Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not impact my rating or review.
So this was a very slow burn of a thriller. It took a while to get going and then once it does, it becomes really good, but then it just kind of devolves into a slasher book and the ending felt rushed. I wish that we had spent some more time with some of the other women at the clinic as well.
The Break-Up Retreat follows Isobel who is on her way to the Himlafall Clinic in Sweden. Isobel has heard many things about Himlafall and the doctor that runs the place, Dr. Martina Hastings. The clinic is supposed to help women get over devastating break-ups and move on in their lives. But Isobel is determined to get to the truth about what is going on at the clinic and why some women report afterwards that they feel brainwashed and duped by the good doctor.
Isobel is a freelance journalist who seems hell-bent on escaping from her father’s legacy. She has a lot to prove and at times during the book didn’t feel that smart to me. I think because she was hyper-focused on not blowing her cover and not realizing that there were bigger things going on at the clinic.
The other women in the story didn’t feel that developed until you start to get them into the group therapy sessions that Dr. Hastings insists on. I wish we had gotten more scenes like that, because they all then felt very real to me in the moment.
This takes place in a secluded place in the Swedish woods and just felt dark to me in general. I don’t know if I really got a sense this is Sweden while reading the book though.
The ending as I said just kind of happens very fast and a lot of murdering goes on. And then we jump forward and way too many things get quickly explained, at least for me.
