The Retreat (Detective Elin Warner, #2) by Sarah Pearse (Goodreads Author)

Amy Caudill‘s review

In this imaginative take on the isolated island murder mystery trope, a British detective, Elin Warner, investigates when a series of murders take place on an island resort with a dark history.

In the beginning of this story, Elin is on leave after experiencing a breakdown from incidents in her prior investigations, but when she is pulled into this case, which has personal connections through her boyfriend, she decides she must give this case her all.

Cary Island, also known as Reaper’s Rock, has a bloody past.  Once home to a school for troubled youth, it became the site of a massacre that still haunts locals.  However, a mogul has decided to build a luxury retreat on the island, which seems to be a success, until the first body appears.

 Though early signs make the death as an accident, Elin and her new partner Steed soon find evidence that indicates it might be otherwise. When another body appears, with ties to both the group including the first victim and the owner of the resort, the detectives uncover evidence linking both deaths to the previous group of murders on the island.  With a storm and problems on the mainland preventing Elin from getting reinforcements, it’s up to her and Steed to catch the killer, or killers, before they strike again.

I enjoyed this story very much, even though I haven’t yet read the first book in the series, which I’m sure would explain more about Elin’s personal issues.  The clues left about the past littered throughout the story as Elin’s thoughts and fears threaten to overwhelm her at times are eye-opening though.  Despite or perhaps because of her flaws, Elin is very relatable as a character, though the story frequently switched between her point of view and those of the party that appear to be victims of the murders. 

There is plenty of action, along with details revealing a complex backstory and history of the island and the prior murders. The only issue I had is the very end, where a secondary character reveals information not previously uncovered about a hidden motive behind one of the murders, far after the fact and seemingly without any suspicion being cast on her.  I don’t know if the author is setting up for another story, but it seemed completely random to reveal that at the end and did not seem to fit into the rest of the story at all.

Otherwise, a very enjoyable story, which I give four stars.