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The Resting Place
A spine-chilling, propulsive psychological suspense from international sensation Camilla Sten.
The medical term is prosopagnosia. The average person calls it face blindness—the inability to recognize a familiar person’s face, even the faces of those closest to you.
When Eleanor walked in on the scene of her capriciously cruel grandmother, Vivianne’s, murder, she came face to face with the killer—a maddening expression that means nothing to someone like her. With each passing day, her anxiety mounts. The dark feelings of having brushed by a killer, yet not know who could do this—or if they’d be back—overtakes both her dreams and her waking moments, thwarting her perception of reality.
Then a lawyer calls. Vivianne has left her a house—a looming estate tucked away in the Swedish woods. The place her grandfather died, suddenly. A place that has housed a dark past for over fifty years.
Eleanor. Her steadfast boyfriend, Sebastian. Her reckless aunt, Veronika. The lawyer. All will go to this house of secrets, looking for answers. But as they get closer to bringing the truth to light, they’ll wish they had never come to disturb what rests there.
A heart-thumping, relentless thriller that will shake you to your core, The Resting Place is an unforgettable novel of horror and suspense.
The medical term is prosopagnosia. The average person calls it face blindness—the inability to recognize a familiar person’s face, even the faces of those closest to you.
When Eleanor walked in on the scene of her capriciously cruel grandmother, Vivianne’s, murder, she came face to face with the killer—a maddening expression that means nothing to someone like her. With each passing day, her anxiety mounts. The dark feelings of having brushed by a killer, yet not know who could do this—or if they’d be back—overtakes both her dreams and her waking moments, thwarting her perception of reality.
Then a lawyer calls. Vivianne has left her a house—a looming estate tucked away in the Swedish woods. The place her grandfather died, suddenly. A place that has housed a dark past for over fifty years.
Eleanor. Her steadfast boyfriend, Sebastian. Her reckless aunt, Veronika. The lawyer. All will go to this house of secrets, looking for answers. But as they get closer to bringing the truth to light, they’ll wish they had never come to disturb what rests there.
A heart-thumping, relentless thriller that will shake you to your core, The Resting Place is an unforgettable novel of horror and suspense.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published September 17, 2020
About the author
Camilla Sten
22 books1,122 followersCamilla Sten is a writer, and her publisher made the mistake of letting her set this author page up by herself. She is best known for her internationally bestselling novel "The Lost Village", which has sold to 19 countries, and has written books ranging from YA fantasy to contemporary thrillers.
Camilla lives in Sweden with her American boyfriend and two fluffy, evil cats. She is quite enjoying talking about herself in the third person, and might keep it going after she's submitted this author bio.
Camilla lives in Sweden with her American boyfriend and two fluffy, evil cats. She is quite enjoying talking about herself in the third person, and might keep it going after she's submitted this author bio.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,740 reviews
April 22, 2022
Whaaaat! Another gripping, horrifying, spine tingling book from the author of Lost Village and heroine struggles with prosopagnosia ( face blindness) which prevents her recognize a familiar person’s face including her aunt’s killer she just recently saw at the crime scene and the killer might be still in her vicinity, playing mind games with her!
Yes, I truly craved this book as soon as I read the blurb! I wanted to devour it so much and as soon as I saw it at my NG library, a few cartwheels ( I hit my thumb and I broke a family souvenir which my mother-in-law gave and I didn’t care- thankfully she’s not reading my reviews) and somersaults later ( I was so close to hurt my neck when I did reverse one) , I canceled everything in my life, pulled the plug off my work- husband- final episode of White Lotus and dived in!
The claustrophobic, stormy snowy, dark, intense, spine chilling atmosphere of the book takes place in a haunted house ( so many bad things happened there and it keeps its own secrets) and four people are trapped in this place when a killer is lurking around the woods, following their each step from a distance is my favorite horror/ thriller theme.
The story connects the past of the house with the events has taken place in 1965 via the maid Annushka’s diary and the present time with the narration of Eleanor gives us clues about the terrible secrets the family buried for years and tells us how far some of the characters go to keep those secrets stay buried!
Eleanor is the key victim of the murder of her grandmother Vivianne: she walks to the crime scene, coming face to face with the killer. But he or she runs away without harming her which means the killer could be someone she knows and the killer also someone knows her medical condition: she suffers from prosopagnosia. She cannot identify the person who took her cruel grandmother’s live even she tries: she isn’t even sure the killer’s gender!
Five months later, Eleanor gets a phone call from Vivianne’s lawyer informing her she’s inherited an old manor house with woodland and private hunting grounds around 1,5 hours drive north of Stockholm. Vivianne also inherited this place from her husband. It’s called Solhöga!
A deserted, strange, eerie place Eleanor never heard of. There must be a reason why her grandmother hasn’t set a foot in this place for decades.
Eleanor plans to meet with the lawyer at this place and her longtime boyfriend Sebastian accompanies her. She realizes her aunt Veronika who has complicated relationships with her grandmother also decided to join them.
But as soon as four of them gather in the estate: stranger things start to happen. Eleanor feels like somebody keeps watching her and she insists somebody locked her in dumbwaiter. The groundskeeper of the place is also suspiciously missing. As the snow storm starts, they find themselves trapped in this strange place as there’s no reception on their phones!
As the attacks start to occur, Eleanor realizes her mind doesn’t play tricks with her: there’s someone out there not to let them escape from the house and that someone is probably the killer of her grandmother!
Overall: I love the claustrophobic thriller theme and I loved how the past and present timelines intercepted.
But the execution of prosopagnosia was the weakest link of the story. It was used effectively at the beginning scene but after that we don’t see Eleanor suffer from this critical condition and there’s not enough detailed explanation why she started dealing with this mental condition at the first place. Her prognosis didn’t fit with the claustrophobic haunted house story so well!
I’m still rounding up my 3.5 stars to 4 dysfunctional family, terrifying, scary house stars!
I liked the author’s previous work a little more but this one is also enjoyable one you read at the edge of your seats!
Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/ Minotaur Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.
Yes, I truly craved this book as soon as I read the blurb! I wanted to devour it so much and as soon as I saw it at my NG library, a few cartwheels ( I hit my thumb and I broke a family souvenir which my mother-in-law gave and I didn’t care- thankfully she’s not reading my reviews) and somersaults later ( I was so close to hurt my neck when I did reverse one) , I canceled everything in my life, pulled the plug off my work- husband- final episode of White Lotus and dived in!
The claustrophobic, stormy snowy, dark, intense, spine chilling atmosphere of the book takes place in a haunted house ( so many bad things happened there and it keeps its own secrets) and four people are trapped in this place when a killer is lurking around the woods, following their each step from a distance is my favorite horror/ thriller theme.
The story connects the past of the house with the events has taken place in 1965 via the maid Annushka’s diary and the present time with the narration of Eleanor gives us clues about the terrible secrets the family buried for years and tells us how far some of the characters go to keep those secrets stay buried!
Eleanor is the key victim of the murder of her grandmother Vivianne: she walks to the crime scene, coming face to face with the killer. But he or she runs away without harming her which means the killer could be someone she knows and the killer also someone knows her medical condition: she suffers from prosopagnosia. She cannot identify the person who took her cruel grandmother’s live even she tries: she isn’t even sure the killer’s gender!
Five months later, Eleanor gets a phone call from Vivianne’s lawyer informing her she’s inherited an old manor house with woodland and private hunting grounds around 1,5 hours drive north of Stockholm. Vivianne also inherited this place from her husband. It’s called Solhöga!
A deserted, strange, eerie place Eleanor never heard of. There must be a reason why her grandmother hasn’t set a foot in this place for decades.
Eleanor plans to meet with the lawyer at this place and her longtime boyfriend Sebastian accompanies her. She realizes her aunt Veronika who has complicated relationships with her grandmother also decided to join them.
But as soon as four of them gather in the estate: stranger things start to happen. Eleanor feels like somebody keeps watching her and she insists somebody locked her in dumbwaiter. The groundskeeper of the place is also suspiciously missing. As the snow storm starts, they find themselves trapped in this strange place as there’s no reception on their phones!
As the attacks start to occur, Eleanor realizes her mind doesn’t play tricks with her: there’s someone out there not to let them escape from the house and that someone is probably the killer of her grandmother!
Overall: I love the claustrophobic thriller theme and I loved how the past and present timelines intercepted.
But the execution of prosopagnosia was the weakest link of the story. It was used effectively at the beginning scene but after that we don’t see Eleanor suffer from this critical condition and there’s not enough detailed explanation why she started dealing with this mental condition at the first place. Her prognosis didn’t fit with the claustrophobic haunted house story so well!
I’m still rounding up my 3.5 stars to 4 dysfunctional family, terrifying, scary house stars!
I liked the author’s previous work a little more but this one is also enjoyable one you read at the edge of your seats!
Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/ Minotaur Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.
February 12, 2024
**3.5-stars rounded up**
The Resting Place is the second novel I've read from Camilla Sten. The first was The Lost Village, which I read in early-2021 and gave 3.5-stars, not rounding up.
While there were aspects of that story I enjoyed, overall I would say I had been hoping for a lot more. I'm happy to report, The Resting Place gave me more.
This story is about Eleanor, who suffers from prosopagnosia, or face blindness. As in, she is unable to recognize facial features.
So, when Eleanor walks in on her Grandmother's murder and comes face-to-face with the killer, she is unable to describe the individual after the fact.
The grandmother, Vivianne, was a real piece of work. She was not a nice lady and even though she raised Eleanor, she never showered Eleanor with the love that a mother-figure should.
Basically, she's Lady Tremaine. That's the vibe she was giving me.
Time passes and then Eleanor gets a call: Hey, hi, hello. So, your Grandmother owns this creepy manor home that she never told you about. It's where you're Grandfather died actually and guess what, now it's yours. We need you to come to the house and work through some estate dealings. Okay? Great, byeeeeeee.
Eleanor agrees and travels to the property, tucked away in the Swedish wilderness, along with her boyfriend, Sebastian, her Aunt Veronika, and the probate attorney.
Once at the property, the interactions are tense. Eleanor's Aunt definitely inherited the family gene of general bitchiness, so there are some uncomfortable moments.
Additionally, the property itself gives off an abandoned and haunted vibe. They're told there's a groundskeeper there, Benson, but they're unable to locate him. That fact alone puts a dark cloud over the travelers.
It's a confusing first day and what's worse, there's inclement weather coming in. Of course!
The Resting Place is told through past and present timelines. In addition to Eleanor's perspective, you also get that of Anushka, who lived at the property decades before working as a housemaid.
Sten uses diary entries as a medium for telling some of the past perspective and I really enjoyed that aspect. There's something about getting to read someone else's diary that is just so darn intriguing.
There's also some psychological tension created because of Eleanor's prosopagnosia. The woman literally came face-to-face with a killer and survived. This killer was never caught. He or she could be anywhere, be anyone, and Eleanor has to live with that. How can she trust anyone?
In addition to the tension, this story is full, absolutely over-flowing full, of dark family secrets. The kind of secrets that are hidden from future generations. They're that bad.
I love family drama and I love family secrets. I always enjoy watching people's dirty laundry being aired. Call it schadenfreude, call it wicked, call it whatever you like, it's just me.
My biggest complaint with this one is that I found it to be slightly confusing. After I finished reading, I was thinking about it quite a bit, discussing it with my dog, as you do, and I realized, I have a lot of questions.
Like here we were at the end, and I had numerous questions about the familial relationships, connections and the conclusion. I'm not sure if I just missed something along the way, or if the questions I have are questions that will arise for other Readers as well.
With this being said though, this is definitely a step up for me from The Lost Village. Frankly, I like that for my relationship with Camilla Sten. We're on an upward trajectory. I love that.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. I'm excited to see what Sten serves up next!
The Resting Place is the second novel I've read from Camilla Sten. The first was The Lost Village, which I read in early-2021 and gave 3.5-stars, not rounding up.
While there were aspects of that story I enjoyed, overall I would say I had been hoping for a lot more. I'm happy to report, The Resting Place gave me more.
