Having previously read Camilla Sten's The Lost Village, I can say I see a lot of parallels between that book and this book. In The Resting Place, Sten uses present and past timelines consecutively to tell the story, unraveling the mystery as she goes along. In both books there is a mysterious figure that is on the fringes of the story that may, or may not, even exist. Generally speaking, if one had not previously read The Lost Village this book would be much more enjoyable and not feel like I was having a sense of deja vu. Despite the similarities in both the plot and the storytelling, the concept of a character who cannot recognize faces but witnesses a murder is actually rather brilliant. If the author had taken that idea and done more with it, then this could have been a completely different story that didn't parallel her other book so much.

I really enjoyed this psychological thriller! The setting of the old family estate in the Swedish woods was so atmospheric and creepy! While it was a bit of a slow burn to start, it did pick up about halfway through and I had a hard time putting it down. I loved the dual timelines and that it had the feel of a locked room thriller.

This one releases later this month and I highly recommend it!

Thank you to Netgalley and @stmartinspress for the e-arc of this book, and to @minotaur_books for gifting me with a physical copy!

3.5 ⭐️‘s
When Eleanor arrives for her weekly dinner with her grandmother, Vivianne, she interrupts a killer. She has seen the killer, but to no avail, Eleanor has prosopagnosia, or as we commoners call it ... face blindness. Her grandmother is dead, she has seen the killer, but has no idea who it was. She now lives in total fear, so much fear that she had a breakdown and now is on the other side, slowly coming to grips with that night. After being contacted by a lawyer about a summer home she knows nothing about, Eleanor, boyfriend Sebastian, and her aunt Veronika head to Solhoga. Eleanor immediately feels uncomfortable with her surroundings and feels and sees things that she’s sure no one will believe, after all she has been unwell. As a blizzard rages and power is lost, people are injured and peril is close, they must ban together to solve the mystery of Solhoga and discover the killer before it’s too late for all of them. Sten writes another twisty thriller with her newest book. An entertaining read, but with the lack of character development it just didn’t pack the overall punch that it could have.

Many thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the latest thriller by Camilla Sten, wonderfully narrated by Angela Dawe. 4 creepy stars!

Eleanor arrived for her regular Sunday dinner with her grandmother, only to find that Vivianne had just been murdered. Because Eleanor suffers from face blindness, she couldn't tell the police who she saw fleeing the scene of the crime, so the killer is still out there. When the will is read, Eleanor discovered her grandmother had a house in Sweden that she left jointly to Eleanor and her Aunt Veronika. Along with Eleanor's partner, Sebastian, the trio head to the house to meet the probate lawyer to take stock of the property.

Add a missing caretaker and a blizzard to the creepy house and you have all the makings of a thriller! Eleanor's face blindness adds a different layer to this mystery because anyone could be a culprit - and I was left questioning everyone! The book is told in two timelines - the 1960s from the viewpoint of Anuska, a made in the house, in the form of a diary found on the property, as well as the present. This was a tense read, wonderfully narrated, that kept me guessing to the end.

Thank you so much to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for gifting me an eARC of this book in exchange for honest review! THE RESTING PLACE launches March 29th!

I really enjoyed this one! I can honestly say that at some points I was looking behind my shoulder and behind the doors of my apartment because this book gave me the heebie-jeebies. The story is chilling, twisted, and confusing. There’s a web of characters we need to keep track of and it keeps you on your toes.

I loved the complexity of this story. We have an unreliable (?) narrator, a haunted mansion, leftover inheritance, main characters stuck in a blizzard, and an unknown killer - all elements I really enjoy!

I had three people in mind of who I thought the killer might be and one of them was correct BUT the twist that came along with the reveal was unexpected. I feel like the story got a bit muddled at the end, but I was trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together with our MC and felt a part of the story.

This book reminded me a bit of The Death of Mrs. Westaway and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (without the action).

Overall, I give this 4.5/5 stars!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

WOW. Mind-blown. This book had my head spinning. It was so good! There were so many unexpected twists, a crazy family tragedy, and an even crazier ending! I loved Camilla Sten's style of writing and enjoyed learning about the past family history in the form of a journal. This was a page-turning, heart-pounding and unforgettable read! I highly recommend this one!

