The Retreat – A vacation to Die for

Alright, my darlings!

Today I’m bringing you the juiciest literary gossip: The Retreat by Sarah Pearse, the sequel to The Sanatorium. If you thought what went down at that hotel in the Alps was weird, well, things are about to get even spicier here.

We kick off on Cary Island, a supposed eco-wellness resort called LUMEN, a masterpiece designed by Will. I’m talking yoga, green juice, meditation… but the island has another name: Reaper’s Rock. What a name, my love! With a name like that, you should cancel your Booking reservation right away. The island has a cursed reputation, with a past of serial killers and tragedies involving kids who died because of a crazy caretaker. Basically, we’ve got bad vibes from minute one.

We’ve got a tangled little group here: Elin Warner, our favorite detective (beach version)—not because she’s the most diligent, but because she’s the best in the whole wide world. She should be in therapy, but what does she do? She jumps headfirst into a new mess. This woman is like Dominicans during a downpour: she sees the water rising, and instead of staying put, she runs out into the street. Her companion, DC Steed; Jo, the influencer who posts even when she’s breathing; Hana, the grieving widow; Maya, with more childhood trauma than a Wikipedia page; Caleb, Seth, and Farrah, Will’s sister who manages the resort. Basically, a reality show of secrets, jealousy, and family drama.

The first little body of the trip. A dead woman appears at the yoga pavilion. Supposedly an “accident.” An accident? Ha, and my name is Dora the Explorer! Since there was no one else nearby in all of England, they tell Elin to go investigate. And that’s where her creative side kicks in. She gets to the island, Farrah greets her, and the questioning begins. It turns out the victim is Bea!! Hana’s sister, but she wasn’t even supposed to be here. What is she doing dead here?

While Elin’s stalker is still posting photos of her on Twitter, she decides it’s a good idea to sleep on the island. And since she showed up without a reservation, it worked out even better—they put her up in the main suites with an ocean view and close to the lobby, which keeps her right in the center of the mystery… We keep investigating and asking questions. Will arrives on the island and starts questioning Elin about whether she’s okay to be investigating. Just then, Farrah arrives, saying a guest is missing. They spot a bag floating in the water, and Elin gets in her little boat, my love, to go check it out with a staff member. The guy goes diving because he sees a body, and it turns out to be Seth, Jo’s boyfriend, not the missing guest—that guy was just snorkeling… It turns out Seth was a regular on the island because his dad owns it.

Since they can’t let evidence get lost (UNDER THE WATER), Ms. Elin puts on a wetsuit and goes down to free the body, and of course, someone “pulls her foot,” and she panics, haha. It was just seaweed. From what they recover, they find sugar—cocaine.

Searching and searching, Steed and Elin stop at a cave where they discover photos and things related to the kids who were killed in 2003, and they also find a photo of Bea and another of Seth. She has a panic attack, and they have to run out of the cave.

The other guests at the retreat are already anxious. The sisters had their own drama, hiding things and making us think Jo is the killer. Jo was having an affair with her sister Hana’s husband, and Maya, the cousin, knew about it.

Elin keeps searching and discovers that one of the girls from the 2003 photo is Farrah Riley and that Will was there too. Farrah disappears, and they find out that “the Creacher” wasn’t the 2003 killer. Farrah lied because there were footprints that could incriminate Will, so the real killer is still out there.

Guess what?! A storm is brewing to light this whole thing up. While investigating on the beach, they see a head of blonde hair in the sand from a distance. Elin runs, with the rain pouring down, toward the body, speculating that it’s Farrah, but no, the victim is another person—it’s Jo. It’s clear she has a head injury. That makes three from the group.

Seth’s dad, Ronan, is revealed to have been a student at the school. Farrah is still missing. Elin’s stalker from the sanatorium is tweeting with both hands.

They gather everyone who’s left to sleep together in the dining area so they can control them all. To top it off, we also find out that Caleb was the son of a protestant who was against the retreat, and that Caleb (Bea’s boyfriend) was also present when the murders happened.