This story is about Eleanor, who suffers from prosopagnosia, or face blindness. As in, she is unable to recognize facial features.
So, when Eleanor walks in on her Grandmother's murder and comes face-to-face with the killer, she is unable to describe the individual after the fact.
The grandmother, Vivianne, was a real piece of work. She was not a nice lady and even though she raised Eleanor, she never showered Eleanor with the love that a mother-figure should.
Basically, she's Lady Tremaine. That's the vibe she was giving me.
Time passes and then Eleanor gets a call: Hey, hi, hello. So, your Grandmother owns this creepy manor home that she never told you about. It's where you're Grandfather died actually and guess what, now it's yours. We need you to come to the house and work through some estate dealings. Okay? Great, byeeeeeee.
Eleanor agrees and travels to the property, tucked away in the Swedish wilderness, along with her boyfriend, Sebastian, her Aunt Veronika, and the probate attorney.
Once at the property, the interactions are tense. Eleanor's Aunt definitely inherited the family gene of general bitchiness, so there are some uncomfortable moments.
Additionally, the property itself gives off an abandoned and haunted vibe. They're told there's a groundskeeper there, Benson, but they're unable to locate him. That fact alone puts a dark cloud over the travelers.
It's a confusing first day and what's worse, there's inclement weather coming in. Of course!
The Resting Place is told through past and present timelines. In addition to Eleanor's perspective, you also get that of Anushka, who lived at the property decades before working as a housemaid.
Sten uses diary entries as a medium for telling some of the past perspective and I really enjoyed that aspect. There's something about getting to read someone else's diary that is just so darn intriguing.
There's also some psychological tension created because of Eleanor's prosopagnosia. The woman literally came face-to-face with a killer and survived. This killer was never caught. He or she could be anywhere, be anyone, and Eleanor has to live with that. How can she trust anyone?
In addition to the tension, this story is full, absolutely over-flowing full, of dark family secrets. The kind of secrets that are hidden from future generations. They're that bad.
I love family drama and I love family secrets. I always enjoy watching people's dirty laundry being aired. Call it schadenfreude, call it wicked, call it whatever you like, it's just me.
My biggest complaint with this one is that I found it to be slightly confusing. After I finished reading, I was thinking about it quite a bit, discussing it with my dog, as you do, and I realized, I have a lot of questions.
Like here we were at the end, and I had numerous questions about the familial relationships, connections and the conclusion. I'm not sure if I just missed something along the way, or if the questions I have are questions that will arise for other Readers as well.
With this being said though, this is definitely a step up for me from The Lost Village. Frankly, I like that for my relationship with Camilla Sten. We're on an upward trajectory. I love that.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. I'm excited to see what Sten serves up next!
April 2, 2022
**Many thanks to Minotaur and Camilla Sten for an ARC of this book! Now available as of 3.29!**
I've read three books now featuring prosopagnosia: two were 5 star reads... and then there was this one.
Eleanor is the character in question, afflicted by this condition, but it held her hostage at a dangerous time. She walks in on the murdered body of her grandmother and actually SEES the killer firsthand...but since she cannot identify the person, this encounter is meaningless. The vision of the day in question haunts her every waking thought. However, her grandmother's death has set off a chain of events...namely, a house left to her called Solhaga, leading Eleanor, the lawyer who has clued her in on this inheritance, her reliable boyfriend Sebastian, and slightly snappy and bizarre aunt Veronika are all off to visit the estate and find out firsthand what remains. What they all find is a plethora of secrets and an air of unease that hangs about the grounds, and Eleanor begins to discover that perhaps the past will no longer lie in wait.
Once a body turns up, however, the group begins to realize that the dead might have more to say than anyone realized. Can Eleanor find the clues to help her piece together who targeted her grandmother Vivianne on that fateful day? Is the killer on the loose...and looking to add HER body to the growing count? And is there ANY escaping Solhaga?
This one starts with a flurry of activity, and lots of blank space for interpretation. The scene is set, giving the reader a glimpse of Eleanor's observation of the murder and her subsequent loss of memory, and interrogation later on where she can't recall anything useful. I was drawn in pretty quickly by this setup, and thankfully this book has very short chapters.
Unfortunately, the quick pacing I should have felt while reading this kept getting slower and slower. We are introduced early to a timeline from the past via found diary, and this timeline was not only overly convoluted, it felt very repetitive and sometimes predictable. Perhaps the 'action' from the diary was just lacking, or maybe it was just too many diary entries, but after a while I lost interest. Eleanor and her posse also showed a major lack of judgment over and over, allowing their cell phones to die at the worst (and yes, most unlikely) moments and everything fell into place a little too neatly at times.
I also didn't feel the connection to the PLACE, which should have been a foreboding and terrifying character all its own. Perhaps the last atmospheric, creepy-house read I had just did it better, but for whatever reason, Solhaga didn't scare me. This was incredibly disappointing, since atmosphere would have certainly helped to sustain the tension while I was reading, and everything mentioned felt a bit generic.
The author also chose to use not one, not two, not three, but FOUR names beginning with V: Vivianne, Victoria (actually Eleanor, who chooses to go by Eleanor, but it's still included frequently enough), Veronika and Vendela. This didn't add anything to the narrative at all, and I don't think it was even intended to muddle things...but did anyway.
I didn't guess the final twist, and I must admit I had an alternate theory (after reading tons of thrillers) that was completely wrong. Sad to say, however, that even though I thought the ending was clever enough, I didn't really enjoy it at all. It just felt a bit out of left-field and not as thrilling or fulfilling as I'd hoped.
This read might not have been what I anticipated, but I do feel I'd give this author another try. Fans of a somewhat spooky slow burn with lots of buried family secrets and drama might find respite at The Resting Place...but for now, I think I'd better keep looking.
3.5 stars
I've read three books now featuring prosopagnosia: two were 5 star reads... and then there was this one.
Eleanor is the character in question, afflicted by this condition, but it held her hostage at a dangerous time. She walks in on the murdered body of her grandmother and actually SEES the killer firsthand...but since she cannot identify the person, this encounter is meaningless. The vision of the day in question haunts her every waking thought. However, her grandmother's death has set off a chain of events...namely, a house left to her called Solhaga, leading Eleanor, the lawyer who has clued her in on this inheritance, her reliable boyfriend Sebastian, and slightly snappy and bizarre aunt Veronika are all off to visit the estate and find out firsthand what remains. What they all find is a plethora of secrets and an air of unease that hangs about the grounds, and Eleanor begins to discover that perhaps the past will no longer lie in wait.
Once a body turns up, however, the group begins to realize that the dead might have more to say than anyone realized. Can Eleanor find the clues to help her piece together who targeted her grandmother Vivianne on that fateful day? Is the killer on the loose...and looking to add HER body to the growing count? And is there ANY escaping Solhaga?
This one starts with a flurry of activity, and lots of blank space for interpretation. The scene is set, giving the reader a glimpse of Eleanor's observation of the murder and her subsequent loss of memory, and interrogation later on where she can't recall anything useful. I was drawn in pretty quickly by this setup, and thankfully this book has very short chapters.
Unfortunately, the quick pacing I should have felt while reading this kept getting slower and slower. We are introduced early to a timeline from the past via found diary, and this timeline was not only overly convoluted, it felt very repetitive and sometimes predictable. Perhaps the 'action' from the diary was just lacking, or maybe it was just too many diary entries, but after a while I lost interest. Eleanor and her posse also showed a major lack of judgment over and over, allowing their cell phones to die at the worst (and yes, most unlikely) moments and everything fell into place a little too neatly at times.
I also didn't feel the connection to the PLACE, which should have been a foreboding and terrifying character all its own. Perhaps the last atmospheric, creepy-house read I had just did it better, but for whatever reason, Solhaga didn't scare me. This was incredibly disappointing, since atmosphere would have certainly helped to sustain the tension while I was reading, and everything mentioned felt a bit generic.
The author also chose to use not one, not two, not three, but FOUR names beginning with V: Vivianne, Victoria (actually Eleanor, who chooses to go by Eleanor, but it's still included frequently enough), Veronika and Vendela. This didn't add anything to the narrative at all, and I don't think it was even intended to muddle things...but did anyway.
I didn't guess the final twist, and I must admit I had an alternate theory (after reading tons of thrillers) that was completely wrong. Sad to say, however, that even though I thought the ending was clever enough, I didn't really enjoy it at all. It just felt a bit out of left-field and not as thrilling or fulfilling as I'd hoped.
This read might not have been what I anticipated, but I do feel I'd give this author another try. Fans of a somewhat spooky slow burn with lots of buried family secrets and drama might find respite at The Resting Place...but for now, I think I'd better keep looking.
3.5 stars
March 30, 2022
4.5 stars!
Suspenseful, mysterious and gothic!
An old isolated mansion hiding plenty of dark family secrets.
This book had so many elements that I love! Dark foreboding atmosphere. Thick palpable tension and suspense. Deeply buried family secrets waiting to be discovered. Unique and mysterious characters that I felt invested in from page one.
Solhoga is the family mansion that encompasses this unforgettable tale. The house was like a character of its own! I loved the dark and gothic atmosphere. The wintry weather added another layer to the isolation, paranoia and overall locked room mysterious atmosphere.
Thank you to Minotaur Books for my review copy!
Suspenseful, mysterious and gothic!
An old isolated mansion hiding plenty of dark family secrets.
This book had so many elements that I love! Dark foreboding atmosphere. Thick palpable tension and suspense. Deeply buried family secrets waiting to be discovered. Unique and mysterious characters that I felt invested in from page one.
Solhoga is the family mansion that encompasses this unforgettable tale. The house was like a character of its own! I loved the dark and gothic atmosphere. The wintry weather added another layer to the isolation, paranoia and overall locked room mysterious atmosphere.
Thank you to Minotaur Books for my review copy!
November 23, 2021
You will not find rest here...."Your fear is valid, but that doesn't make it real. The fear may be true, but it doesn't have to be your truth." The Lost Village was a chilling atmospheric bounty of chilling twists, but this one was even better.
This atmospheric Noir thriller will have you shivering in an estate in the countryside of Sweden. With its cold, dark winters and no escape from its past, a diary reveals much of its secrets weaving in from 1966 to present times. The diary was written by the housekeeper, Annushka, divulging many disillusions, pessimism and cruelties from the Ma'am of the house, Vivianne. No wonder the family closed its doors never to return.
Vivianne's granddaughter, Eleanor, cringes at the thought of this evil, heartless woman, who raised her. Her continuous calls go unanswered most of the time to avoid listening to her disillusion of voices in the walls coming to get her. She treks to her apartment and finds her stabbed to death as the killer is leaving the house. To her disadvantage, she suffers from prosopagnosia (face blindness) and unable to recognize the killer's face.
Eleanor inherits the summer country estate Solhoga that her grandmother never mentioned owning. With her boyfriend, Sebastian, the family lawyer and Vivianne's sister in tow they find it to be an eerie mansion with spooky vibes and the past coming to life. Strange occurrences begin to take place with danger lurking in the shadows. Is there a killer watching them? As the winter snow piles up, locking them in, it becomes hard to put this thriller down. At least the wine cellar is full, but that dumbwaiter is dangerous!
Some of the characters you will only learn about through the diary, but they are fully disclosed giving you real vibes and their uncanny appearance. The evil of this grandmother is spine tingling and the unexpected twists at the end will be even more so.
I'm thankful to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/ Minotaur books for allowing me to read another Camilla Sten book in exchange for my honest review.
This atmospheric Noir thriller will have you shivering in an estate in the countryside of Sweden. With its cold, dark winters and no escape from its past, a diary reveals much of its secrets weaving in from 1966 to present times. The diary was written by the housekeeper, Annushka, divulging many disillusions, pessimism and cruelties from the Ma'am of the house, Vivianne. No wonder the family closed its doors never to return.
Vivianne's granddaughter, Eleanor, cringes at the thought of this evil, heartless woman, who raised her. Her continuous calls go unanswered most of the time to avoid listening to her disillusion of voices in the walls coming to get her. She treks to her apartment and finds her stabbed to death as the killer is leaving the house. To her disadvantage, she suffers from prosopagnosia (face blindness) and unable to recognize the killer's face.
