© 2021 Book Chatter | Book Chatter

Sunday Matters

Okay, you got me. I totally forgot the day again and so I had no Sunday post scheduled. I woke up looking for it and then realized I never wrote one so this will be super brief just to touch base.

Right Now:

My daughter sings for a church sometimes and that church returned to in-person services so we were invited to attend to ensure that they had good numbers. It was a lovely service. I double-masked and every other row only had 1-2 people. I felt very safe.

Now, I am heading to my own church because youth group is returning to the building for the first time. I shall attend that while my husband and daughter attend the regular service, outside. We will then grab a bite to eat afterward.

This Week:

We should receive some college decisions this week. Stay tuned. We should also know the status of that special thing I have yet to mention.

Reading:

I am reading Brat: An 80’s Story.

Watching:

We are on the last season of Schitt’s Creek. I am very sad about it.

The Walking Dead was pretty good last week so we will watching again tonight.

Haven’t watching any movies yet. Curious about Coming to America 2.

Grateful for:

We have some college choices now. So happy for that.
Grateful that in-person church services are happening and that they are being done properly. Online is great but it’s not the same. I would happily take that over being unsafe though.
I got an appointment for the vaccine. They opened it up to education so my appointment is 4/6! I am scheduled for Moderna but it says that whatever is available at the time will be given, including J&J. I really do not care at this point. I’ve been lucky and any of them will help quite a lot.

Let me know how you are doing. I felt like blogs were pretty quiet this past week.

The Sanatorium
By Sarah Pearse
Pamela Dorman Books, 9780593296677, February 2021, 400pp.

The Short of It:

A quick, fast-paced read that will keep you guessing.

The Rest of It:

I knew nothing about The Sanatorium when I picked it up, except that it was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick and that an old mental hospital was at the center of the story. I’ve been pretty lucky with the books Reese has chosen for her clubs and an old mental hospital sounded like the perfect, creepy setting for a mystery.

The story opens with the sanatorium being completely renovated and in its place, is a fancy hotel located in the Swiss Alps. Elin has taken time off from her job as a detective to attend her brother’s engagement party. Isaac and Elin have been estranged for quite some time, but she can’t really say no to this celebratory event so she and Will, her significant other, make the trip and decide to put the past behind them.

Shortly after their arrival, there is an avalanche which cuts them off from the rest of society. No one can leave and no one can get to them either. This wouldn’t be much of an issue normally but a dead body has been found in the snow, and it’s not looking like an accident. As details emerge, more people go missing including her soon-to-be sister-in-law and Elin can’t help but get involved since she’s the only detective on the scene and the only one who can investigate at all since the local police cannot get to them.

I’ve read many stories where the characters are stuck in a remote location and everything that CAN hit the fan, does. Although the concept is far from unique, the execution here is a lot better than some of the books I’ve read with similar plots. As the story unfolds, just enough is given to you to make you question what is going on and who could be responsible for it. The pacing is very good and if you are wondering if the mental hospital enters back into the story, it does, but not in a big way. I was hoping for more mental hospital and less hotel, personally.

What’s good about this story is that Elin is dealing with something from her past and her story is woven quite nicely into this murder mystery. The two storylines complimented one another and did not compete which is rare. If you look at other reviews for this book, you will see that opinions are mixed but I enjoyed it and thought it was well done. For those of you who have read it, do you see a sequel in the works?

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Chatting with friends about books and life…