Sarah Pearse has done it again: interrupted my sleep schedule and my household chores by writing a thriller that is impossible to put down.
This is a sequel to The Sanatorium, and it follows Detective Elin Warner to yet another remote location with a dark past, where the stakes are higher than ever.
"You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everyone dances with the Grim Reaper."
— Convicted murderer Robert Alton Harris's last words, quoted at the beginning of The Retreat
When the Leger family planned a vacation to LUMEN, they knew it wouldn't exactly be smooth sailing. Hana, still grieving the recent death of her boyfriend, is struggling to see eye to eye with her sister, Jo. The two have a strained relationship, but it's usually mediated by their third sister, Bea. Unfortunately, Bea wasn't able to make the trip.
Hana and Jo are also joined by their cousin Maya, Jo's boyfriend Seth, and Bea's boyfriend Caleb, who tagged along in her absence.
LUMEN is a luxury retreat located on the remote Cary Island, known for its dark history and distinct geographical feature: a large rock outcropping that bears a striking resemblance to the Grim Reaper.
The island was used as a quarantine zone during the plague, then went on to house a school for troubled children. The school mysteriously burned down, and years later, reports of horrific abuse began to emerge from its former students. Most recently, the island was home to a summer camp, until several teenage campers were murdered by the island caretaker, Larson Creacher, in 2003.
The team behind LUMEN, including Elin Warner's boyfriend, Will, hoped to finally bring something positive to the island. It was met with many protests, complaints, and even rumors that the island is cursed.
When the body of a young woman is found and Elin is called in to investigate, she begins to wonder if they might be right.
"Once again, the island is letting her know, loud and clear. We don't want you here."
Tensions rise in the Leger family once the body is identified. Hana was suspicious from the start that Jo was hiding something, and now those suspicions have been confirmed.
When a second body is discovered, Elin and her partner, Steed, are certain the deaths are connected, and that they weren't accidental.
Meanwhile, a mysterious account on Twitter has been posting threatening tweets about Elin. The most recent one contained a photo of her that was clearly taken on the island.
As Elin and Steed work to discover the identity of the killer, feeling watched all the while, they find themselves researching the history of the school and the Creacher murders. Several disturbing links are found between all three points in time—one of which hits closer to home than Elin could ever expect.
Despite all the change on the island over the years, one thing has remained the same: Reaper's Rock. It was where everything started, and now, it seems to be where things will end.
“Family is all you have, but it isn’t found only in a blood connection. Family shows itself in the unlikeliest of moments: the split-second glances, a gesture, the hand next to yours when you need it the most.”
This was a great read from start to finish, but I do have a complaint: The Sanatorium ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, and it wasn't addressed, explained, or even mentioned in The Retreat. Retreat also left a few things unanswered, so it's entirely possible that they're both connected.
Pearse is working on a third installation called The Wilds, set to release in 2024, and I'm praying it will finally give me the answers I need.
Since the storylines of Sanatorium and Retreat don't really overlap, you could easily read one or the other without being confused. However, I strongly recommend both, just because I loved them so much! If you're a fan of thrillers, I promise that you will, too.
As always, I'd love to hear from you! If you haven't already, please join my Discord community, where we chat about all sorts of bookish things.
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'•.¸♡ Thanks for reading! ♡¸.•'