Eleanor inherits the summer country estate Solhoga that her grandmother never mentioned owning. With her boyfriend, Sebastian, the family lawyer and Vivianne's sister in tow they find it to be an eerie mansion with spooky vibes and the past coming to life. Strange occurrences begin to take place with danger lurking in the shadows. Is there a killer watching them? As the winter snow piles up, locking them in, it becomes hard to put this thriller down. At least the wine cellar is full, but that dumbwaiter is dangerous!
Some of the characters you will only learn about through the diary, but they are fully disclosed giving you real vibes and their uncanny appearance. The evil of this grandmother is spine tingling and the unexpected twists at the end will be even more so.
I'm thankful to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/ Minotaur books for allowing me to read another Camilla Sten book in exchange for my honest review.
October 16, 2022
3.5⭐
I love the eerie and gothic atmosphere. A rather slow pace thriller but goes well with the time and place. A good twisty tale!
Eleanor inherits the Solhöga manor house in the woods north of Stockholm after her grandmother was murdered. Months before, Eleanor saw the killer leaving the scene but with Prosopagnosia (Face Blindness) she wasn't able to recognize who that was.
Before Solhöga goes for sale, Eleanor and her boyfriend meet with a lawyer at the manor. This is a place with many family dark secrets. Said secrets start flowing, strange vibes, and missing people all during a blizzard. A good buildup for chilling suspense if I could only get the female characters straight.
I really want to love this one. I thought I'm a relatively seasoned audiobook listener, but I was so lost. 😗 The two timelines were fine, this story takes place in present day and 1965. It's the names that made the story really "foggy" when it comes to the "who" (Victoria, Veronika, Vivianne, Vendela). To add to my confusion, a couple of characters also go by different names. My favorite character while listening is a maid from Poland who narrates the 1965 timeline.
I think I understand what's up with the ending, but I'm not 100% certain. 🤣 I should've had a physical copy to go with the audio. I'll try her other book for sure!
I love the eerie and gothic atmosphere. A rather slow pace thriller but goes well with the time and place. A good twisty tale!
Eleanor inherits the Solhöga manor house in the woods north of Stockholm after her grandmother was murdered. Months before, Eleanor saw the killer leaving the scene but with Prosopagnosia (Face Blindness) she wasn't able to recognize who that was.
Before Solhöga goes for sale, Eleanor and her boyfriend meet with a lawyer at the manor. This is a place with many family dark secrets. Said secrets start flowing, strange vibes, and missing people all during a blizzard. A good buildup for chilling suspense if I could only get the female characters straight.
I really want to love this one. I thought I'm a relatively seasoned audiobook listener, but I was so lost. 😗 The two timelines were fine, this story takes place in present day and 1965. It's the names that made the story really "foggy" when it comes to the "who" (Victoria, Veronika, Vivianne, Vendela). To add to my confusion, a couple of characters also go by different names. My favorite character while listening is a maid from Poland who narrates the 1965 timeline.
I think I understand what's up with the ending, but I'm not 100% certain. 🤣 I should've had a physical copy to go with the audio. I'll try her other book for sure!
October 13, 2022
Imagine waking up every day and not recognizing the person looking back at you in the mirror. That’s how the main character, Eleanor, felt every day. Eleanor witnesses the death of her grandmother and saw the killer, but the problem is that she can’t describe what the person looks like to the police due to prosopagnosia.
I didn’t know much about the book before I read it other than the fact that I like previous books by the author, and that it takes place in Sweden.
Following the murder of Eleanor’s grandmother, Vivianne, she tries to piece her life back together as she starts to see things that aren’t there. She is informed by lawyers that she is the heir to the giant summer home that Vivianne kept secret from her.
Eleanor joins a cast of characters to help inventory the old mansion. Eleanor though feels like they are not alone on this giant estate and begins to think that the things she hears and sees around the house are not just hallucinations after all.
The police never caught the murderer, and Eleanor fears the killer might have followed them there. She must navigate large family secrets long buried in the past. Maybe she can even find the groundskeeper who no one can get a hold of.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect of the book considering the premise of the author’s last book. It ended up being a murder-mystery-whodunit trapped on a Swedish gothic estate. The story follows two storylines throughout most of the book, with the first being in the present following Eleanor.
The second story line took place decades ago, following Anushka, who worked as the help for the family. I was glad that the past storyline only had a few pages at most every time it interjected the present timeline.
The prose flowed well through the translation. I thought as with other books by the author that she addressed prosopagnosia and other mental disorders well. The characters were written well, with unique personalities, where prosopagnosia didn’t solely define Eleanor at all.
The plot was driven by both the mystery and the characters. Eleanor was a great main character with faults that were not just her own, but she tried to work through everything, which was enjoyable to cheer for. Sebastian and Veronika both felt unique instead of cardboard cutouts (unlike the lawyer) where each of them had well-defined motivations for their actions.
Vivianne though...Vivianne was well-written, but I disliked her on almost EVERY level in both the present and past storylines. Anushka though kind of felt like a cliché at times. She was written well enough, but there was just something missing.
I sympathized with some of the rest of the supporting cast too.
This book had quite a lot of twists both big and small where I guessed most of them, yet a few did surprise me. I liked the overall mystery, and the conclusion was satisfying too. The author sprinkled in minor red herrings for misdirects, but the biggest misdirects were some of the smaller mysteries I kept trying to discover instead.
The "author notes" section at the end of the book mentioned that a major character named Alexia got cut in the final draft because she distracted too much from other characters and the plot. I honestly would have liked that character, which could have maybe even elevated the story to a 5 stars for me (I’m stuck between a 4 and a 4.5 tbh).
Overall, I liked the book and thought the mystery and dark family secrets were well done. I liked this book even more than The Lost Village by the same author, though the premise and atmosphere of that book was so good.
It was interesting as well to learn more about face blindness. I wouldn’t really tag this book as horror though. Otherwise, if you enjoyed this book, check out other works by Camilla Sten, or other similar authors such as Simone St. James, Ruth Ware, and others who write historical horror/mystery.
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
I didn’t know much about the book before I read it other than the fact that I like previous books by the author, and that it takes place in Sweden.
Following the murder of Eleanor’s grandmother, Vivianne, she tries to piece her life back together as she starts to see things that aren’t there. She is informed by lawyers that she is the heir to the giant summer home that Vivianne kept secret from her.
Eleanor joins a cast of characters to help inventory the old mansion. Eleanor though feels like they are not alone on this giant estate and begins to think that the things she hears and sees around the house are not just hallucinations after all.
The police never caught the murderer, and Eleanor fears the killer might have followed them there. She must navigate large family secrets long buried in the past. Maybe she can even find the groundskeeper who no one can get a hold of.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect of the book considering the premise of the author’s last book. It ended up being a murder-mystery-whodunit trapped on a Swedish gothic estate. The story follows two storylines throughout most of the book, with the first being in the present following Eleanor.
The second story line took place decades ago, following Anushka, who worked as the help for the family. I was glad that the past storyline only had a few pages at most every time it interjected the present timeline.
The prose flowed well through the translation. I thought as with other books by the author that she addressed prosopagnosia and other mental disorders well. The characters were written well, with unique personalities, where prosopagnosia didn’t solely define Eleanor at all.
The plot was driven by both the mystery and the characters. Eleanor was a great main character with faults that were not just her own, but she tried to work through everything, which was enjoyable to cheer for. Sebastian and Veronika both felt unique instead of cardboard cutouts (unlike the lawyer) where each of them had well-defined motivations for their actions.
Vivianne though...Vivianne was well-written, but I disliked her on almost EVERY level in both the present and past storylines. Anushka though kind of felt like a cliché at times. She was written well enough, but there was just something missing.
I sympathized with some of the rest of the supporting cast too.
This book had quite a lot of twists both big and small where I guessed most of them, yet a few did surprise me. I liked the overall mystery, and the conclusion was satisfying too. The author sprinkled in minor red herrings for misdirects, but the biggest misdirects were some of the smaller mysteries I kept trying to discover instead.
The "author notes" section at the end of the book mentioned that a major character named Alexia got cut in the final draft because she distracted too much from other characters and the plot. I honestly would have liked that character, which could have maybe even elevated the story to a 5 stars for me (I’m stuck between a 4 and a 4.5 tbh).
Overall, I liked the book and thought the mystery and dark family secrets were well done. I liked this book even more than The Lost Village by the same author, though the premise and atmosphere of that book was so good.
It was interesting as well to learn more about face blindness. I wouldn’t really tag this book as horror though. Otherwise, if you enjoyed this book, check out other works by Camilla Sten, or other similar authors such as Simone St. James, Ruth Ware, and others who write historical horror/mystery.
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
May 10, 2022
Prosopagnosia (face blindness) is the new go to plot device in recent thrillers. This rare medical diagnosis has become popular in this genre because it sets up the perfect alibi. If you can’t recognize a face, would you be able to identify a murderer?
In The Resting Place, Eleanor finds her grandmother Vivianne brutally stabbed with a pair of scissors in her own home. She witnesses the murderer leave the scene, but cannot recognize the face. Who killed Vivianne and why?
When Eleanor receives a call from a lawyer to go through her grandmother’s things at her estate in the woods, she, her boyfriend Sebastian, and aunt Veronika make the trip in order to learn more about her family’s past. When people and important items start disappearing, Eleanor must figure out who is after her family before it’s too late.
Told in dual timelines alternating between the present and past, this Swedish mystery will have you guessing until the very end.
This is the second thriller I have read by Sten, and it’s by far my favorite. It’s creepy, atmospheric, unpredictable, and unputdownable! I listened to it in two days!
The audiobook read by Angela Dawe is fantastic. She absolutely sold the story and made it come to life. A+
4.5/5 stars rounded down
In The Resting Place, Eleanor finds her grandmother Vivianne brutally stabbed with a pair of scissors in her own home. She witnesses the murderer leave the scene, but cannot recognize the face. Who killed Vivianne and why?
When Eleanor receives a call from a lawyer to go through her grandmother’s things at her estate in the woods, she, her boyfriend Sebastian, and aunt Veronika make the trip in order to learn more about her family’s past. When people and important items start disappearing, Eleanor must figure out who is after her family before it’s too late.
Told in dual timelines alternating between the present and past, this Swedish mystery will have you guessing until the very end.
This is the second thriller I have read by Sten, and it’s by far my favorite. It’s creepy, atmospheric, unpredictable, and unputdownable! I listened to it in two days!
The audiobook read by Angela Dawe is fantastic. She absolutely sold the story and made it come to life. A+
4.5/5 stars rounded down
October 5, 2021
What a creeptastic read to kick off the month of October!
For some reason, I skipped over reading Sten's previous book, "The Lost Village" and now I'm wondering what in the name of all things hair-raising was I was thinking. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about this book and Sten's writing style, so I can't imagine that I wouldn't enjoy that one as well.
Interestingly, this is the second book I've read in the last few months that deals with prosopagnosia (face blindness). In all fairness, I do think that Alice Feeney used it more effectively in "Rock, Paper, Scissors," as I found it a bit underdeveloped as a theme here. This one begins with the main character, Eleanor, who suffers from prosopagnosia walking in on the scene of her overly cruel grandmother, Vivianne’s, murder. Although she came face to face with the killer, she has no recognition of them due to her condition. She becomes plagued by anxiety and fears that the killer will come back for her, to the point that it overtakes both her dreams and her waking moments, thwarting her perception of reality. She is shocked to find after her grandmother's murder that she has inherited an estate in the countryside of Sweden that she never knew about. It is a place with a chilling past, as she learns that it was where her grandfather died years ago, very suddenly. Eleanor, her boyfriend, Sebastian, her somewhat estranged aunt, Veronika, and a lawyer for her grandmother's Estate, all travel to the property for a weekend in order to do an inventory and to prepare the house for being put up for sale. The house holds many secrets though, and the closer they get to uncovering them, the more they wish they had never come to disturb what rests there.
