Set in the cold dark winter of Sweden, you can feel the frigid winds and snow in your face as Eleanor fights for her life and discovers a dark secret about her family.
   Eleanor is the granddaughter of Vivianne: a nasty, cold, miserable woman who can cut her granddaughter to the quick and has done so many times over the years. She doles out love in small doses, just enough to make Eleanor want more even though she knows none is coming.  Vivianne had two daughters: Eleanor’s mom, who passed and Veronica. Both were on the receiving end of her wrath…..but what made her this person? It’s an interesting tale.
   The story ricochets back and forth between decades and you learn the truth about this family and the lives of a privileged few. There is always drama between the have and have-nots and this story is no exception.  You discover the real truth of who has been living lies and what they had to do to keep up the premise.
   This was not an easy storyline to follow for me, as there are so many names……..who they are now, who they were, all those names starting with V, then all the A names. While anxious to know what happened next, I was slowed down by having to rethink who was who. Slowing down served me well because it forced me to absorb what was happening as opposed to trying to set to the next scene because it was such a thriller.

This one is oddly difficult for me to review. While I did enjoy the story, I have to confess that I skimmed and speed read at least 50% of the book. It was admittedly difficult for me to keep going; yet I really did want to do know what happened. So, I did finish.

I felt like the what and why of the ending was obvious from the beginning. I was surprised at who the antagonist turned out to be, but it wasn’t a jaw dropping surprise. More of a slight eyebrow raise.

I’m sorry to say this one just wasn’t my cup of tea. 3.5 stars

My thanks to Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read this book before its March 29 publication date.

A very very interesting read. I love Camilla Sten's writing and the way it leads to such a chilling atmosphere. I didn't know what to expect next and the ending definitely surprised me. I think there were some parts that didn't add to the story, but overall I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a good thriller!

This is my first book by Camille Sten. Yes, I missed reading her earlier book but believe me after reading this one I will be going back to that. The amazing reviews for that make me realise I need that book in my life!

This book is creepy and oh so atmospheric. The characters are extremely interesting and complicated.
We have the protagonist Eleanor walking in on the scene of her grandmother's murder. She actually comes face to face with the murderer but there's a twist. Ofcourse there is one! She has prosopagnosia. That's the medical term. What it means to the layman is that the person has face blindness- the inability to recognize people's faces.

And therein begins this twisted tale. Her grandmother has left her a house and this estate is in a desolated landscape. Despite her boyfriend's misgivings they head there. This place has history, has a tale to tell, a place with a chilling past which Eleanor is desperate to understand and know.

Without revealing anything else I just want to say that this story has you hooked from the beginning. One can't wait to know how the story will unfold. The atmosphere, the setting, the creepiness adds so much more to this tale.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Resting Place by Camilla Sten starts out with an interesting premise. Eleanor walks in on the murder of her grandmother, a cruel and hateful woman, and comes face to face with her killer. Unfortunately, Eleanor suffers from prosopagnosia, the medical term for face blindness. She is unable to even recognize even those closest to her. Who is the killer and could Eleanor be next? Unable to know who to watch out for, Eleanor's anxiety increases as she looks over her shoulder at every turn

When Eleanor finds out she has inherited her grandmothers large home located deep in the woods she heads there along with her boyfriend, aunt and the family lawyer in the hopes of finding answers to the grand mother's murder.

This is a Nordic noir thriller of the best kind- heavy on atmosphere and a sense of foreboding with an intriguing mystery at it's core. This is a book that is hard to put down. It is psychological suspense of the best kind and the addition of the main character suffering from face blindness adds another layer and creates an elevated sense of tension. The atmosphere created in this book is everything. I loved the mansion located in the snowy woods that is haunted with the memories of the occupants of the past.. You can feel the eeriness, desolation and creeping cold. On this level this book was a home run for me. An eerie setting will draw me in every time. I also really enjoyed the actual mystery. It is very much a locked room mystery which I always love because it creates a sense of claustrophobia and desperation to find the answers to the puzzle quickly. Many thrillers are all about the build up and the ending can often be a let down, not with this book. The twist and answer to the puzzle is one the reader won't see coming and is one they will think about for a long time afterward.