Elin offers to go alone in the middle of the storm to look for Farrah in her room, since they saw Caleb running in that direction. Elin walks with difficulty through a forest towards the shore. She finds her friend, Farrah, lying on the ground, with a head injury and a blindfold. Elin blames herself for what happened. When she touches Farrah, she feels no pulse, but just when she’s about to give up, she notices a very faint heartbeat. Farrah gets up and returns to her villa with Elin. She confesses that Caleb left her for dead. Of course, by this time there’s no internet, no phone, no cell signal. Elin, the sweetheart, leaves Farrah alone to go find help. She runs out, and with the hurricane winds, she can’t even see. Suddenly, she feels a blow to the head, and everything goes dark. When she wakes up, she feels herself moving but isn’t in the water. Someone is dragging her to throw her into the sea. She’s bruised and beaten, feels the water very close, and then someone else approaches, and Caleb leaves her and runs after Farrah. When a dizzy Elin gets back to Farrah, she’s fine. Elin assumes Caleb went after Ronan on the main island, but when she tries to cross over, the bridge has been knocked down by the storm.

Despite the bridge being down, Elin decides to swim the 50 meters that separate her from the other island. The water is churned up by the storm, but she takes off her clothes, puts her phone in a zippered pocket, and dives in. The current pushes her back, but she forces herself forward, using her legs to propel herself. Finally, she reaches the rocks and starts climbing. Despite the scrapes and pain, she manages to reach the beach. Elin feels the pain of her wounds and her vision blurs. She takes out her phone but realizes there’s no signal due to the storm. Just as the wind dies down, she hears a gunshot.

Aware that Caleb is armed, Elin runs towards the main lodge. Despite her physical pain, she enters the building and finds it empty. She follows a trail of wet footprints and reaches the events room, where she finds everyone barricaded with furniture. Detective Steed tells her that Caleb took Ronan Delaney and fired a warning shot. Elin rushes to explain that Caleb attacked her and that Farrah is injured on the other island. Despite Steed’s concern for her condition, Elin refuses to wait for reinforcements and decides to go after Caleb, believing she can reason with him.

Elin leaves the lodge and finds herself in the chaos of the storm. She sees the restaurant area is devastated and looks around but sees no one. A piece of tarp hits her, and the dizziness overwhelms her, but she recovers and continues her search. She heads towards the gym and yoga pavilion, without success. A growing panic assaults her, making her feel watched. As she hides to observe the area, she hears Caleb’s voice and a cry of pain. She realizes they are getting closer. Elin hides in the woods to avoid Caleb. After narrowly escaping an encounter, she hears Ronan’s cry and realizes that Caleb is taking him up to the top of a rock. She follows them, despite the pain of her injuries.

At the top, Elin sees Caleb pointing a gun at a badly injured Ronan. Elin tries to reason with Caleb, who laments how Ronan ruined his father’s life. Caleb, who is becoming more unstable, shoots them both. Ronan is shot in the thigh, and Elin in the arm. Caleb prepares to kill her, but he slips. Elin takes advantage of the moment to tackle and hold him down, despite her injuries. While they struggle, Detective Steed appears and helps her immobilize Caleb. Elin realizes that family is not limited to blood ties but is also found in those who support you in the most difficult moments.

Elin recovers in the hospital and talks to Anna and Steed. She confesses that her motivation to be brave wasn’t noble, but rather the fear of being seen as a coward, something her father made her believe. However, on the rock, she felt she made a decision for herself for the first time. She’s going on vacation to reflect and understand herself better. The detectives inform her about the case: Caleb Jackson confessed to the crimes, and the police have closed the case against Farrah and Will Riley. Elin, despite this, feels watched. Just after her friends leave, she receives a message from an unknown number with a photo of her in the hospital and a threat: “This detective doesn’t always tell the truth.”

Two weeks later, Maya, who was also on the island, unpacks her suitcase and remembers Jo. Maya always felt her cousin was selfish and envious, the same person who as a child caused a fire that affected her sister Sofia’s life. Maya remembers that one day on the beach, she found Jo and hit her on the head with a rock, killing her. She justifies her action by believing that Jo was a destructive person who needed to be stopped. In the end, Maya is determined to clean up every last trace of the trip, as if she wants to erase all evidence of her crime.