I loved the sense of foreboding I had from page one. The Swedish countryside atmosphere is spooky, and Sten is a master at weaving the storyline from past to present in a way that not only flows succinctly, but also creates suspense in both storylines, which is difficult to do. I thought the blend of past and present was wickedly clever in that everything fell into place perfectly, but in a manner that kept me from completely figuring things out until the very end. I enjoyed all of the characters, even with their dark sides, and I suspected each one of them of nefarious dealings at one point or another. Did the ending leave me aghast with my mouth gaping open? No, but that being said, it was still well-executed and satisfying.
Overall, this is my favorite kind of horror read - a plot with supernatural elements that is later exposed as having very "earthly" explanations. 4 stars.
For some reason, I skipped over reading Sten's previous book, "The Lost Village" and now I'm wondering what in the name of all things hair-raising was I was thinking. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about this book and Sten's writing style, so I can't imagine that I wouldn't enjoy that one as well.
Interestingly, this is the second book I've read in the last few months that deals with prosopagnosia (face blindness). In all fairness, I do think that Alice Feeney used it more effectively in "Rock, Paper, Scissors," as I found it a bit underdeveloped as a theme here. This one begins with the main character, Eleanor, who suffers from prosopagnosia walking in on the scene of her overly cruel grandmother, Vivianne’s, murder. Although she came face to face with the killer, she has no recognition of them due to her condition. She becomes plagued by anxiety and fears that the killer will come back for her, to the point that it overtakes both her dreams and her waking moments, thwarting her perception of reality. She is shocked to find after her grandmother's murder that she has inherited an estate in the countryside of Sweden that she never knew about. It is a place with a chilling past, as she learns that it was where her grandfather died years ago, very suddenly. Eleanor, her boyfriend, Sebastian, her somewhat estranged aunt, Veronika, and a lawyer for her grandmother's Estate, all travel to the property for a weekend in order to do an inventory and to prepare the house for being put up for sale. The house holds many secrets though, and the closer they get to uncovering them, the more they wish they had never come to disturb what rests there.
I loved the sense of foreboding I had from page one. The Swedish countryside atmosphere is spooky, and Sten is a master at weaving the storyline from past to present in a way that not only flows succinctly, but also creates suspense in both storylines, which is difficult to do. I thought the blend of past and present was wickedly clever in that everything fell into place perfectly, but in a manner that kept me from completely figuring things out until the very end. I enjoyed all of the characters, even with their dark sides, and I suspected each one of them of nefarious dealings at one point or another. Did the ending leave me aghast with my mouth gaping open? No, but that being said, it was still well-executed and satisfying.
Overall, this is my favorite kind of horror read - a plot with supernatural elements that is later exposed as having very "earthly" explanations. 4 stars.
January 25, 2023
Struggling with what to write about this one. I wasn't a big fan of Sten's previous book (The Lost Village) and this one made more sense to me, but it wasn't altogether successful.
Eleanor suffers from prosopagnosia (face blindness) and although she saw the person who killed her grandmother, she cannot identify that person. When she finds out that her grandmother had a secret estate in the remote woods, Eleanor, her boyfriend Sebastian, her aunt Veronika, and Rikard, the attorney in charge of cataloguing the estate all head there. Family secret upon family secret threaten to be revealed as the group is stranded in the house in a snowstorm. Is there someone else there with them?
I'll admit that I don't suffer from prosopagnosia, so I don't really understand or know what someone with that issue deals with. But I couldn't stand Eleanor and I got weary of reading about her paranoia at every turn. I thought Sebastian was a saint for putting up with her hysteria.
I pretty much figured everything out as things were going along, because there were some flashbacks in another POV that made things kind of obvious. I was surprised by a couple of the twists, but overall some things just didn't make complete sense to me and so the book wasn't as thrilling as it could have been
It's definitely better than The Lost Village, so I will give her some points there, but I'm not convinced she's an author for me.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book all opinions are my own.
January 1, 2023
$2.99 on Kindle! A 4* read! What further pushing do you need?
The Publisher Says: A spine-chilling, propulsive psychological suspense from international sensation Camilla Sten.
The medical term is prosopagnosia. The average person calls it face blindness—the inability to recognize a familiar person’s face, even the faces of those closest to you.
When Eleanor walked in on the scene of her capriciously cruel grandmother, Vivianne’s, murder, she came face to face with the killer—a maddening expression that means nothing to someone like her. With each passing day, her anxiety mounts. The dark feelings of having brushed by a killer, yet not know who could do this—or if they’d be back—overtakes both her dreams and her waking moments, thwarting her perception of reality.
Then a lawyer calls. Vivianne has left her a house—a looming estate tucked away in the Swedish woods. The place her grandfather died, suddenly. A place that has housed a dark past for over fifty years.
Eleanor. Her steadfast boyfriend, Sebastian. Her reckless aunt, Veronika. The lawyer. All will go to this house of secrets, looking for answers. But as they get closer to bringing the truth to light, they’ll wish they had never come to disturb what rests there.
A heart-thumping, relentless thriller that will shake you to your core, The Resting Place is an unforgettable novel of horror and suspense.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: I've known someone with prosopagnosia well, and for a lot longer than I have known the word or the condition existed. It's one of the reasons I was really eager to get this book's DRC and devour it. I was so happy to see this under-represented and misunderstood disability represented at all. I hoped, of course, to see it represented well.
It was. The condition of "face-blindness" was truly well established, in a complex and multivalent way; it was also chillingly effectively woven into a deeply unsettling, even unnerving, plot.
What happens, as you've seen in the book description, is a scene of brutal violence that simply can't be forgotten by anyone who's experienced anything remotely close to it. But, in Eleanor's case, it's a scene that lacks a very important resonance. She's seen a murder, and a murderer, and she can't forget it but can't process it, can't help assign guilt to the guilty because she is biomechanically incapable of the necessary function. And then what happens? She inherits the house her grandmother failed to tell her that she owned. Way to lard the stress into the liver of the story...another set of unknown people, faces ever unknown to her and markers to somehow fasten onto their identities.
From that point on, I was so very sold on this read. I could not WAIT to see how this awful psychological double bind would resolve.
The things I liked were, like the things I liked in The Lost Village, the ones that brought the character to life:
They're present, they're satisfyingly numerous, but in the end the thing that will make or break the read is one's response to the ending. The entire book is a set-up to the set-piece in the last, say, thirtyish pages. It's a big ask from a sophmore novelist. I was rewarded by it because its resolution was so very timely and so personal to me. I can't say more because the Spoiler Stasi will descend on me with malice and fury. This post will clue you in to the direction we're heading if you care to be enlightened.
I thought the use of a big, old, dark manor house in the country was going to be a silly distraction, a gewgaw meant to distract me from something...it wasn't, and it was; the big winter storm, another gothic-storytelling staple, was similarly used. These weren't my favorite moments in the book. I will say they didn't "ruin" my experience of the story as can happen with such inessentials. The nature of the story is so basically well-crafted that Author Sten could've chosen any one of an array of settings and accomplished her task.
I confess that, as I read along and Eleanor kept doing her Eleanor thing, I was half-dreading the need to slap an "ableism" content warning on the review. I was so relieved that I did not feel Author Sten had crossed my own mental threshhold for use of a disability shading into the old, dark "crippled" territory I've still been hit with in the twenty-first century.
I'm going to leave the last words to Eleanor, via Author Sten. I think they say more about what I derived from this read than I can.
The Publisher Says: A spine-chilling, propulsive psychological suspense from international sensation Camilla Sten.
The medical term is prosopagnosia. The average person calls it face blindness—the inability to recognize a familiar person’s face, even the faces of those closest to you.
When Eleanor walked in on the scene of her capriciously cruel grandmother, Vivianne’s, murder, she came face to face with the killer—a maddening expression that means nothing to someone like her. With each passing day, her anxiety mounts. The dark feelings of having brushed by a killer, yet not know who could do this—or if they’d be back—overtakes both her dreams and her waking moments, thwarting her perception of reality.
Then a lawyer calls. Vivianne has left her a house—a looming estate tucked away in the Swedish woods. The place her grandfather died, suddenly. A place that has housed a dark past for over fifty years.
Eleanor. Her steadfast boyfriend, Sebastian. Her reckless aunt, Veronika. The lawyer. All will go to this house of secrets, looking for answers. But as they get closer to bringing the truth to light, they’ll wish they had never come to disturb what rests there.
A heart-thumping, relentless thriller that will shake you to your core, The Resting Place is an unforgettable novel of horror and suspense.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: I've known someone with prosopagnosia well, and for a lot longer than I have known the word or the condition existed. It's one of the reasons I was really eager to get this book's DRC and devour it. I was so happy to see this under-represented and misunderstood disability represented at all. I hoped, of course, to see it represented well.
It was. The condition of "face-blindness" was truly well established, in a complex and multivalent way; it was also chillingly effectively woven into a deeply unsettling, even unnerving, plot.
Prosopagnosia, face blindness. It means my brain doesn’t process human faces the same way others’ do. I can’t recognize faces, so have to memorize distinguishing features instead.
What happens, as you've seen in the book description, is a scene of brutal violence that simply can't be forgotten by anyone who's experienced anything remotely close to it. But, in Eleanor's case, it's a scene that lacks a very important resonance. She's seen a murder, and a murderer, and she can't forget it but can't process it, can't help assign guilt to the guilty because she is biomechanically incapable of the necessary function. And then what happens? She inherits the house her grandmother failed to tell her that she owned. Way to lard the stress into the liver of the story...another set of unknown people, faces ever unknown to her and markers to somehow fasten onto their identities.
From that point on, I was so very sold on this read. I could not WAIT to see how this awful psychological double bind would resolve.
The things I liked were, like the things I liked in The Lost Village, the ones that brought the character to life:
...it’s the body that panics first, the brain that follows. If I can just keep my breaths slow and force myself to relax then I can trick my mind into calm.
–and–
“Your fear is valid, but that doesn’t make it real. The fear may be true, but it doesn’t have to be your truth.”
They're present, they're satisfyingly numerous, but in the end the thing that will make or break the read is one's response to the ending. The entire book is a set-up to the set-piece in the last, say, thirtyish pages. It's a big ask from a sophmore novelist. I was rewarded by it because its resolution was so very timely and so personal to me. I can't say more because the Spoiler Stasi will descend on me with malice and fury. This post will clue you in to the direction we're heading if you care to be enlightened.
I thought the use of a big, old, dark manor house in the country was going to be a silly distraction, a gewgaw meant to distract me from something...it wasn't, and it was; the big winter storm, another gothic-storytelling staple, was similarly used. These weren't my favorite moments in the book. I will say they didn't "ruin" my experience of the story as can happen with such inessentials. The nature of the story is so basically well-crafted that Author Sten could've chosen any one of an array of settings and accomplished her task.
I confess that, as I read along and Eleanor kept doing her Eleanor thing, I was half-dreading the need to slap an "ableism" content warning on the review. I was so relieved that I did not feel Author Sten had crossed my own mental threshhold for use of a disability shading into the old, dark "crippled" territory I've still been hit with in the twenty-first century.
I'm going to leave the last words to Eleanor, via Author Sten. I think they say more about what I derived from this read than I can.
She says that wounds can leave scars on our souls just like on our bodies, and that we have to learn to live with them rather than try to rid ourselves of them completely.
January 4, 2022
Camille Sten does a great job of creating a creepy, tension filled story. From almost the very beginning, the book had me on edge.
Eleanor suffers from prosopagnosia, or face blindness. So, when she walks into the scene of her grandmother’s murder, she is unable to identify the person who rushes out the door. Then she finds out her grandmother owned an estate in the Swedish countryside which was left jointly to her and her aunt. They go out, with the probate lawyer, to take stock. And then the fun starts. Eleanor keeps swearing she sees someone lurking around, and strange things do happen to her. A snow storm hits and they’re trapped creating a sort of locked room setting.
The story has two timelines - Eleanor’s story in the present day and Anushka’s in the mid 1960s, told from the standpoint of a diary found on the property.
