The Retreat: The new top ten Sunday Times bestseller from the author of The Sanatorium (Detective Elin Warner Series Book 2)

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The Retreat at Elcot Park is the perfect blend of quirky British sensibility and elegant authentic luxury; old and new; the refined and the comfortable, the local and the worldly. Each character has a likable part of them, but an equally unlikable part too, which adds a nice realistic element and has you both hoping for their success, and hoping for their failures, in equal parts.

The Retreat by Sarah Pearse: 9780593489574

What I didn’t like was that the villain is obvious from the get-go and I’m not sure if it’s meant to be that way. I sure wasn’t surprised by the reveal! I’m not a fan of the writing which I feel could be tightened up. The clumsy metaphors and strange descriptions of mundane things had me laughing at the wrong places. I also thought there were lots of unanswered questions at the end. Will you brave The Retreat this summer? The new bestselling thriller from the author of The Sanatorium.I found The Retreat to be a fun and entertaining read. While I don’t do well with the supernatural or even creepiness (I’m a huge wimp), this isn’t at all scary.What I really liked about The Retreat was that I couldn’t figure out what was going on and was surprised by the outcome of what happened to Lily. There are a lot of unpredictable twists and many layers to the mystery. I also enjoyed being immersed in the eerie atmosphere of the fictional town of Beddmawr--the setting comes to life and plays a crucial role. I liked Lucas’s character, and I appreciated the little winks and nods to some of Edward’s other novels. The ending was a bit over the top for my taste, but still, I enjoyed the dark tale that Edwards weaves. Two years ago, Julia lost her family in a tragic accident. Her husband drowned trying to save their daughter, Lily, in the river near their their rural home. Alone and broke, Julia opens up her house as a writers retreat.

Retreat | The Retreat | The Londoner Hotel London Spa Retreat | The Retreat | The Londoner Hotel

Each woman comes to the retreat with different intentions in mind but one thing is clear: they are all running from something or someone. Throughout one single weekend, each of their lives begins to unravel and break apart.This is the story of four dysfunctional women carrying some heavy baggage as they join together for a weekend retreat. This will be a life-altering experience. Unfortunately, the retreat seemed more like a week to me. A cauldron of stirred up secrets that become repetitive, the story losing momentum midway. The Retreat is aptly named, for the story takes place at a literal ‘retreat’, a spiritual spa and wellness centre deep in the woods of the Catskill Mountains. That’s where former child star Katie invites her friends Carmen and Ariel too. Katie looks forward to finding her inner peace, to finding a solution to her sleepwalking and binge drinking. A weekend spent at the retreat sounds great if it weren't for Ellie, Katie’s brother’s fiancee, the perfect yoga-practising, sugar-free, expensive lifestyle-living, Etsy-selling woman. And even though Katie can’t stand her, she is prepared to endure her presence to ‘heal’. It’s great that the author doesn’t conform to a specific genre, with elements of the supernatural, horror and psychological running through its veins you are never quite sure where the author is heading with an unpredictable plot. Mark Edwards maintain the overwhelming sense of suspense and unease throughout. The tale is shrouded in local folklore, and spooky ghost stories, the author does a fabulous job in evoking the horror, the fear and trepidation around such tales.