Overall thoughts: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Most are here to recharge and refresh. But someone’s here for revenge…”

You know that feeling when you love a book so much that you just want to savour every single moment of it, and it takes you much longer than you thought it would to read because you simply don’t want it to end?! My GOD, The Retreat had me feeling this way! Such a tense, unnerving read filled with surprises. I’m so, so happy to be sharing my review!

About the book

An eco-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.

Detective Elin Warner is called to the retreat when a young woman’s body is found on the rocks below the yoga pavilion in what seems to be a tragic fall. But the victim wasn’t a guest—she wasn’t meant to be on the island at all.

When a guest drowns in a diving incident the following day, Elin starts to suspect that there’s nothing accidental about these deaths. But why would someone target the guests, and who else is in danger?

Elin must find the killer—before the island’s history starts to repeat itself . . .

The beginning

This book’s prologue was everything. Such a creepy, gripping, thrilling introduction, and I fell in love with Sarah’s writing instantly. Enter Detective Elin Warner, a character I instantly warmed to, one with so much history. Her husband, Will, designed LUMEN, a luxury retreat on an island off the coast. Reaper’s Rock has really made a name for itself over the years, the rumours about it being ‘cursed’ filled me with both dread and excitement. I couldn’t wait to experience everything with these characters! Sisters Hana and Jo are heading to the retreat with their family to reconnect after the death of Hana’s husband and too much time apart. Even though all these characters were introduced quickly, it took no time at all to get to know them. There was such a brilliant depth to each of them and it was clear there was still so much to learn. After all this, I was hooked. Completely and utterly engrossed in everything. The alternating POVs worked so effortlessly, each perspective just as intriguing as the other.

“She’s seen the island in photographs, but this is different. There’s a wildness about it, something raw and uncompromising.”

The more we learn about the island, the more it started to give me a chill whenever I thought about it. People know there is something bad about the place. They can feel it, and that’s not just because of the stories, its history. It had an aura, an atmosphere that felt dark and disquieting. It was unnerving, not just for me, but also for Elin. When a body is reported on the rocks under the retreat, questions start to arise. This person wasn’t meant to be on the island. They weren’t a guest, or a member of staff. Who were they? But as the identity is cleverly revealed, I certainly had more questions than answers. The author’s delivery of this person’s identity and to be honest, every single paragraph she writes had me turning pages and pages and pages. Her writing has you hanging onto her every word and desperate for the next. It isn’t until a guest is reported missing that we really start to understand the complexities of this whole investigation. Gimme more! Right now!

The middle

There’s another body. And the second identification floored me as much as the first. There was an obvious link to these two deaths, but the question was, why them? What was going on? What was this island really capable of? Questions were constantly swimming around in my brain and it was all I could think about. It was here where I really appreciated just how Elin’s character has been written. She’s driven and determined, but she isn’t perfect. She’s flawed and filled with anxieties. She’s relatable. And getting to know her felt unlike getting to know other characters. There was something really loveable and charming about her. As Elin pieces together what is happening, things take an eerie turn. It seems as though she’s being watched, as if the island is telling her to back off. How many more near misses, how many more bodies, how many more panic attacks will it take for all this to end? So bloody good!

“Once again, the island is letting her know, loud and clear. We don’t want you here.“

Crack’s form in Hana’s family dynamic, accusations are thrown around, and if I’m honest, I suspected all her family at one point or another to have to something to do with the recent string of deaths. (As much as I’d love to be a detective, I’d probably make a terrible one, ha!) Things get super exciting here as Elin and her partner, Steed, make a chilling discovery which links to a group of old murders. The detail, how everything is pieced together felt so satisfying, the short, sharp chapters making it impossible to put the book down (especially when there was cliff hanger after cliff hanger!) We get some brilliant reveals that I never saw coming, scenarios and discoveries that perfectly linked other things together. It was a huge spider web of clues and information, and my god was it satisfying to get my head around. But even so, there was still so many unanswered questions, and I was not prepared for what I was about to learn.

The end

As so many pieces of the puzzle slot together, I was floored by how meticulously written it was. How does all this work so well?! The author’s ability to lead us astray and fill our minds with theories that couldn’t be further from the truth is just mind blowing to me. Even the smallest details play such a huge part in how this whole complex investigation unravels. There’s a sense of urgency in the chapters here as Elin gets closer and closer to the truth. There’s some emotion laced throughout the book but some of it really hit me here. Yes, there are murders. Yes, there is someone still out there killing people. But the way it impacts family members, staff, people around them triggered all the feelings. The author has written this aspect just as well as everything else. The description of a storm here was also perfect, signifying a crucial, horrifying time in the case, but also living up to the fact that the island is its own entity, cleansing itself and attempting to get rid of everything on it. That’s how it came across to me, anyway. Sarah really is the queen of atmosphere!

“It’s as though the island, silent and still for so long, has finally found its voice – a voice sounding out through the sea and rain and the whistling of the wind, an angry caterwauling of gulls. The energy that was only simmering before – the faint crackle – has become a roar.”

The tension in those final chapters was off the scale. I felt so involved in what was going on with these characters, so immersed in the fear and the danger that real life seemed to drift out of focus for a long time. The twists and reveals kept coming even until the epilogue and beyond, and the one question that wasn’t answered now has me desperate to pick up The Wilds! There was something about the mentions of family in the final moments that made me unexpectedly tear up because it was so beautiful. There was such a huge mix of feelings in the ending scenes which I think made everything feel so much more impactful. I absolutely adored every word. I’m so glad Sarah’s books are now on my radar – I’m confident she will be an auto buy author from now on! I’ll be going backwards next to read the author’s first book, The Sanatorium (thank god for stand alones 😊)

Overall thoughts

The Retreat is the perfect suspenseful thriller filled with atmosphere and tension. The latest mindboggling case for Detective Elin Warner sees her putting the pieces together in a string of new murders which somehow connect to a group of murders and a serial killer on the island years ago. I loved the feel of Reaper’s Rock, its ‘curse’, the stories that spook its visitors. How the island seems to fight back. The plot had me holding on for dear life and questioning everyone we meet. The twists felt super satisfying, with secrets and history to keep you thinking even when you finish that last page. An absolute triumph, I can’t wait to read more from Sarah!

The Retreat is book 2 of 3 in the Detective Elin Warner series, but each can be read as a stand alone book. You can get your own copy right now on Amazon or wherever you buy your books. Make sure you’re following Sarah Pearse on X/Twitter and Instagram for more updates!

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