This isn’t a fast paced story, but there’s an underlying sense of anxiety. Sten throws in enough twists that every time you think you know who’s behind the violence, you’re proven wrong. I was keen to see how it was all going to play out. I was right on one of the twists but I never did figure out who as behind the violence. This will work well for those who like some horror mixed in with their mystery.
There’s not a lot of character development here and for that reason, I’ve only rated this a three.
My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book.
Eleanor suffers from prosopagnosia, or face blindness. So, when she walks into the scene of her grandmother’s murder, she is unable to identify the person who rushes out the door. Then she finds out her grandmother owned an estate in the Swedish countryside which was left jointly to her and her aunt. They go out, with the probate lawyer, to take stock. And then the fun starts. Eleanor keeps swearing she sees someone lurking around, and strange things do happen to her. A snow storm hits and they’re trapped creating a sort of locked room setting.
The story has two timelines - Eleanor’s story in the present day and Anushka’s in the mid 1960s, told from the standpoint of a diary found on the property.
This isn’t a fast paced story, but there’s an underlying sense of anxiety. Sten throws in enough twists that every time you think you know who’s behind the violence, you’re proven wrong. I was keen to see how it was all going to play out. I was right on one of the twists but I never did figure out who as behind the violence. This will work well for those who like some horror mixed in with their mystery.
There’s not a lot of character development here and for that reason, I’ve only rated this a three.
My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book.
March 27, 2022
2.5 stars
I listened to about 60% and read the last 40% thanks to Dorie's gift of this book
Imagine brushing up against the person who murdered your grandmother. This was the fate of Eleanor, who suffers from an illness called, prosopagnosia, which renders her unable to recognize people's faces, Even her own face feels foreign to her.
Finding that her grandmother has left her summer cottage to her, Solhoga, a place that Eleanor has never heard of, she, her aunt, her grandmother's lawyer and her steadfast boyfriend, Sebastian travel to this cottage. It's sinister appearance adds to the gothic mood of the story, and of course we have many strange occurrences, as winter sets in and snow falls trapping them inside.
As the house starts to reveal his hidden secrets, we witness the cruelty of her grandmother, Vivianne, and the other former tenants of this creepy dwelling. Her aunt Veronika inherited the property as well, but as the circumstances slowly evolve, we are overwhelmed by the sense of being locked into something unreal and perhaps a tad supernatural, as Eleanor is fearful of losing her life and her days seemed to be filled with the feeling that someone is watching her.
This was a slow moving story that reverts back and forth between the past and the present. The character study was interesting, but it was a bit too ponderous for me.
Thanks you to NetGalley for the audio version of this story due out March 29, 2022.
I listened to about 60% and read the last 40% thanks to Dorie's gift of this book
Imagine brushing up against the person who murdered your grandmother. This was the fate of Eleanor, who suffers from an illness called, prosopagnosia, which renders her unable to recognize people's faces, Even her own face feels foreign to her.
Finding that her grandmother has left her summer cottage to her, Solhoga, a place that Eleanor has never heard of, she, her aunt, her grandmother's lawyer and her steadfast boyfriend, Sebastian travel to this cottage. It's sinister appearance adds to the gothic mood of the story, and of course we have many strange occurrences, as winter sets in and snow falls trapping them inside.
As the house starts to reveal his hidden secrets, we witness the cruelty of her grandmother, Vivianne, and the other former tenants of this creepy dwelling. Her aunt Veronika inherited the property as well, but as the circumstances slowly evolve, we are overwhelmed by the sense of being locked into something unreal and perhaps a tad supernatural, as Eleanor is fearful of losing her life and her days seemed to be filled with the feeling that someone is watching her.
This was a slow moving story that reverts back and forth between the past and the present. The character study was interesting, but it was a bit too ponderous for me.
Thanks you to NetGalley for the audio version of this story due out March 29, 2022.
March 26, 2022
A Resting Place by Camilla Sten was an addictive mystery thriller that I found hard to stop listening to. It had all the elements of suspense, horror, fear and tense moments necessary to make it a heart pounding mystery thriller. The characters were rich and well developed and the plot was swift and chilling. There were twists and turns and I found myself guessing often about the outcome. A Resting Place was saturated with hints and then revelations of long buried family secrets. The dynamics and long buried history and secrets of this troublesome family were centered around an eerie, rambling and isolated inherited estate. Angela Dawe performed this audiobook in a very convincing and wonderful way.
When Eleanor’s mother died from breast cancer, her maternal grandmother, Vivianne, brought her up. Her grandmother was not the most warm and loving figure young Eleanor had envisioned in her life. In contrast, Vivianne was demanding and controlling. As Eleanor approached adulthood, she finally escaped her grandmother’s smothering control. Of course Vivianne made stipulations about this arrangement. Eleanor was allowed to move out of her grandmother’s apartment as long as she came for dinner and called on the days her grandmother specified. On one of those expected family dinner nights, Eleanor arrived at her grandmother’s apartment only to be met by an unidentified person leaving her grandmother’s apartment in a hurry. Eleanor suffered from prosopagnosia since she was a young girl. She was not able to identify or recognize faces. Even though Eleanor looked directly at her grandmother’s killer she would never be able to identify the killer’s face. Eleanor very quickly realized that her grandmother had been brutally murdered with a pair of sharp scissors. Eleanor compensated for her disability by using voice recognition or by recognizing other distinguishing features about the person. Unfortunately, her grandmother’s killer never spoke and nothing about the killer was familiar to Eleanor. Although Eleanor and her grandmother had a very unconventional relationship, Eleanor was saddened by her grandmother’s death and realized how much she had loved her and would miss her. Eleanor became obsessed with fear and anxiety over what she had witnessed. She feared that the killer would return and she would be at a disadvantage because she would not be able to recognize the person as her grandmother’s murderer.
A few weeks after her grandmother’s murder, which the police ruled as a robbery, a lawyer contacted Eleanor and told her that her grandmother had left her an estate located in the Swedish woods. The lawyer advised Eleanor that before she decided whether she would keep the estate or sell it, they should pay a visit to the house and take inventory of all its belongings and determine their value. Eleanor never heard her grandmother talk about or mention anything about this house. She traveled to the house with her boyfriend of many years, Sebastian. Her estranged and sometimes unpleasant aunt Veronika and the lawyer met her and Sebastian there. The house had been abandoned for decades but appeared to have been well cared for by someone. Eleanor sensed something sinister and creepy as soon as she entered the house. It was in this house that her grandfather had died all those years ago. She felt a presence of someone watching them. Strange things began to happen. Things started to disappear. Were they all in danger? What secrets was the house hiding from Eleanor?
The Resting Place by Camilla Sten was told in alternating voices and time periods. The present day was told by Eleanor and the past was revealed through the pages of a diary that Eleanor discovered in the house. Eventually the past collided with the present. I did not see or guess the ending before it was revealed. I was captured by the occurrences and revelations that were presented in this audiobook. It was hard to turn off. I truly enjoyed listening to the audiobook of The Resting Place and highly recommend it.
Thank you to Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to this advanced copy of the audiobook of The Resting Place through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Publication is expected to be on March 29,2022
When Eleanor’s mother died from breast cancer, her maternal grandmother, Vivianne, brought her up. Her grandmother was not the most warm and loving figure young Eleanor had envisioned in her life. In contrast, Vivianne was demanding and controlling. As Eleanor approached adulthood, she finally escaped her grandmother’s smothering control. Of course Vivianne made stipulations about this arrangement. Eleanor was allowed to move out of her grandmother’s apartment as long as she came for dinner and called on the days her grandmother specified. On one of those expected family dinner nights, Eleanor arrived at her grandmother’s apartment only to be met by an unidentified person leaving her grandmother’s apartment in a hurry. Eleanor suffered from prosopagnosia since she was a young girl. She was not able to identify or recognize faces. Even though Eleanor looked directly at her grandmother’s killer she would never be able to identify the killer’s face. Eleanor very quickly realized that her grandmother had been brutally murdered with a pair of sharp scissors. Eleanor compensated for her disability by using voice recognition or by recognizing other distinguishing features about the person. Unfortunately, her grandmother’s killer never spoke and nothing about the killer was familiar to Eleanor. Although Eleanor and her grandmother had a very unconventional relationship, Eleanor was saddened by her grandmother’s death and realized how much she had loved her and would miss her. Eleanor became obsessed with fear and anxiety over what she had witnessed. She feared that the killer would return and she would be at a disadvantage because she would not be able to recognize the person as her grandmother’s murderer.
A few weeks after her grandmother’s murder, which the police ruled as a robbery, a lawyer contacted Eleanor and told her that her grandmother had left her an estate located in the Swedish woods. The lawyer advised Eleanor that before she decided whether she would keep the estate or sell it, they should pay a visit to the house and take inventory of all its belongings and determine their value. Eleanor never heard her grandmother talk about or mention anything about this house. She traveled to the house with her boyfriend of many years, Sebastian. Her estranged and sometimes unpleasant aunt Veronika and the lawyer met her and Sebastian there. The house had been abandoned for decades but appeared to have been well cared for by someone. Eleanor sensed something sinister and creepy as soon as she entered the house. It was in this house that her grandfather had died all those years ago. She felt a presence of someone watching them. Strange things began to happen. Things started to disappear. Were they all in danger? What secrets was the house hiding from Eleanor?
The Resting Place by Camilla Sten was told in alternating voices and time periods. The present day was told by Eleanor and the past was revealed through the pages of a diary that Eleanor discovered in the house. Eventually the past collided with the present. I did not see or guess the ending before it was revealed. I was captured by the occurrences and revelations that were presented in this audiobook. It was hard to turn off. I truly enjoyed listening to the audiobook of The Resting Place and highly recommend it.
Thank you to Macmillan Audio for allowing me to listen to this advanced copy of the audiobook of The Resting Place through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Publication is expected to be on March 29,2022
March 22, 2022
The Resting Place by Camilla Sten is a psychological suspense with an edge of horror in the mix. The story in The Resting Place is one that is told in different timelines from a present time and one with events in the past from diary entries with a different point of view.
Eleanor suffers from prosopagnosia or face blindness not being able to make out features on others faces. When Eleanor goes to visit her grandmother, Vivianne, she passes someone on their way out only to find her grandmother lying in a pool of blood brutally murdered.
A few months after the death of Vivianne Eleanor gets a call from a lawyer about an estate where her grandfather had died. The lawyer wants Eleanor to come with her aunt to the estate to take inventory of the house where Eleanor ends up finding a diary from the past.
So, The Resting Place by Camilla Sten seems to be another book that I am in the minority on but that’s ok, we can’t love them all. First, I’ve read other books with prosopagnosia and have absolutely loved them but with The Resting Place I would often forget until reminded it was a thing. But the thing that has my rating down to two stars really is that the story was just so slow going in my opinion and that made me just want more and end up losing interest. With other great reviews on this one I’d suggest checking it out for yourself if it sounds interesting to you.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.com/
Eleanor suffers from prosopagnosia or face blindness not being able to make out features on others faces. When Eleanor goes to visit her grandmother, Vivianne, she passes someone on their way out only to find her grandmother lying in a pool of blood brutally murdered.
A few months after the death of Vivianne Eleanor gets a call from a lawyer about an estate where her grandfather had died. The lawyer wants Eleanor to come with her aunt to the estate to take inventory of the house where Eleanor ends up finding a diary from the past.
So, The Resting Place by Camilla Sten seems to be another book that I am in the minority on but that’s ok, we can’t love them all. First, I’ve read other books with prosopagnosia and have absolutely loved them but with The Resting Place I would often forget until reminded it was a thing. But the thing that has my rating down to two stars really is that the story was just so slow going in my opinion and that made me just want more and end up losing interest. With other great reviews on this one I’d suggest checking it out for yourself if it sounds interesting to you.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
For more reviews please visit https://carriesbookreviews.com/
Shelved as 'dnf'
March 26, 2022Dnf @ 35%
Just can’t muster up any interest in the story or the characters.
