Cover Image: The Resting Place

The Resting Place

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Member Reviews

OMG! I read this awhile ago and kept meaning to post.

This was fantastic. Such a great thriller. [book:The Resting Place|57693360] by [author:Camilla Sten|14814374] is a book that must be read. Two-timelines, a murder - it was great.

Eleanor, our main character in present time has a medical condition called prosopagnosia. She cannot recognize faces. And this happens when she enters her grandmother (Vivianne's) apartment for her weekly meal with her - and comes face-to-face with her grandmother's killer! But she can't see the killer! The whole situation haunts her!

She finds out Vivianne has left her a home that she did not know existed - A childhood home of her mother and aunt. Both of them have V names - not significant - but can get a bit confusing!

Anyway, Eleanor (along with her boyfriend and aunt) meet up at the house with the lawyer and all sorts of strange things start happening. We learn of a timeline in the past narrated by a woman name Annika - who is she?? Why is her story important?

This book keeps you on the edge of your seat!

I can't say more - you have to trust me when I say - read it!

Thank you so much @minotaur_books for this book in exchange for my honest opinion!

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This was the second novel by Camilla Sten that I've read, the first being The Lost Village, and though I preferred the more general creepiness of The Lost Village, The Resting Place was a solid mystery in it's own right. It could be a bit confusing at times, but I overall enjoyed it.

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I was eager to read The Resting Place by Camilla Sten after loving The Lost Village, but this one took me longer to get into. It has numerous elements that are an instant draw for me, but it does take until about midway for everything to start clicking into place and for the pacing to pick up. After that, though, this one was impossible to put down!

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The Resting Place is a family drama that takes place at an old, remote house. The main character, Eleanor, has prisonagnosia, face blindness. At the start of the book, she witnesses someone leaving her grandmother's home and finds her grandmother murdered, but she can't recognize the face of the person. After dealing with the death for months and getting treated at a hospital, Eleanor learns that she and her aunt are named as heirs to an estate left by her grandmother. Eleanor, along with her boyfriend agree to meet with a lawyer at the estate to try and inventory all of the items, but her aunt shows up as well and quickly things begin going awry.
In between Eleanor's chapters, we also get diary entries from years before of a housemaid that worked for Eleanor's grandmother. Through each timeline, we get glimpses of what life was like with grandmother Vivianne and how absolutely harsh she could be.
Overall I thought this was a very entertaining read, learning about all of the family drama and the secrets each person is keeping.
Thank you so much to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book!

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Wow! Camilla Sten is very quickly becoming my favorite author.

This book was just as great as her other books. The setting was creepy and the story was well written. I did feel like there were too many V characters, and I did have a hard time keeping track of them all.

I enjoyed this novel and would definitely read this author next book.

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I didn't love it as much as her first book but I still really enjoyed it. The characters are what drew me in more than the actual story. They were super interesting and not the usual tropes and stereotypes. It was very creepy in parts. Sten definitely has a talent for writing eerie scenes. A different take on the genre. I am fast becoming a superfan of hers.

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I greatly enjoyed The Lost Village by this author, but The Resting Place ended up being a solid middle of the road thriller. This one lacked the spooky elements that The Lost Village gave me and was more of a typical thriller, which was a disappointment. I have to give The Resting Place a low three star rating, I can't even remember who the killer was, but I do remember being pleased with the twist at the end. The pacing was on point for a thriller and just like her previous book, the two timelines we have were woven together very well. Camilla Sten is absolutely an author that I will keep on my radar for future releases.

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Ooh time goes by and if i don't write the review right away...sigh. I'm trying to be better. The best i can do right now is give a star count...

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I love Camilla Sten and her style of writing. This story kept me hanging on to every word.

How do you know if you can trust someone when you can remember what anyone looks like? For Eleanor, that was everyday life.

Now she’s in a house she had no idea existed and things are getting hairy. Can she trust the people with her? Is everyone being truthful?

Grab this book for a read you won’t want to put down!

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The Resting Place has all the earmarks of a great gothic novel - an isolated, creepy setting, an unsolved murder, family secrets, and characters we don't quite trust. Add to that a main character with prosopagnosia--the inability to recognize faces--and the intrigue ratchets up. Sten is adept at immersing you into the Swedish winter of the novel, and putting you into the mind of Eleanor as she struggles to come to terms with her grandmother's murder, which she witnessed, though she can't identify the killer. The tension never eases, and there are some great twists before the satisfying conclusion. Perfect for fans of domestic thrillers with strong female characters, as well as Nordic noir novels.