If you are looking for a thriller that has a great setting, a wonderful creepy atmosphere, suspense and is just a really good mystery then look no further. With a Resting Place, Camilla Sten has established herself as a writer not to be missed.

I was a bit hesitant going into this because this author’s previous book really did not work for me. However I was so intrigued by the synopsis for this one that I decided to give Sten another chance, and I’m glad I did!
This is a pretty quick bingeable story with lots of twists and although I figured out most of them, it was still exciting to see how they all came together.
I do wish that it expanded more on Eleanor’s face blindness - with it being a part of the synopsis I thought it would play a bigger part in the story, but it seemed more like an afterthought and really wasn’t important to the plot at all.

"The Resting Place" was a twisty ride with a great surprise ending. The alternate points of view created a full picture and kept you guessing until the very end.

Another thrilling novel from Camilla Sten! As much as I loved The Lost Village, The Resting Place was less horror and more of a thriller and family drama. I have always loved books around a house. Even better, I've always been a sucker for storied unfolding in an isolated house. In this case, the story is set in Victoria's summer house called Solhoga, located in the Swedish woods. Her granddaughter Eleanor has to meet there to handle things after her grandmother's death, or should I say murder (?). She has never been to that place, but heard of it. She is accompanied by her boyfriend and aunt, as well as the lawyer who set up the meeting. Very quickly, scary things are starting to happen in that house and the situation quickly gets out of control, allowing us readers to dive into the past and discover family ugliness that needs to come out for final resolution.

I loved the story, the atmospheric haunting vibe of the house, the mysterious grandmother Victoria, the what-happened and who-dunnit feeling throughout. The translating job was on point and the end did not disappoint. I will definitelt keep following Camilla Sten's work because I can't get enough of it!

Thank you Net Galley and Minotaur Books for this ARE in exchange for my honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed everything about this book and Sten's writing style. I have to get the first book and put her on my TBR list of authors. This book was filled with everything that I like about books that I read. Couldn't put it down until I finished it.

This book was one of those books that had me on edge the entire time. Every single sound that I heard at night while reading this book made me JUMP. It got to the point that I had to tell myself that if there was someone or something in the house, that my dogs would let me know. It freaked me out (in a really good way.) I have not read a book that did that to me in a long time. The characters were so good. The writing was so good. The plot was so good. The book goes back and forth between the present and a diary that was written 50-60 years ago. It was not hard to follow along (as books like this sometimes are for me). I HIGHLY recommend this book. It will NOT disappoint.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a chilly tense story with a super slow start. The main character has face blindness and after coming face-to-face with her grandmother's killer she's on edge because she knows she doesn't have the ability to recognize them.

There's lots of build up to a big "twist" but ultimately the ending was a bit of a letdown just because it was rather sad. I feel like the lushness of the prose was lost in translation here because some parts of the story chilled me and made me feel like I was in the dark woods and others just fell flat.🤷🏻‍♀️


If you're looking for a chilly atmosphere and a story that's spooky, but not scary this might be a great book for you. For me, a seasoned horror reader it was just alright.

The book was good but it was a bit slow in the beginning for me. I found myself getting confused with all of the other names that were used throughout since they all started with the letter V. The story line was ok though. The twist was good. Didn’t see it coming at all. Quite sad when you think about it really.