I received a digital ARC from EW and a digital audio from NetGalley. All opinions are my own
Just can’t muster up any interest in the story or the characters.
I received a digital ARC from EW and a digital audio from NetGalley. All opinions are my own
March 15, 2022
The novel was an atmospheric thriller set in an old family mansion after the murder of her grandmother right in front of Eleanor. Eleanor should be able to point out the murderer but she suffers from prosopagnosia, the inability to recognize faces of even those she knows and loves (even herself). When a lawyer calls for inventory of the house, Eleanor, her boyfriend, Sebastian, her aunt, Veronica and the lawyer all go out to the middle of nowhere to go over it. However, mysterious things start happening and a storm has them trapped! Dun dun dun.
Ok so to be totally upfront this was well written, the atmospheric writing was well done and did add tension and creepiness throughout the story. It did feel like anything could happen at any time. That’s not really the problem here.
The problem was the characters. They were assigned about one personality trait each (except for Eleanor who was assigned all of them) and then, if not Eleanor, told to act as suspicious as possible for no apparent reason throughout the entire book. Eleanor is strong, no weak, no brave, no cowardly, no - somehow tiny enough to fit in a dumbwaiter but also not know what a dumbwaiter is. There’s just nonsense that happens throughout the story. Two characters are revealed to be skulking about the house ‘looking for clues’ about two totally different things and neither wanted to get caught but neither just thought about going to this mostly abandoned property when…no one was there? Multiple murder *is* a lesser charge than breaking and entering so I get their thought process. Or…wait do we have that backwards?
No one makes any sense! The relationships are ridiculous. Sebastian and Eleanor have supposedly been together for six years but they could have met a month ago for all I could tell. Veronica is hugely rude to Eleanor and everyone for seemingly no reason.
Eleanor’s prosopagnosia is an interesting concept but that’s about it. Honestly, the murderer could have just run past her real fast and she not get a good look and it would be almost the same concept. I think we are supposed to also assume because she has one mental disorder that she could be a crazy and hallucinate all the time. Its not a very good representation of being neurodivergent.
The flashbacks were the most interesting part which is not something I usually say. But Vivienne and Annika were rather captivating and felt more real than anyone in the present time. I would have liked to see more of the transitional period of character growth but we were basically just told it happened which seems disingenuous to what we knew of the character in the past.
But the worst was the reveal of the plot twist. It was a crazy twist in that I didn’t suspect it! Because I could not care less about that person.
Overall, I would maybe recommend this book if you like atmospheric thrillers. Its got good ratings otherwise and what bothered me definitely won’t bother everyone. The writing was good and I would try this author again even if I didn’t like this one.
Thanks to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for an audio ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Will do a full write up later!
Ok so to be totally upfront this was well written, the atmospheric writing was well done and did add tension and creepiness throughout the story. It did feel like anything could happen at any time. That’s not really the problem here.
The problem was the characters. They were assigned about one personality trait each (except for Eleanor who was assigned all of them) and then, if not Eleanor, told to act as suspicious as possible for no apparent reason throughout the entire book. Eleanor is strong, no weak, no brave, no cowardly, no - somehow tiny enough to fit in a dumbwaiter but also not know what a dumbwaiter is. There’s just nonsense that happens throughout the story. Two characters are revealed to be skulking about the house ‘looking for clues’ about two totally different things and neither wanted to get caught but neither just thought about going to this mostly abandoned property when…no one was there? Multiple murder *is* a lesser charge than breaking and entering so I get their thought process. Or…wait do we have that backwards?
No one makes any sense! The relationships are ridiculous. Sebastian and Eleanor have supposedly been together for six years but they could have met a month ago for all I could tell. Veronica is hugely rude to Eleanor and everyone for seemingly no reason.
Eleanor’s prosopagnosia is an interesting concept but that’s about it. Honestly, the murderer could have just run past her real fast and she not get a good look and it would be almost the same concept. I think we are supposed to also assume because she has one mental disorder that she could be a crazy and hallucinate all the time. Its not a very good representation of being neurodivergent.
The flashbacks were the most interesting part which is not something I usually say. But Vivienne and Annika were rather captivating and felt more real than anyone in the present time. I would have liked to see more of the transitional period of character growth but we were basically just told it happened which seems disingenuous to what we knew of the character in the past.
But the worst was the reveal of the plot twist. It was a crazy twist in that I didn’t suspect it! Because I could not care less about that person.
Overall, I would maybe recommend this book if you like atmospheric thrillers. Its got good ratings otherwise and what bothered me definitely won’t bother everyone. The writing was good and I would try this author again even if I didn’t like this one.
Thanks to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for an audio ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Will do a full write up later!
March 21, 2022
An atmospheric and creepy gothic novel that is beautifully narrated in audio format by Angela Dawe.
This book follows two timelines, one in the Nordic 1800s and one in present day. Eleanor, our present-day heroine, suffers from face blindness, and comes upon some writings implicating her ancestors in some terrible and very gothic crimes and abuses at the same time as she is working to solve a present-day mystery. Take one part Flowers in the Attic, mix with one part Nordic noir and half a cup of historical romance and you will have The Resting Place.
This is a slow burn for sure, but beautifully written, haunting, and full of atmosphere, weird familial relations, forbidden relationships, longed-for children, .identity crises, and abusive and sinister ancient adults. The narrator does a wonderful job of increasing the drama, mood and atmosphere, and I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook and the many characters and their convincing tones and accents.
Camilla Sten remains a unique, lovely and descriptive writer and I look forward to her next book! Her tone and atmosphere are a perfect match for Angela Dawe’s voice acting skills. I hope the author can keep using this narrator for future books.
Thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and St. Martin’s Press for this lovely and creepy listen.
This book follows two timelines, one in the Nordic 1800s and one in present day. Eleanor, our present-day heroine, suffers from face blindness, and comes upon some writings implicating her ancestors in some terrible and very gothic crimes and abuses at the same time as she is working to solve a present-day mystery. Take one part Flowers in the Attic, mix with one part Nordic noir and half a cup of historical romance and you will have The Resting Place.
This is a slow burn for sure, but beautifully written, haunting, and full of atmosphere, weird familial relations, forbidden relationships, longed-for children, .identity crises, and abusive and sinister ancient adults. The narrator does a wonderful job of increasing the drama, mood and atmosphere, and I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook and the many characters and their convincing tones and accents.
Camilla Sten remains a unique, lovely and descriptive writer and I look forward to her next book! Her tone and atmosphere are a perfect match for Angela Dawe’s voice acting skills. I hope the author can keep using this narrator for future books.
Thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and St. Martin’s Press for this lovely and creepy listen.
September 21, 2021
I LOVED The Lost Village, so when I heard about this book, I was so freaking excited. I thoroughly enjoyed it while hiding under my blanket. Put my other books aside with no regrets and started flipping. I am such a fan of Camilla's style. It's unique and dark and eerie, all the good stuff. I cannot put her books down. This one was grabbed me, sucked me in immediately, and completely freaked me out in a totally different way than The Lost Village. Prosopagnosia "face blindness"...this is another level of heart pounding, hold my partner's hand in the middle of the night because I am a chicken who loves thrillers, yes yes yes! Face to face with a killer, but you can't recognize it. Chills!! I can't wait for more from this author. Anything that comes next will be an automatic preorder. Loved it!
March 6, 2022
The Resting Place is a slow-paced horror/thriller with a novel premise and lyrical prose.
The novel is told in two timelines. In the present day chapters, Eleanor is venturing into the secret mansion that her grandmother bequeathed her in her will. She's accompanied by her boyfriend, her aunt, and a lawyer. She had never even known that her grandmother had this mansion out in the middle of nowhere, and there is a lot of mystery surrounding why she would keep this place a secret. Five months ago, Eleanor's grandmother had been murdered, and Eleanor saw the killer. The catch? She suffers from prosopagnosia–a rare mental disorder that makes her unable to recognize faces. She can’t recognize anyone, not her boyfriend of six years, her grandmother, or even the woman staring back at her in her reflection. The killer could be right in front of her, and she would never know.
The past timeline is diary entries written in the 1960s, following a young woman, Anushka, who works as a maid for Eleanor’s grandmother. This storyline is much slower paced, though these chapters are quite short and span over a much greater amount of time.
The psychological aspects of the story go far beyond just Eleanor’s inability to recognize faces. Her grandmother, Vivian, was mentally abusive, and even in death, the effects of her maltreatment resonate throughout the narrative. Eleanor regularly has intrusive thoughts--critical, cruel asides in the voice of her grandmother. This adds to the suspense in otherwise slow-paced scenes, racketing up the tension, as these comments and insertions are far from benign.
This book, while slow paced, is engaging and unputdownable. I read it for the POPSUGAR reading challenge category “Read in one sitting”, and I literally didn’t get up once, not even for a bathroom break! (Granted, I was on a plane, so I really didn't want to get up!) I thought I’d predicted the end of the story early on, and while I had some aspects figured out, the twists were well plotted out and cleverly surprised me in the end.
One thing that I do want to point out is that Eleanor’s inability to recognize faces didn’t play as big of a role in the plot as I’d been hoping. I saw the Milla Jovovich film “Faces in the Crowd” years ago, where Jovovich played a character with this same condition. Part of the suspense in that film was that she never truly knew who she was interacting with, and anyone could be the killer, even those she trusted. In this book, while her prosopagnosia is critical to the main premise of the book, the rest of the story only has a handful of characters. The book would have been more suspenseful had she regularly encountered strangers or acquaintances and constantly questioned if they could have been the killer.
All in all, this is a suspenseful, beautifully written psychological thriller.
Thank you to Netgalley for the arc to review
This review appeared first on https://powerlibrarian.wordpress.com/
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My 2022 Reading Challenge
POPSUGAR Reading Challenge 2022: This book fulfills the "A book read in one sitting" category.
The novel is told in two timelines. In the present day chapters, Eleanor is venturing into the secret mansion that her grandmother bequeathed her in her will. She's accompanied by her boyfriend, her aunt, and a lawyer. She had never even known that her grandmother had this mansion out in the middle of nowhere, and there is a lot of mystery surrounding why she would keep this place a secret. Five months ago, Eleanor's grandmother had been murdered, and Eleanor saw the killer. The catch? She suffers from prosopagnosia–a rare mental disorder that makes her unable to recognize faces. She can’t recognize anyone, not her boyfriend of six years, her grandmother, or even the woman staring back at her in her reflection. The killer could be right in front of her, and she would never know.
The past timeline is diary entries written in the 1960s, following a young woman, Anushka, who works as a maid for Eleanor’s grandmother. This storyline is much slower paced, though these chapters are quite short and span over a much greater amount of time.
The psychological aspects of the story go far beyond just Eleanor’s inability to recognize faces. Her grandmother, Vivian, was mentally abusive, and even in death, the effects of her maltreatment resonate throughout the narrative. Eleanor regularly has intrusive thoughts--critical, cruel asides in the voice of her grandmother. This adds to the suspense in otherwise slow-paced scenes, racketing up the tension, as these comments and insertions are far from benign.
This book, while slow paced, is engaging and unputdownable. I read it for the POPSUGAR reading challenge category “Read in one sitting”, and I literally didn’t get up once, not even for a bathroom break! (Granted, I was on a plane, so I really didn't want to get up!) I thought I’d predicted the end of the story early on, and while I had some aspects figured out, the twists were well plotted out and cleverly surprised me in the end.
One thing that I do want to point out is that Eleanor’s inability to recognize faces didn’t play as big of a role in the plot as I’d been hoping. I saw the Milla Jovovich film “Faces in the Crowd” years ago, where Jovovich played a character with this same condition. Part of the suspense in that film was that she never truly knew who she was interacting with, and anyone could be the killer, even those she trusted. In this book, while her prosopagnosia is critical to the main premise of the book, the rest of the story only has a handful of characters. The book would have been more suspenseful had she regularly encountered strangers or acquaintances and constantly questioned if they could have been the killer.
All in all, this is a suspenseful, beautifully written psychological thriller.
