Elin speaks to the assembled Lumen guests but can’t give them information and leaves them angry and worried.

The Retreat - Penguin Books UK

The spa features tranquil spaces to relax, refresh and detoxify, including a swimming pool, hydropool, sauna, steam room and secluded cabanas.Elin goes to try to retrieve the diving bag and feels like someone is trying to drag her under to under the water. While at terms with her husband’s passing, Julia is convinced that her daughter is still alive as her body was never recovered. It was that ‘It’ll be good to get everyone together, it’s been so long’ kind of thing and the resort has offered Jo, a social media influencer, free accommodation for them in exchange for some good publicity. Seeking to protect herself from the outside world, Julia is less a waif than seeking to foster what little strength she has left. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival.

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

The retreat is run by a beautiful widow named Julia, who in 2015 witnessed her husband drown trying to save their daughter from a similar fate. Katie Manning was a beloved child star until her mid-teens when her manager attacked and permanently scarred her face, effectively ending her career and sending her on a path of all-too-familiar post-Hollywood self-destruction. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs. Maybe after realizing she murdering her brother, Elin had a complete psychotic breakdown and thinks she’s a detective investigating murders and there’s no Hayler and no murders at all. Radcliffe does come across as a little passive in his appearance throughout the piece, but does have a sense of determination, especially when a mystery emerges.The author did an excellent job of steering me in different directions and then delivering an excellent end to this suspense story. It’s a small town, where everyone lives in fear of a local legend, “The Red Widow”, who requires that a child be sacrificed every thirty five years, or she would come and get one. Together with Katie's two best friends--one struggling with crippling debt and family obligations, one running away from a failed job and relationship--Katie will try to find the inner peace promised at the tranquil retreat.

The Retreat by Sarah Pearse | Waterstones

Layering the present narrative with both flashbacks of Lily’s final year before her disappearance and some journal entries back in 1980, Edwards keeps the story fresh and the reader engaged, which allows them to become lost and pleasantly surprised. 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.Farrah doesn’t know who the victim is but says she suspects the person must have fallen from the yoga pavilion to the rocks below. Once again I have been bamboozled into getting an arc for a Knowing how Edwards likes to throw multiple characters in the mix, we were ready to weed out the throw away ones. Sunday Times and Top Ten New York Times bestselling author of 2021's biggest-selling debut, The Sanatorium. The Retreat is a heart-pounding, adrenaline-soaked thrill ride, packed with well-drawn characters, settings so real you could touch them, and cliffhangers and twists as belly-flipping as a dive off the fictional island's Reaper's Rock.