The Break-Up Retreat, by Camilla Sten (REVIEW) — Healing Broken Hearts... or Inflicting More Harm?

Breakups suck, there’s no way around it.

Even if you’re the initiator, relieved to be free of a relationship that’s no longer working, there could also be some regret or bitterness mixed in. 

And if you’re on the other end of a breakup—the one being left behind—it’s so much worse. Shock, loss, confusion, depression... you might feel those things, keenly.

But what if you learned of a place specializing in helping people get over devastating breakups... and healing broken hearts? 

Such a place is the setting for Camilla Sten’s latest thriller, The Break-Up Retreat.

 

Dr. Martina Hastings is something of a Renaissance woman. Charismatic psychologist and best-selling author of multiple relationship books, she’s also the founder of an exclusive wellness clinic catering to women stuck in relationship hell.

Whether someone has endured an excruciating breakup or is caught in a repetitive cycle of making terrible choices, Dr. Martina claims she can help, via her intimate, one-week retreats. 

(For a substantial fee, of course.)

Always suspicious of viral gurus, journalist Isobel Anderssen has been researching the remote Himlafall Clinic for several months... and uncovered serious allegations.

Women who’ve returned from their stays more damaged than before. Others who’ve used up their life savings, attending week after expensive week, with no results. 

And one despondent client, reported missing by her family... never to be seen or heard from again, after heading off to Himlafall.

Outraged by how popular the doctor is amid such reports of abuse, Isobel—following in the footsteps of her undercover journalist father—knows what she must do.

She’s going to Himlafall to investigate firsthand... as a client.

But not even all that research could prepare her for just how wrong things really are at the clinic... nor how cut off from safety and civilization she feels, once trapped there in the remote Swedish forest.

Isobel may come out of the experience with a brilliant exposé of the place... but first, she’ll have to make it out alive.

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The Break-Up Retreat is a fascinating read on multiple levels.

First, the subject matter is über-timely, with gurus, influencers, and other self-proclaimed “experts” attracting massive social media followings... with little (or no) fact-checking being conducted by those followers. 

It definitely makes you pause and think.

The characters are uniformly compelling and well-drawn, from Isobel and the other clients (their personalities as well as their motivations—both acknowledged and unacknowledged—for seeking help), to Dr. Martina and the other clinic staff. 

Sten does an excellent job of creating three-dimensional characters then letting them interact in believable ways.

The therapy sessions are also illuminating—albeit frequently horrifying—and sharply escalate the growing sense of unease, tension, and malevolence.

And when everything finally comes to a head, the terror is sustained rather than ending abruptly, thus providing a highly satisfying conclusion... one that feels earned (by the characters involved, as well as by the reader).

The book, I should note, may be comprised almost entirely of female characters, but the story definitely isn’tone that only leans toward “female” experiences. 

Instead, The Break-Up Retreat makes a thrilling read for suspense lovers of all types, with its themes of manipulation, vulnerability, power, and the emotional damage humans can inflict upon one another.

Previously broken heart not required...
~GlamKitty 

[Thanks to Minotaur Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are, as always, entirely my own.]