Thank you to Netgalley for the arc to review
This review appeared first on https://powerlibrarian.wordpress.com/
Book Blog | Instagram | TikTok | Website | Twitter
My 2022 Reading Challenge
POPSUGAR Reading Challenge 2022: This book fulfills the "A book read in one sitting" category.
Want to read
June 23, 2021A thriller about face blindness?
My inner psych major is sCREAMING
My inner psych major is sCREAMING
May 9, 2022
Chilling! THE RESTING PLACE is creepy-good quiet horror. I enjoyed the cold, atmospheric setting of the isolated estate that the protagonist inherits. What disturbing family secrets are buried there? The twists were delicious and disturbing! Borrowed from the library.
March 17, 2022
3.5 stars
When you suffer from prosopagnosia, it makes you question things. Such as who can you trust. You can't recognize a familiar person's face. How do you form relationships?
Eleanor has walked in on her grandmother, Vivianne 's murder. She came face to face with the killer. She goes through her days knowing she came face to face with a killer, but who?
Vivianne has left Eleanor her home deep in the Swedish woods. A house that has housed a secret for the last fifty years. So, Elanor, her boyfriend, Sebastian, her lawyer and Veronika, her aunt go to her inherited home. The house has housed secrets for years, will the secrets ever see the light of day? But first there is that pesky snowstorm that does what snowstorms do, keeps them stuck at the home where *gasp* you guessed it, strange things are beginning to happen.
This book is told in two timelines and readers get a glimpse into the origin of the secrets though the use of a diary. Into the time when Sir and Ma'am ran the house. When servants did as they were told and then some.
I listened to the audiobook and at times found my attention wandering. There were parts I wished would speed up. I wanted a little more dread and tension. Yes, there is some, but I wanted more. As the snow piled up outside and I wanted more fear inside. This is in the horror genre, but I wanted it to be more horrific.
Fans of Sten will most likely enjoy this one. Overall, I found this to be enjoyable but not as horrific as I wanted and slow in parts.
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
When you suffer from prosopagnosia, it makes you question things. Such as who can you trust. You can't recognize a familiar person's face. How do you form relationships?
Eleanor has walked in on her grandmother, Vivianne 's murder. She came face to face with the killer. She goes through her days knowing she came face to face with a killer, but who?
Vivianne has left Eleanor her home deep in the Swedish woods. A house that has housed a secret for the last fifty years. So, Elanor, her boyfriend, Sebastian, her lawyer and Veronika, her aunt go to her inherited home. The house has housed secrets for years, will the secrets ever see the light of day? But first there is that pesky snowstorm that does what snowstorms do, keeps them stuck at the home where *gasp* you guessed it, strange things are beginning to happen.
This book is told in two timelines and readers get a glimpse into the origin of the secrets though the use of a diary. Into the time when Sir and Ma'am ran the house. When servants did as they were told and then some.
I listened to the audiobook and at times found my attention wandering. There were parts I wished would speed up. I wanted a little more dread and tension. Yes, there is some, but I wanted more. As the snow piled up outside and I wanted more fear inside. This is in the horror genre, but I wanted it to be more horrific.
Fans of Sten will most likely enjoy this one. Overall, I found this to be enjoyable but not as horrific as I wanted and slow in parts.
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com
November 30, 2021
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: March 29, 2022
Camilla Sten’s second English novel “The Resting Place”, brings together family secrets, an old mansion, and a murder (or two) that will leave readers feeling that Agatha Christie vibe. After the success of her novel, “The Lost Village”, I was eager to devour Sten’s newest release.
Eleanor found her grandmother, Vivianne, brutally murdered on the kitchen floor. She even saw the person who did it, as they tried to escape the scene. The problem? Eleanor has prosopagnosia, which means she can’t remember people’s faces, no matter how familiar they are to her. When she finds out her grandmother has willed her an abandoned estate in the Swedish woods, Eleanor hopes to find the secrets her grandmother kept hidden, in hopes of solving the mystery of who killed her. Along with her boyfriend, Sebastien, Eleanor’s aunt, Veronika and the estate lawyer, Rickard, Eleanor finds far more than she was looking for, and ends up running for her life.
There are a lot of characters in “The Resting Place”, many of them are related, and the majority of them are female names that start with the letter “V”. Throughout most of this novel, it was very difficult for me to track who was who, who was related to whom, and how it all came about. However, once I was able to get a handle on all the branches of the family tree (which, admittedly, took longer than I expected, this novel flowed easily and I was captivated.
The story is told in two time periods, present day and the 1960s, and is narrated by two different protagonists (Eleanor and Agnuska, who was the estate’s maid). Sten keeps the real identity of Anushka a secret until the final pages, for obvious reasons, but I enjoyed hearing the story from her viewpoint. When Anushka’s real identity was revealed, I was not entirely surprised (as there had been subtle hints dropped throughout) but Sten delivered the twist with ease.
“Place” flowed well, and its short chapters made it addictively easy to read. I wasn’t a huge fan of the character of Eleanor at the beginning, as she appeared to constantly be doing the opposite of what I expected her to do (or what I myself would’ve done), but she did eventually grow on me. Labeled as “neurotic” and “crazy” her entire life, Eleanor had to earn the trust of those around her, which endeared me to her towards the end.
I loved the haunting estate, the Stephen King-esque snowstorm and the Agatha Christie “whodunit” that “Resting Place” delivered. Although the plot pulled from a lot of other sources, Sten should be given proper credit for writing a gripping horror novel that will leave you guessing to the very end.
Expected publication date: March 29, 2022
Camilla Sten’s second English novel “The Resting Place”, brings together family secrets, an old mansion, and a murder (or two) that will leave readers feeling that Agatha Christie vibe. After the success of her novel, “The Lost Village”, I was eager to devour Sten’s newest release.
Eleanor found her grandmother, Vivianne, brutally murdered on the kitchen floor. She even saw the person who did it, as they tried to escape the scene. The problem? Eleanor has prosopagnosia, which means she can’t remember people’s faces, no matter how familiar they are to her. When she finds out her grandmother has willed her an abandoned estate in the Swedish woods, Eleanor hopes to find the secrets her grandmother kept hidden, in hopes of solving the mystery of who killed her. Along with her boyfriend, Sebastien, Eleanor’s aunt, Veronika and the estate lawyer, Rickard, Eleanor finds far more than she was looking for, and ends up running for her life.
There are a lot of characters in “The Resting Place”, many of them are related, and the majority of them are female names that start with the letter “V”. Throughout most of this novel, it was very difficult for me to track who was who, who was related to whom, and how it all came about. However, once I was able to get a handle on all the branches of the family tree (which, admittedly, took longer than I expected, this novel flowed easily and I was captivated.
The story is told in two time periods, present day and the 1960s, and is narrated by two different protagonists (Eleanor and Agnuska, who was the estate’s maid). Sten keeps the real identity of Anushka a secret until the final pages, for obvious reasons, but I enjoyed hearing the story from her viewpoint. When Anushka’s real identity was revealed, I was not entirely surprised (as there had been subtle hints dropped throughout) but Sten delivered the twist with ease.
“Place” flowed well, and its short chapters made it addictively easy to read. I wasn’t a huge fan of the character of Eleanor at the beginning, as she appeared to constantly be doing the opposite of what I expected her to do (or what I myself would’ve done), but she did eventually grow on me. Labeled as “neurotic” and “crazy” her entire life, Eleanor had to earn the trust of those around her, which endeared me to her towards the end.
I loved the haunting estate, the Stephen King-esque snowstorm and the Agatha Christie “whodunit” that “Resting Place” delivered. Although the plot pulled from a lot of other sources, Sten should be given proper credit for writing a gripping horror novel that will leave you guessing to the very end.
March 13, 2022
This had me hooked from the beginning and I absolutely could NOT put it down! Once I found time to read, it was read in one day! If you are looking for a creepy, atmospheric book this is it.
Eleanor has come upon her grandmother, Vivianne, who was just murdered. She catches the murderer in the act but she suffers from prosopagnosia which renders her unable to see exactly who the killer is. (side note: prosopagnosia seems to be a new common theme in novels). Eleanor is then contacted by a lawyer letting her know she inherited a country manor from her grandmother and needs to go and review/log the assets.
Flash forward and we are now at the manor with her boyfriend, aunt and lawyer. What I really enjoyed was the exploration of the manor along with the secrets it may have. Chapters then flip to Anushka's POV about her time in the manor. How it all ties together we do not know.
What I loved:
Inherited creepy manor: That just always sucks me in.
Hidden Diaries: Yep, check!
Alternate timelines: Always a favorite, double check! And they came together very nicely.
Alternate POV: For sure!
All of these things came together really well and the atmosphere generated was perfect. How the author pulled everything together was so good!
What I didn't like(up until 80% this was a 5 start read):
The ending! Not because it was bad at all, it was how it ended, it's like the tone of the book changed and the why didn't resonate for me. I would totally get into it further but don't want to spoil the book. Once several of the big reveals happened I could totally see the clues interspersed throughout and loved how I would be like hmmm, ok I see that now, nice!
This is my second book by this author and the writing and atmosphere is awesome and can't wait for the next one.
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
Eleanor has come upon her grandmother, Vivianne, who was just murdered. She catches the murderer in the act but she suffers from prosopagnosia which renders her unable to see exactly who the killer is. (side note: prosopagnosia seems to be a new common theme in novels). Eleanor is then contacted by a lawyer letting her know she inherited a country manor from her grandmother and needs to go and review/log the assets.
Flash forward and we are now at the manor with her boyfriend, aunt and lawyer. What I really enjoyed was the exploration of the manor along with the secrets it may have. Chapters then flip to Anushka's POV about her time in the manor. How it all ties together we do not know.
What I loved:
Inherited creepy manor: That just always sucks me in.
Hidden Diaries: Yep, check!
Alternate timelines: Always a favorite, double check! And they came together very nicely.
Alternate POV: For sure!
All of these things came together really well and the atmosphere generated was perfect. How the author pulled everything together was so good!
What I didn't like(up until 80% this was a 5 start read):
The ending! Not because it was bad at all, it was how it ended, it's like the tone of the book changed and the why didn't resonate for me. I would totally get into it further but don't want to spoil the book. Once several of the big reveals happened I could totally see the clues interspersed throughout and loved how I would be like hmmm, ok I see that now, nice!
This is my second book by this author and the writing and atmosphere is awesome and can't wait for the next one.
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
December 30, 2021
Well where to start with this one? I read this author’s previous work and remember being disappointed it wasn’t as supernatural as I thought. This book for me at least was a little confusing. We jump between two different timelines and there are many characters. However I enjoyed this one a lot more than her first book.
Eleanor has prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness. This means that she is unable to recognize peoples faces. Even those who are closest to her. Eleanor unfortunately found her grandmother Vivianne murdered in her apartment. She actually bumped into the killer as they fled. She begins almost obsessively thinking about who the murder could be and if they will return.
The family lawyer calls and tells Eleanor that her grandmother has left her an a beautiful estate tucked away in the Swedish woods. Eleanor, her boyfriend, her crazy aunt Veronika and her lawyer all make their way to the estate. This has a dark past and as the visitors dig deeper for the answers to their questions they come to the realization that maybe some secrets are meant to be buried.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.
Eleanor has prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness. This means that she is unable to recognize peoples faces. Even those who are closest to her. Eleanor unfortunately found her grandmother Vivianne murdered in her apartment. She actually bumped into the killer as they fled. She begins almost obsessively thinking about who the murder could be and if they will return.
The family lawyer calls and tells Eleanor that her grandmother has left her an a beautiful estate tucked away in the Swedish woods. Eleanor, her boyfriend, her crazy aunt Veronika and her lawyer all make their way to the estate. This has a dark past and as the visitors dig deeper for the answers to their questions they come to the realization that maybe some secrets are meant to be buried.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.
September 10, 2021
Camilla Sten’s debut was excellent. Pure excellence, a how to instant genre classic of an exciting and terrifying thriller. Naturally I was psyched to read her follow up. And I did. And this review is a chronicle of that disappointment.