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I really enjoyed this psychological thriller. I love the dual timelines and how they let the plot unfold. I was gripped and couldn't stop reading. This story definitely builds the tension and you're not quite sure how it's going to end. I will say that the pacing was a little slow in the middle, but overall, this book had me gripped and I needed to see how it all came together.

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Eleanor. Sebastian. Veronika. The lawyer. The groundskeeper. All of them are isolated at a former home of Eleanor's grandmother Vivianne, who was recently murdered. Eleanor arrived at the murder scene just after the crime was committed, but due to her prosopagnosia (face blindness), she could not identify the killer. Now strange things keep happening at this eerie home with a dark and mysterious past... and where IS the groundskeeper??

The dual timeline of this story pieces together the present with Vivianne's distant past, and the reader has a common thread in a series of diary entries, written in the past and discovered in the present.

I had very high hopes for this book because I absolutely LOVED Sten's previous novel, The Lost Village. I found The Resting Place reminiscent of Rock Paper Scissors- they share the element of face blindness as well as the locked-room (property) sort of aspect. However, it certainly seemed that Eleanor's prosopagnosia was selective. Granted I am not an expert on the condition, but there seemed to be several plot holes in this regard. I enjoyed reading this, but in the end I felt a little disappointed.

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Many thanks to Camilla Sten, Minotaur, & NetGalley for having the privilege to read this ARC & review this in return for my honest review.

Let’s start with: I LOVE the spooky feel of her books! They really get me all cuddled up in my blanket at night waiting to be spooked.

It started fast paced but over the time it got slower & slower. I was hoping it would keep the pace! I’m still happy with the end though! With that being said it definitely deserves a 4 star. I enjoyed this one!

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Ho-ly moley! I love this book. The writing, the tension, oh it was just so good. I love books that feature unique protagonists and it worked so well in this book. I cannot wait to read more by Sten.

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I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

There were some good twists in this and it was sufficiently creepy, but most of the time I found things a little hard to follow. I’m not sure if something was lost in the translation, I missed a detail along the way, or it was just the writing style. I really enjoyed her last book and didn’t find it hard to follow at all, so I’m not sure. The characters were pretty well developed and easy to follow. It was an interesting read.

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It's rare I finish a book in one sitting, but this one was an exception! Eerie and very atmospheric, it was a perfect weekend read. There were times it felt slow, but not in a way that was a detriment to my overall enjoyment of the book.

I did feel, slightly, that the concept of face-blindness did give some leeway with the suspense building, and made it far easier for the twist to occur. BUT, again, not something that took away from my enjoyment.

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Happy Publication Day to The Resting Place by Camilla Sten! This is my current read and it starts so strong it hooked me in and I can’t wait to see where this thriller is going.

Synopsis: 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.

Thank you to @netgalley @minotaur_books and the author for an advanced e-copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

UPDATE: Really enjoyed this one! It brought up an extra layer of suspense over a normal thriller since Eleanor can’t recall faces and it makes you feel anyone and everyone could be lying to her and have ulterior motives.

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This book moved between the past and the present which I usually enjoy.
I thought this book had a lot of potential but ultimately found the plot slow

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Thank you to netgalley.com for this ARC.

I enjoy a good mystery set in a Nordic setting especially in the winter - makes things so much creepier I feel. This was a good story with twists and turns. Did really see the ending coming until well into the book, which is always good.

I also enjoyed the dual perspective and time line.
Would recommend this book for fans on Nordic noir.

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The atmospheric detail in this book is incredible. I felt that Camilla Sten's The Lost Village was a bit predictable, but my partner pointed out that Sten was just skilled at subtly leaving breadcrumbs to make potentially unbelievable plot elements seem like the natural progression of the story. I read The Resting Place with that in mind and saw that they were definitely right. There are certainly a few clarifying questions I'd like to ask the author (all spoilers, so I won't spell them out) but leaving those questions unanswered doesn't subtract from this story in any way, shape, or form.

Readers may also enjoy "Rock Paper Scissors" by Alice Feeney.

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