Here is the link to my review on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CbSbw99rhPg/?utm_medium=copy_link

@thrillersandcoffee

Eleanor has prosopagnosia where she can't recognize faces. When she walks into her awful grandmothers murder with the murderer still there but she can't tell who it is because of her face blindness. After being traumatized by the death of Vivianne but not being hurt she finds that she inherited a mansion she knew nothing about. To figure out more about it Eleanor goes with her boyfriend, a lawyer, and her aunt to the house. The house is holding so many secrets.

The atmosphere of this book was so tense. I really liked the atmosphere of the old house that hasn't been lived in, in years, a blizzard, and family secrets. The family dynamic was really interesting, Vivianne was so mean but also loved Eleanor. I liked the two times lines in the story, your getting the now with them stuck at the house in the house and strange things are happening to them and then the past explaining this family and why they are the way they are! For me this was a very plot driven book, and it really had me invested in finding out whats really going on. The house had this bad feeling, you couldn't escape just like the characters. I loved seeing all the the pieces coming together and guessing along the way! The ending was satisfying with it all wrapping up!

Thank you to Minotaur Books and Netgallye for my e arc for review!

Thank you so much @minotaurbooks for my #gifted copy of THE RESTING PLACE by Camilla Sten! This one publishes March 29, 2022!

I read the author’s first book, The Lost Village last year, and my thoughts/feelings seem very similar to that book as well.

This book is VERY atmospheric. The descriptions were very well done. A snowed in type thriller set in Sweden? Where the main character has a cognitive disorder called prosopagnosia: the inability to recognize faces, even your own. This is especially difficult, when Eleanor (main character) comes fade to face with her grandmother’s killer, but cannot recognize him/her afterwards.

I usually enjoy snowed in type thrillers, and this one was a win for me, especially with all the descriptions, it really added to the creepiness. Set in an an abandoned family home out in the middle of nowhere, during a snowstorm, where Eleanor is just trying to find some closure over her grandmother’s murder. Eleanor is an unreliable narrator too, which I really enjoy! This book is also told in dual timelines, which I enjoy, but at times was confusing in this book.

What had me the most confused, was how all the different family members and people connected to the family, was connected to the murder at the end. I felt like I needed to make like a smoky chart/web to keep track of it all.

If you read The Lost Village, and enjoyed it, then I think you would enjoy this one as well!

*Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Camilla Sten, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

After reading "The Lost Village" last year, I knew I was a fan of Camilla Sten for life. She is a fantastic writer "THe Resting Place" proves this. I can't wait for more! Her yen for all things creepy reminds me of an earlier Shirley Jackson.

"The Resting Place" begins with Eleanor walking in on the scene of her cruel grandmother, Vivianne, being stabbed. Although Eleanor comes face to face with the killer walking out, she has prosopagnosia, which means she has face blindness. She suffers a breakdown immediately after, thinking the killer has seen her and will come back for her. After the reading of her Vivianna's will, Eleanor is surprised to find she has inherited an estate in the north of Sweden called Solhoga. It is a beautiful countryside estate she never knew existed with a chilling past. Eleanor, her boyfriend Sebastian, her aunt Veronika, whom she has never gotten along with and a mysterious lawyer who had contacted her to do an inventory of the estate. She soon learns the house has a cruel past and wishes they had never come.

There is that same sense of foreboding that we had in "The Village", that something is going to jump out at you. The whole atmosphere of Solhoga is just creepy with many empty cabins and the appearance of having been empty for a long time. The story is told in dual timelines and different points of view, but it flows easily. A very clever book!

Camilla Sten has this beautiful way to make you think you know everything and then she turns it all upside down. It's creepy, and I love it.
The pacing, like her other novel, is slower than I'm used to but her story telling is fantastic.

When the killer in this book was revealed I audibly gasped out loud in the middle of public transportation. (sorry people). The plot in this book was strong, well developed and very readable. I loved the dark, blizzard elements while everyone was trapped in the wintery woods of remote Sweden. The dual timelines flowed easily and I was really intrigued to find out who had killed Vivianne. The extra added element of Eleanor's inability to recognize human faces made it even creepier. How does one feel safe if they can't recognize people? When your only source of recognition may be a voice, the arch of eyebrows or a mustache?