There are a lot of things I enjoyed about this novel - the main character, her rare diagnosis, the strained and complicated relationships she has with her family members, and the tense whodunnit moments that crop up more frequently in the last third of the story. However, I found the first two-thirds moved very slowly for me and I wasn't compelled to keep reading and see what happens like I usually am. Also, I did not find the ending satisfactory - I don't want to spoil anything, so I will just say it felt rushed and undeserved in a way.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Eleanor has a disease I had never heard of, she can't recognize peoples faces. When she meets someone, she must find something distinct about them to tell them from one person to another. One particular person takes full advantage of this when they murder her grandmother. This person knows that Eleanor will not be able to identify Vivienne's murderer.

Eleanor must go to their family estate, that she had no idea existed, and settle the affairs. Here is where things go awry. Eleanor, her boyfriend, her aunt, and a lawyer all go to the estate to organize and inventory all of the belongings to sell. But, they are followed and drama is certain to follow.

This estate gives way to many, many family secrets and as things begin to fall apart, they see the truth that Vivienne has been running from for decades.

This was my first book by Camilla Sten and I was not disappointed.
The story starts off with Eleanor walking into her grandmothers apartment only to find her murdered as the killer runs out. Eleanor has prosopagnosia (face blindness), so even though she saw the killer there is no way she can identify them if they were to cross her path again. Eleanor becomes paranoid and anxious as the days continue and it only intensifies when she finds out that her grandmother left a house to her that she had no idea existed. As she spends time in this foreign house with her boyfriend, lawyer and aunt secrets start to surface.
The beginning of this story started off a bit too slow for me. I really had to push through the beginning but once we got past that it kept me hooked. I honestly didn't know if face blindness was real (it is) but I found it to be a weak excuse for the storyline. However I loved the story as a whole and there were some twists and turns that I did not see coming and that part was done extremely well. I would definitely recommend this book!

I received a free arc copy by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very engrossing book, told in two timelines with interesting unique characters and the setting of the haunted house was done very skillfully, the fear, the cold all were so compelling and convincing. Very well done

This book was a slow burn, and somewhat anticlimactic in certain parts. However, the protagonist is like-able. She suffers from face blindness and her paranoia of possibly seeing someone around the mansion builds throughout the story. I didn’t figure this one out until the end and for me, that’s always a plus. I added an extra half star for that alone. I love the cover of the book and felt it fit in well with the rest of the story. If you like slow, anxiety-building, atmospheric burns, you will enjoy this one.

This book started off great and grabbed my attention right away. The tension started to build almost right away which gave me the impression that I was in for a wild ride. But leading up to the halfway point the suspense leveled off and the story started to drag and I adjusted my expectations. Even so, through most of the middle of the book I was bored. I can totally appreciate a story with a slow burn but this was too slow in my opinion. Toward the end things picked up and the story once again became suspenseful and more interesting and had good twists. Overall, my opinion is that it was a great beginning and a great ending and I did fly through it in a day, but it needed more “oomph” in the middle.

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. 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.

Ⓑⓞⓞⓚ Ⓡⓔⓥⓘⓔⓦ

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆
𝙱𝚢: Camilla Sten / @wednesdaysten
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: Thriller, Horror, Mystery
𝙿𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚛: @minotaur_books
Releases On: March 29th 2022
@goodreads 𝚂𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚎: 3.65
𝙼𝚢 𝚂𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚎: 👀👀👀👀 / 5 Eyeballs

Thank you again @minotaur_books for this gifted copy for an unbiased review.

~My Thoughts~

In my honest opinion (which I always give) I have enjoyed both of Camilla’s books, however, it seems I’m always left with not a great impression about holding onto them afterwards.

You see, after I’m done with a book I decide what to do with it. If I feel the story is extraordinary or special, it deserves a spot on my forever bookshelf.

But if that’s not the case then I decide if it’s A.) Sellable, or B.) If I should give it to a friend or family member or C.) If I should do a giveaway on here.

And for me "𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆" is of the latter. It was a great story. But I just don’t see myself rereading.

You might think "Well, you gave it a pretty high score for a book you don’t want to keep”.

Honestly, I couldn't bring myself to give it a three because I don't think it deserves a three. I thoroughly enjoyed this story.