Club Pick. The Retreat is her second novel.

You can find Sarah on Twitter @SarahVPearse and Instagram @sarahpearseauthor

Link to buy

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Retreat-addictive-thriller-bestselling-Sanatorium-ebook/dp/B08X4Q31LR/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=the+retreat&qid=1659342387&sr=8-2

Don’t forget to check out all the other blogger’s thoughts on the tour. Happy reading!