Bravo to the translator Alexandra Fleming! Her translation of The Resting Place (originally titled The Heir). Fleming used contemporary and trendy English words which made the novel come across as if Camilla Sten had written the novel in English vs her native Swedish. I hope the publisher continues to use her going forward with all of Sten's novels.

I loved that this book was set in a different country with untrustworthy characters. My only complaint would be my personal pet peeve when authors have characters with the same letter in the first name. Yes, I get that they're all family members. We tend to do that when naming our kids but the same letter in names can make it difficult for readers to differentiate between characters. Fortunately I did not have any problems with this in The Resting Place. But publishers, please no more Vivianne, Veronika and Victoria in the future.

This book was a strong 4.25stars for me. I loved the plot, the characters intrigued me and the location was fantastically chilly and then there was the gasp with the twist. Applause, applause!

This story is told from present to past and from several points of view.

Victoria Eleanor is the granddaughter of Vivianne Falth and finds herself in the police station trying to answer questions. Eleanor arrived at her grandmother's home only to become a witness of her grandmother's murder and the murderer pushing past her. Unfortunately, Eleanor can't provide answers because she suffers from prosopagnosia, a condition that makes it difficult to recognize faces. Eleanor picks out a characteristic to help her remember people.

Eleanor was raised by her grandmother and had a love/hate relationship with her; much like most people did with Vivianne. Vivianne and her late husband, Evert had a summer home, Solhoga, that was kept secret for decades. Upon, Vivianne's death, Eleanor learns of the house and is asked to meet the lawyer at the house. She arrives with her boyfriend and is surprised to see her aunt waiting along with the lawyer.

Solhoga is a beautiful home, and although the house is well maintained, the groundskeeper is elusive. Eleanor's mental state makes it difficult for her to differentiate from reality or make-believe. When Eleanor finds a hidden room that was one of the staff, her boyfriend finds discovers a diary under the flooring. The story picks up on Annika, the maid, and her life working for Vivianne, her cousin.

This summer home has secrets and once a blizzard hits barricading the four inside the house they are going to have to trust one another if they want to get out safely.

I loved the telling of this story from present to past and varying points of view which kept me intrigued as to where the story was going. The story was suspenseful and I felt along with a gothic nature but not horror. There are quite a few twists, and the ending was a surprise to me.

I received an ARC from NetGalley via St. Martin's Press and I have voluntarily reviewed this book.

Wow, considering this is a translated book…it still brought to live that dark atmospheric, creepy, crawly, haunted feeling that isn’t always found.
The MC has face blindness and when she was knocking on Vivianne’s door(her grandmother) to visit, the door opened and she saw blood and scissors as the killer ran away leaving her intact.
She now must go to an estate she’s never heard of in the Swedish Woods with the lawyer, her husband and her aunt.
Why did Vivianne keep this estate from her and who is the killer and why didn’t they kill her also?
As with most old houses, they have a story to tell and this estate is hiding plenty of secrets.

Twisted and Spooky!

Eleanor has prosopagnosia — aka face blindness — and that's the only reason she doesn't know who killed her grandmother, Vivianne, who could be a bit of a pill to the Eleanor. Vivianne raised Eleanor as her own because her own parents died. Months later, Eleanor along with her boyfriend Sebastian head out to a secret countryside mansion with her aunt Victoria and the estate lawyer to divvy up Vivianne's hidden away belongings. But very quickly the foursome realizes something's up with the house — and they might not be alone.

I had read some mixed reviews of this one. Not going to lie, haunted houses aren't usually my jam and I eyeroll at the prosopagnosia thing in thrillers usually, BUT I did end up enjoying the ride and the dual timeline. Nothing super duper shocked me but there were a few lil gasp moments and I love that for me.

PS. I do feel the need to note this tiny spoiler for those of you like me who aren't big fans of the supernatural elements. This isn't a haunted story, just fyi btw, so don't let that prevent you from giving it a read!

I really liked Camilla Stens last book and I liked this one. It was good and I had no problem getting through it. The translation was solid nothing weird or inconsistent but maybe it lost some of the nuance? I don't know. It was a fast read but it just didn't feel as atmospheric and edgy as her last book and I also figured out what was going on (for the most part) pretty easily. If I wasn't comparing it to the village I probably would have liked it a lot more. I'm still looking forward to another book from Sten.

