Camilla Sten does it again!! Knocked it right out the park with The Resting Place. A claustrophobic thriller theme book that had me fully mesmerized!! Dual time lines, dysfunctional family, lots of twist making it it the perfect late night read to keep you fully creeped out and wanting to sleep with the lights on.

A huge thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-arc, a physical copy and an ALC. And yes, I utilized and enjoyed all three!! The narration while reading along with the physical book is always my favorite way to read and to devour these type of thrilling books. Then reading late into the night on my kindle kept me extra on edge & terrified! These opinions are my own. I HIGHLY recommend this one!! Go in blind and enjoy the ride!!

Thanks to NetGalley and all for an ARC copy in return for an honest review.
I really enjoyed the writing style and the plots of both timelines. However, I just had a hard time getting pulled into the book and didn't really feel the suspense building. Didn't dislike it but probably not one I'll be recommending.

I truly enjoyed this book and I flew through it in less than 2 days. Although I liked The Lost Village more, this is a perfect locked room mystery and a very different kind of story while revolving around the same themes. This, at it core is a family drama but I’d also say that it’s a chiller (spooky thriller). I definitely recommend reading this book on a cold winter night so that you can truly feel the snowed in atmosphere.

***From this point on my review contains spoilers***
Okay, I loved this story and I never suspected that the psychiatrist was also the little girl from the diary and I definitely never suspected her as the culprit. The story flowed perfectly between the present and the found diary, which is and always will be one of my favourite tropes. While some of the twists were easy to see coming, like the cousins switching places, I never would have guessed how this came to be. Overall I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good mystery.

The one thing I disliked the most was Elanors loyalty to Sebastian. He sucked!! Why does she want to work it out with that asshat?

This book had a lot of great twists and turns! I liked that Eleanor's condition wasn't harped on, that it was woven into the story in a natural way, so that readers really get the idea of what it's like to live with prosopagnosia. Her constant frustration and confusion about her grandmother's death, coupled with how helpless she feels in the beginning, are real and relatable.

The author does an excellent job of throwing in enough red herrings to make readers question different people at different points of time. Is Veronika really just riled with grief, or does she have an ulterior motive? Does Sebastian really want what's best for Eleanor, or is he somehow connected to her past? Why does the lawyer keep acting the way he does?

Because the mystery centers on four characters, and Eleanor is the protagonist, it's not hard to figure out who's responsible for the mysterious events at the house. However, the way Camilla Sten brings these things together is surprising and refreshing. Also, the characters act in realistic ways, unlike characters in so many other murder mysteries.

The revelation of the murderer was definitely a surprise, and Camilla Sten does a great job of tying everything together in the end. Anyone who likes a good old-fashioned murder mystery set in a new locale will definitely like this one.

The premise is definitely interesting with a medical condition that I’ve definitely never come across before and should guarantee a ratcheted up level of tensions.

Sadly, this felt like it moved too slowly and the various family members and characters and the time shifts made this feel muddled. I was hoping I would be on the edge of my seat and this would feel like a twisted version of clue, but I couldn’t stay engaged. I found my mind wandering several times and our MC felt very…scattered. Not in an unreliable way, or even just someone full of anxiety, but just written in a way that she couldn’t decide what she wanted to be or how she felt. She teeters between extremes and at moments comes across so juvenile that I really struggled with her.

Ultimately I would recommend The Lost Village over this one, but I’m still eager to read more from this creative author.

Checked alot of things off that I love :
Family drama
Group of friends gather together
In the middle of nowhere
Trapped
Dark secrets
Creepy ,
Told in 2 different perspectives
Once you start it you can't put it down, started it yesterday and finished it the same day .

I've had this for ages but after being really disappointed by Alice Feeney's Rock Paper Scissors and its use of prosopagnosia, I kept putting this off. But wow was that a mistake.

Camilla Sten's ability to build atmosphere is incredible and I loved the use of the isolation trope here. Some of the logic of the plot did kind of fall off for me, but I zoomed through this anyway because I was so invested. I think I preferred The Lost Village slightly more than this one, but I am still looking forward to reading future works by this author!

This was a pretty good story. What I liked: well-developed characters, interesting location, plot deliciously twisted. What I didn’t like: story was a bit long, repetitive dialogue, ending fell flat. SPOILER: I was surprised that there wasn’t more discussion at the end about the switch of characters and ensuing deceptive lifestyle.

I really, really wanted to love this book, but ultimately it wasn’t for me. I previously read the author’s first book, The Lost Village, after having it preordered for months. The first section of the book was gripping, but the end contained implausible action piled up on implausible action, culminating in a cranky ridiculous ending. Unfortunately, The Resting Place was more of the same. It had a great concept but couldn’t quite pull together a coherent and believable ending. If you’re looking for a quick, entertaining read, pick it up, but leave your critical thinking skills at the door.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for an early copy of this book.

After reading The Lost Village, I was definitely looking forward to Sten's next book. The story does a great job of creating a creepy, tense tone and I listened to this all at once because I needed to know exactly what was going on here. The plot is split between past and present which helped break the book up, though I liked Eleanor's present more.