It’s possible that coming out of the gate as strongly as Sten did, she simply set the bar too high for her subsequent efforts. It’s possible this and not its predecessor is the one off for an obviously talented author. But at any rate, this is a prime example of a sophomore slump and it’s just freaking sad.
There’s none of Sten’s debut’s originality, none of its elan, none of its dynamism. What you get instead is a strictly by numbers genre story, an all in the family thriller set in a remote Swedish location for atmosphere and so geographically contained that it’s practically a locked estate mystery.
It’s an estate the story’s protagonist, Eleanor, inherits from her recently murdered grandmother, a difficult, mercurial and imperious woman with some secrets in her closet. Eleanor promptly grabs her boyfriend and sets off to uncloset some of those secrets on location, along with her aunt and the estate lawyer. Once they get there, they notice that the longserving caretaker is missing and that is only the beginning of their difficulties. Some secrets don’t want to be known and some aren’t worth the effort to uncover.
Granted, this estate, this family, has more secrets than most and darker ones at that, but the unearthing of them is so slow and what’s found is so clichéd that it seldom seems worth the effort.
For this novel Sten took a minute by minute approach some thriller authors do, meaning the bulk of the narrative is dedicated to chronicling every minute moment and every momentous minute of the live of its characters and that’s fine to bulk up the word count, but doesn’t do much for the suspense building. In fact, the plot is so precisely so meticulously stretched out, you can see the seams straining to contain it.
Because of course if the story hurried up, there wouldn’t be much of it. There aren’t even that many characters and the ones you have aren’t there aren’t even that likeable or interesting. The only interesting thing about Eleanor is her prosopagnosia (and how contrived it that), meaning that while she saw who offed her granny, she can’t tell who it was.
Much like most thrillers of this kind, the narrative is split between the past and the present, with the past being an upstairs/downstairs melodrama and the present being…well, underwhelming. The weather locks the characters inside and there might be a killer lurking on the premises. Boohoo. Actually the entire production is melodramatic and underwhelming, especially considering that the author has already blatantly demonstrated she can do so much more.
The writing is still good, you can’t get rid of that easily, Sten can write, but the plotting is subpar at best and pacing leaves much to be desired. There is a prerequisite ending plot twist and (kudos to Sten here) it isn’t a predictable one, but it’s also just another example of the questionable character psychology employed in this novel, from development to motivations.
Overall, this was a disappointment. Sadly so. I would have read whatever Sten wrote based on the strength of her debut, this novel had very much the opposite effect. It isn’t terrible, mind you, it really isn’t. It’s just so blah, so slow, so average. I’m a huge genre fans, I love Scandinoir too, but there was just nothing here to wow the reader. And really, it’s Sten’s own fault, for being so good to begin with. Presumably her next book will be the one to tell which of these two was a typical Sten. Thanks Netgalley.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
It’s possible that coming out of the gate as strongly as Sten did, she simply set the bar too high for her subsequent efforts. It’s possible this and not its predecessor is the one off for an obviously talented author. But at any rate, this is a prime example of a sophomore slump and it’s just freaking sad.
There’s none of Sten’s debut’s originality, none of its elan, none of its dynamism. What you get instead is a strictly by numbers genre story, an all in the family thriller set in a remote Swedish location for atmosphere and so geographically contained that it’s practically a locked estate mystery.
It’s an estate the story’s protagonist, Eleanor, inherits from her recently murdered grandmother, a difficult, mercurial and imperious woman with some secrets in her closet. Eleanor promptly grabs her boyfriend and sets off to uncloset some of those secrets on location, along with her aunt and the estate lawyer. Once they get there, they notice that the longserving caretaker is missing and that is only the beginning of their difficulties. Some secrets don’t want to be known and some aren’t worth the effort to uncover.
Granted, this estate, this family, has more secrets than most and darker ones at that, but the unearthing of them is so slow and what’s found is so clichéd that it seldom seems worth the effort.
For this novel Sten took a minute by minute approach some thriller authors do, meaning the bulk of the narrative is dedicated to chronicling every minute moment and every momentous minute of the live of its characters and that’s fine to bulk up the word count, but doesn’t do much for the suspense building. In fact, the plot is so precisely so meticulously stretched out, you can see the seams straining to contain it.
Because of course if the story hurried up, there wouldn’t be much of it. There aren’t even that many characters and the ones you have aren’t there aren’t even that likeable or interesting. The only interesting thing about Eleanor is her prosopagnosia (and how contrived it that), meaning that while she saw who offed her granny, she can’t tell who it was.
Much like most thrillers of this kind, the narrative is split between the past and the present, with the past being an upstairs/downstairs melodrama and the present being…well, underwhelming. The weather locks the characters inside and there might be a killer lurking on the premises. Boohoo. Actually the entire production is melodramatic and underwhelming, especially considering that the author has already blatantly demonstrated she can do so much more.
The writing is still good, you can’t get rid of that easily, Sten can write, but the plotting is subpar at best and pacing leaves much to be desired. There is a prerequisite ending plot twist and (kudos to Sten here) it isn’t a predictable one, but it’s also just another example of the questionable character psychology employed in this novel, from development to motivations.
Overall, this was a disappointment. Sadly so. I would have read whatever Sten wrote based on the strength of her debut, this novel had very much the opposite effect. It isn’t terrible, mind you, it really isn’t. It’s just so blah, so slow, so average. I’m a huge genre fans, I love Scandinoir too, but there was just nothing here to wow the reader. And really, it’s Sten’s own fault, for being so good to begin with. Presumably her next book will be the one to tell which of these two was a typical Sten. Thanks Netgalley.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
December 11, 2021
I really, really wanted to like this more. I even went back and reread some passages to see if I had just been loopy when I read it the first time...but...no. I have to admit that I may have expected it to have equaled the first book...The Lost Village. Like most thrillers of this kind, the narrative is split between the past and the present, with the past being a melodrama and the present being underwhelming. The weather keeps the characters stuck inside with a killer that might be lurking on the premises. This is as “mysterious” as it gets. This author has already blatantly demonstrated that she can produce a spine-tingling story with her first book The Lost Village. The writing is good. The plot is good. Camille Sten can indeed write, but the pacing leaves a lot to be desired. There is a prerequisite ending plot twist... (kudos to the author for that) ...and it is by no means a predictable one. I would have read whatever Sten wrote just based on the strength of that debut novel, but this book just didn't have the same effect. It isn’t terrible. It isn't unreadable by any means. It’s just so slow, so average....so unexpected from Camille Sten. It just didn't give the same feeling as the first book did. I gave it 3.5 stars because I like this author so much...and will certainly look forward to more by her. I feel that I should say that if you haven’t read her first book you will more than likely love this one having nothing to compare it to...but read her first book and I believe you’ll see and feel the difference.
August 1, 2022
*throws book across room*
For convenience, I have tried to organize the things about the book that got me into a tizzy.
*I am not sure how I am supposed to care about any of these flat characters (and the insane amount of names they have that are also way too similar), but I don’t. Their names might as well have been Cardboard Cutout 1-13, or whatever.
*The twist didn’t even feel like a twist because the character in question was never fleshed out. And the way it was introduced was completely stupid, since the way the characters were connected in present day was something we never even knew about in the first place. That doesn’t even count as a twist, really.
*As I kind of feared would be the case, the prosopagnosia element felt like it was added out of convenience and just to add something extra for kicks, it really didn’t do anything for the story. It’s an interesting idea, but it wasn’t utilized effectively. The story could have started with the villain fleeing in the dark and Eleanor just didn’t get much of a look at them, and it truly would have made no difference.
*The other thing that did nothing for the story was the relationship between Sebastian and Eleanor/Veronika. (I’m still not over all of the names, that was irritating and just made me constantly forget who was being referred to since none of the relationships were dynamic and none of the characters really had personalities). Why were they even a couple? They just seemed like two random people stuck together. And his character was pretty useless.
What a convoluted mess. Next!
For convenience, I have tried to organize the things about the book that got me into a tizzy.
*I am not sure how I am supposed to care about any of these flat characters (and the insane amount of names they have that are also way too similar), but I don’t. Their names might as well have been Cardboard Cutout 1-13, or whatever.
*The twist didn’t even feel like a twist because the character in question was never fleshed out. And the way it was introduced was completely stupid, since the way the characters were connected in present day was something we never even knew about in the first place. That doesn’t even count as a twist, really.
*As I kind of feared would be the case, the prosopagnosia element felt like it was added out of convenience and just to add something extra for kicks, it really didn’t do anything for the story. It’s an interesting idea, but it wasn’t utilized effectively. The story could have started with the villain fleeing in the dark and Eleanor just didn’t get much of a look at them, and it truly would have made no difference.
*The other thing that did nothing for the story was the relationship between Sebastian and Eleanor/Veronika. (I’m still not over all of the names, that was irritating and just made me constantly forget who was being referred to since none of the relationships were dynamic and none of the characters really had personalities). Why were they even a couple? They just seemed like two random people stuck together. And his character was pretty useless.
What a convoluted mess. Next!
December 2, 2021
If you like your horror unsettling and hauntingly atmospheric, then good news – Camilla Sten’s latest, The Resting Place, is here, and ready to set spines to tingling.
Bursting onto the English-language market last year with The Lost Village, Camilla Sten set herself a hard act to follow; but she’s done it. After the death of her grandmother Vivianne, Eleanor learns she’s inherited Solhöga – a country estate that’s never even been mentioned to her until now. Accompanied by her lawyer, her aunt Veronika, and her boyfriend Sebastian, she travels there to learn what she can; but it’s not long before plenty of other secrets start to emerge.
The Resting Place did so many things that I absolutely loved. Eleanor not only discovered her grandmother’s body, but came face to face with the killer; something we’re told in the very first pages. The game, though, remains firmly afoot – Eleanor has prosopagnosia, or face blindness. While she can remember and compare features, fixing people in her memory with flags like their hairstyle or wrinkle patterns, the collection of features that makes up a face carries no meaning for her. Camilla Sten used this to add so much dimension to the story, without overdoing it – when it’s used, it’s at the perfect moment to give the reader such a satisfying a-ha moment.
Most of the story takes place at Solhöga, though chapters do mostly alternate between our present with Eleanor, and the past, told via entries from a diary found at the estate. Isolated in an estate placed deep in the Swedish countryside, the group dynamics are prickly from the start – though I enjoyed the way some of my expectations in that area were subverted as the story went on. When you take a gloomy, remote estate, add a group with some truly capital D Dynamics going on, and then add a winter storm? You have all the ingredients needed to gradually ratchet up the tension and produce one wonderfully satisfying, impossible to put down thriller.
Bursting onto the English-language market last year with The Lost Village, Camilla Sten set herself a hard act to follow; but she’s done it. After the death of her grandmother Vivianne, Eleanor learns she’s inherited Solhöga – a country estate that’s never even been mentioned to her until now. Accompanied by her lawyer, her aunt Veronika, and her boyfriend Sebastian, she travels there to learn what she can; but it’s not long before plenty of other secrets start to emerge.
The Resting Place did so many things that I absolutely loved. Eleanor not only discovered her grandmother’s body, but came face to face with the killer; something we’re told in the very first pages. The game, though, remains firmly afoot – Eleanor has prosopagnosia, or face blindness. While she can remember and compare features, fixing people in her memory with flags like their hairstyle or wrinkle patterns, the collection of features that makes up a face carries no meaning for her. Camilla Sten used this to add so much dimension to the story, without overdoing it – when it’s used, it’s at the perfect moment to give the reader such a satisfying a-ha moment.
Most of the story takes place at Solhöga, though chapters do mostly alternate between our present with Eleanor, and the past, told via entries from a diary found at the estate. Isolated in an estate placed deep in the Swedish countryside, the group dynamics are prickly from the start – though I enjoyed the way some of my expectations in that area were subverted as the story went on. When you take a gloomy, remote estate, add a group with some truly capital D Dynamics going on, and then add a winter storm? You have all the ingredients needed to gradually ratchet up the tension and produce one wonderfully satisfying, impossible to put down thriller.
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