Stick this one out because although it starts slow - it definitely picks up! I enjoyed the short chapters as well as alternating between the dual timeline / multiple POV. I had several different theories while reading and although I guessed one twist, I was surprised by the ending! I recommend this over Rock Paper Scissors which has a similar plot.

Another excellent and creepy novel by Camilla Sten!
Eleanor’s condition, prosopagnosia, makes her unable recognize faces, which creates the terrifying opener to The Resting Place when she actually “sees” her grandmother’s murderer, but can’t identify them. From the police station to Solhöga, an old manor surrounded by hunting grounds, Eleanor is haunted by all the does not know about the murderer and this place that belonged to her grandmother but that she’s never heard of. There’s a mysterious lawyer, an aggressive aunt, an overprotective fiancé, a missing groundskeeper, and the nagging feeling that someone else is with them at Solhöga, someone with bad intentions.
Sten describes this manor beautifully: I can feel the cold and see all the shadows of the winding hallways and vast, wintery grounds. There are multiple twists to keep the reader on their toes as well. I’d definitely recommend this one to mystery fans, family dramas, and duel narration as well as those with specific interest in unique disorders.

When Eleanor walked into her grandmother Vivianne’s apartment and found her dead on the floor, she came face-to-face with her killer. However due to Eleanor’s condition prosopagnosia (face blindless) she could not identify who the killer was or provide any details to help the police. As time passes, Eleanor’s lawyer calls saying it is time to go over her grandmothers’ belongings at her estate deep into the Swedish woods. Eleanor, her boyfriend Sebastian, the Lawyer, and her aunt Veronika all go to the hidden home where they uncover all the dark family secrets that they never saw coming. As the truth slowly comes to light, all of them must think fast as they are trapped at the estate by a blizzard, and they start to realize they are not alone.

•

This was an eerie, creepy thriller/mystery with plenty of twists and turns. I had read Camilla Sten’s previous novel “The Lost Village” which I feel had more of a horror touch to it than this one. I really enjoyed this one more, I loved how the story developed and how we are going back and forth between the past and the present: the present from Eleanor’s POV and then the past through the journal entries of a young girl names Annushka who was a maid at the estate back in 1965. I was completely stumped when it came down to the culprit and was shocked to find out the truth at the end. This story kept me on my toes with its eerie winter woods setting in a home with a dark past filled with shadows. There is a lot I can’t go into much detail without spoiling, but I really enjoyed this one and loved how it kept me guessing till the end. I would like to thank NetGalley and Minotaur Books for an eARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. This title will be released on March 29th 2022.

#TheRestingPlace:

Y’all know I’m all about a good ending. I loved Camilla Stem’s last @Minotaur book, The Lost Village.. until the end. While reading The Resting Place, I got the same eeriness, the same atmospheric feel, the same “do I need to check under my bed before I jump in it” vibe. Because of it, I was worried I’d have the same flat ending. So I tried not to get my hopes up for The Resting Place because I didn’t want to be let down again. Sten delivered and then some for me this time around, and I’m as happy as a clam.

I honestly didn’t think I would laugh at this book, but Eleanor had some classic comic relief lines to really break up the eerie tension. The scene where she’s clutching the wrench and she waits they’re armed like they’re expecting a run-in with a zombie horde had me cackling. That was some Ryan Reynolds inappropriate laughter in a serious situation scene.

While I did get some giggles in, make no mistake I was creeped TF out. I figured out the twists early on, but that was the creepiest ride just to get there. I listened thanks to @macmillanaudio, and Angela Dawe (Finlay Donovan, Hello Transcriber, Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens) had me literally hanging on their every word. The dual timeline and short chapters had me compulsively listening at every waking moment to finish this book and see what was about to unfold.

Overall, a solid book that will get you out of any slump you may be in! I knew I wanted to try Sten again after how much I loved 90% of The Lost Village, and I’m so so so glad I did. The Resting Place is the book to give you the creeps. Thank you Minotaur and Macmillan Audio for the gifted copy. The Resting Place is out March 29th!

I really like Scandinavian women mystery writers, and I have read all that Viveca Sten (Camilla Sten's mother) has written. This was my first Camilla Sten novel, and although it was an entertaining read, it didn't sit quite right with me. The main characters were annoying, the circumstances around them a bit too convenient and dramatic for my taste.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review this ARC.