There are several moving pieces in this and I had a good time trying to figure out what was going on. There were a couple things I guessed, but still a few surprises to keep me entertained. I liked that the characters were flawed and not always likeable. It felt more realistic and even though Eleanor sometimes frustrated me, I was rooting for her to find out what was going on in that creepy house and make it out alive.

This is well paced and never boring and the audiobook has a great narrator to draw you in. I can't wait for the next hit from Sten!

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the copy.

This one was an odd one for me because while I absolutely enjoyed it, there were elements that I think could have been done better. The suspense was fantastic but I didn’t feel a connection to Solhoga which should have been this hulking, terrifying mansion of almost haunted house vibes.

There were enough twists to keep me guessing which is why I definitely enjoyed it. The narrative was at times tricky to follow with multiple perspectives and timelines, but overall an enjoyable suspense novel.

The Resting Face follows traumatized Eleanor, who witnessed her grandmother's murder, but cannot identify the culprit as she has face blindness. If you enjoy dysfunctional families with secrets, old scary houses with a creepy groundkeeper, and swirl in some psychological thrills - this book is for you. Enjoy!

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC. This is such a wonderful book! I couldn't put it down- it was soooo good. The tension, the build up was so great. I had to keep reading to find out what happened!

Like Sten's The Lost Village, this book shifts back and forth from the past to nowish. With the former book, though, I definitely preferred the past sections, finding them more compelling and faster paced than these modern times. With this one, though, I found both perspectives equally intriguing.

An atmospheric and enjoyable mystery! I loved the spooky house setting and the isolation brought by the blizzard. The face blindness concept made for an intriguing set-up, though I wished it had been utilized more fully (I kept expecting Eleanor to have heavier suspicions about the people closest to her--how terrifying to consider that you might have witnessed a crime done by a loved one without even knowing--but it never really manifested that way. Overall I enjoyed the read and would definitely pick up another book by Camilla Sten. Thank you Netgalley and Minotaur Books for this ARC!

I struggled to finish this as I really enjoyed the Lost Village. I was intrigued by the concept of prosopagnosia and was hoping I would like the plot and characters more. The mystery was not that easy to figure out.

I never expected to read a mystery/thriller and come out sad on the other end.

If you like a closed in thriller, this book (sans the prologue/epilogue) all takes place in the same country house in the middle of nowhere. In winter. During a blizzard. It definitely ramped up the creep factor and the sense of foreboding. I think the atmosphere was done very well.

Character wise, I didn't really like any of them. Eleanor was kind of a bitch who I had a hard time feeling sorry for, and Sam was an absolute wet blanket of a character. That being said, just because I didn't like them, didn't mean they weren't done well. Because they were. They very much were exactly who they needed to be for the story to work.

As for the mystery, it was okay. There wasn't really anything that absolutely shocked or surprised me. The end reveal wasn't one I had expected but once it hit the page I was like, "okay, that makes sense". Nothing like a "HOLY FUCK WTF JUST HAPPENED!" which is what I'm always looking for in a mystery/Thriller.

All of that being said. I did enjoy the book. I had a good time being creeped out with the suspense and trying to put all of the pieces together. The ending was just okay. I didn't love it and I wish some things could have been different. I would pick up more from this author in the future.

I had to force myself to finish this book. I enjoy thriller/suspense and this falls into the category of cozy mystery, so if you're like me, there's a good chance the book isn't for you. I liked the fact it was only semi/sort of unpredictable, but it was easy to figure out bits and pieces at the end. I received this for an honest review.

This book is broken in 2 parts and is told in 1st person from alternating POVs of Eleanor currently & Anushka in the 60’s. Alright let’s start with the things I did like. This book has a very unique plot and I had no idea where the book was going at first. I saw some of the twists coming but definitely not all. Now for what I didn’t like… the shit ton of characters that had names starting with V. It was so confusing. Actually all of the characters names kind of blended and I had to keep track. Also there was nothing that stuck out in this book that will be memorable or stick with me. Overall it was a good read, just nothing to rave about. I definitely enjoyed Sten’s first book more and look forward to her next book!

Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur books for this ARC!

Overall, I am giving The Resting Place a very strong 4 star! The Resting Place follows the story of Eleanor, a girl with prosopagnosia, or face blindness. When going to visit her grandmother for their standing dinner date, she discovers that she has walked in on her murder. Now, months later, she goes to her grandmother's summer house, a place she never knew existed, and it leads her to finding out secrets about her family. This is the second thriller I have read that is about prosopagnosia (the first being Rock Paper Scissors, which I liked but did not love) and I found myself being very enticed by the premise. I really liked the bounce back between the present and past chapters, and although I have read many thrillers I was pleasantly surprised by the twist. The only things I didn't enjoy was how slow the book was at times, the lack of complexity with many of the characters, and I wasn't a huge fan of the "villain" moment. Overall though, would recommend!