The Retreat
By Sarah Pearse
Publisher: Viking, 2022
Pages: Waaaaay too many
Genre: Who cares?
Via: Library
Ever grab a new book by an unfamiliar author? Feel that surge of excitement as you peruse the cover blurb and the synopsis? Break in to your happy dance with that “Oh yeah!” feeling? …
… Only to start reading and feel like you just walked into a blender.
That’s what Sarah Pearse’s The Retreat is like. It came highly recommended as a “cliffhanger murder mystery” by someone who shall remain nameless.
What we wound up with was a badly overwritten hunk of junk that doesn’t really get going until Chapter 44. We would’ve ordinarily bailed out long before then. But we promised a friend (who shall remain nameless) we’d read the whole thing.
Pages & Paws 