Cover Image: The Resting Place

The Resting Place

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Member Reviews

Thank you to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for the early access to this new suspense thriller from Camilla Sten. This book is ideal for mystery/thriller fans and for book clubs who enjoy suspense books as well. I will be sharing a full review on my website (dont-stop-reading.com) in March 2022 but a brief preview review is available there now and also on my Instagram account (https://www.instagram.com/p/CU9_GAmrsX5/).

This book is highly effective at creating tension and building a sense of unease with each progressive chapter, which added to my enjoyment and kept me up late so I could get to the end of the novel! Ms. Sten takes common thriller themes, a family death, a return to a forgotten family home, complicated family relationships, and family secrets, and weaves them effectively into a fast paced atmospheric and compelling plot. Eleanor is forced to return to an old family home after witnessing her grandmother’s murder. Face amnesia (prosopagnosia, also used in Alice Feeney's Rock Paper Scissors if this seems familiar) prevents her from identifying the murderer and she’s haunted by knowing she could identify the murder if only…. And now that she’s back at the family house the family secrets are all around her and the murderer might not be done. What is Eleanor trying to remember about the murder? What was haunting her grandmother the week before her death? Who was her grandmother and what happened in this house?

These questions all are deftly explored in the novel and past and present are woven together well so that the reader is uncovering secrets at the same time Eleanor is. That is one aspect of the plot that I appreciated as I don't like it when an author intentionally withholds a key part of the plot/secret from the reader just for the sake of a big reveal; while I somewhat figured out what was going on it was with satisfaction that Ms. Sten was not trying to deceive me or create twists that made the book less enjoyable. I could quibble and say that I did not think that the use of prosopagnosia was really necessary for this story but it also did not impact the plot much other than helping justify witnessing a murder but not recognizing who did it.

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When I read the premise of The Resting Place, I could not help but want to get my hands on it. Murder, unusual mystery, a rare medical condition-- and I was sold.

Eleanor deals with the trauma of seeing her grandmother killed in the only way that she can- by having anxiety and doing her best to look around every corner in case someone comes for her too-- since she has no idea what the person looked like who killed her grandmother given her medical issue. That, in and of itself creates a unique type of fear and I applaud the author for thinking of it.

I think I will be on the lookout for more books by this author.

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Resting Place is a well written gothic thriller that does a great job of keeping you on the edge of your set with its Agatha Christie like plot. I throughly enjoyed it until near the end when the plot became a little too cliched. I think the ending brought the book down from a highly recommended suspense novel to a so so one.

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Camilla Sten, does it again! I absolutely loved loved loved The Lost Village. To me, it was one of those books that when I concluded I was so upset, I wanted to erase my memory and go back to read it again. Yes ! It was that good!!!!! The Resting Place, gave me the exact same feeling!!!! Absolutely incredible. Camilla Sten, is just one of those author's that truly knows how to tell a story!

There are two story lines going on within this book . The first centers around Eleanor who has inherited a mansion after her grandmother is brutally murdered. The second is about Anushka, who had lived in the same mansion decades ago. I honestly can not tell you if I liked one plot more than the other because I truly adored both in different ways. Both story lines will give you that nail biting, edge of your seat, creepy feeling.

The twist at the end was not one you could anticipate.

I would absolutely, without a doubt, recommend this book to friends and family! FIVE STARS!

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Camilla Sten does it agin! She had me hooked from the start a protagonist that can't recognize faces (prosopagnosia) and comes face to face with a murderer?

The end/twist was a little predictable, however whether it was by design or not I didn't mind because Sten's writing kept me on the edge of my seat, flipping page after page, devouring the story every chance I had to read. She can create an eerie, suspenseful but calm mood, and her settings are like a character in their own way. Her character writing is also superb but I find myself wanting to know more about these locations.

Fantastic!

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The Resting Place by Camilla Sten, I read this in one sitting. Needless to say, I really enjoyed this haunting tale that takes place at two different times, with several different sets of characters. It isn't until the end that it all comes together, quite perfectly. I feel the story centers on Eleanor, Vivianne, and Anushka. However, the secondary characters play a significant role in what happens just as much as the primary characters. I feel like mostly this is a sorrowful story of a woman, who as a young girl, makes a hasty, passionate choice that sets the path for the rest of her life, up until it is taken from her. Thank You to Netgalley, Camilla Sten, and Minotaur Books, I won't soon forget this twisty tale.

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Wow, what a creepy, chilling, and atmospheric read! So well written and captivating, with fantastic character development! Had me on the edge of my seat and gave me goosebumps a few times! Even shocked me at the end! Look forward to more by this author, whom really has those deliciously chilling books down! Highly, highly recommend!

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Camilla Sten knows how to write edge of your seat, creepy books. After reading The Village, I was super excited to receive this book as an advanced copy because I knew that I would be in for a ride. Sten did not disappoint with the suspense and terror with this one. I love how it made me feel like I was walking through a haunted house peering around each corner and creeping through the dark trying to find my way, but not get murdered in the process. Definitely gave me some nightmares and when my four year old popped up in the middle of the night (while reading in the dark, on my iPad) I might have jumped and gave a little yelp.

Eleanor's grandmother has been murdered and Eleanor saw the culprit. However she has prosopagnosia and is unable to identify the killer. Eleanor is then invited, along with her aunt, to view an estate of Vivianne's to disperse the will assets. Told through journal entries of the maid's, lost artifacts throughout the house, and people going missing throughout, we see inside the past secrets of the estate left behind for decades.

Full of dark turns, secrets, affairs, trails of lies and deception, this one will have you on the edge of your seat. At points it is very graphic and may be hard for some readers to take in.

CW: assault, suicide, murder, therapy, immigration, servitude, miscarriage, infertility, child loss

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This atmospheric novel is a slow burn. The events take place between the current time and the past, leaving the reader to wonder what the connection is between the two.

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Such a twisted tale. Perfect for spooky season. Camilla keeps things interesting with characters that make you shiver.

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This is a great layered story about family and secrets. The anticipation in this book hits some serious levels and I was just hanging on with every single chapter. But, while it’s advertised as thriller AND horror, I have to completely disagree. There is no horror in this book. And that is okay. I just think that if someone is looking for a horror genre read, this is not going to sate them.

Eleanor is a woman living with face blindness, causing her to not recognize even the faces of those closest to her and instead relying on other characteristics to recognize her loved ones. So, when, upon entering her grandmother’s home for their regularly scheduled dinner, only to find someone rushing off, leaving her grandmother dying in a pool of blood, she cannot recognize the killer, nor can she provide any sort of defining characteristics.

After her grandmother’s death, a lawyer informs her of an estate that was left to her. So she and her level headed boyfriend, Sebastian head out to the house. Along with the lawyer and Eleanor’s aunt Veronika, they begin to go through the possessions for inheritance purposes. And things go from bad to worse when an ominous feeling can be felt inside and around the house.

Through two different timelines, Eleanor and a servant in the 1960s named Anushka, a tale of deceit and shocking twists begins to unravel, leaving the reader gripping for purchase on a winding rollercoaster.

I was a huge fan of The Lost Village and I knew that I need to read this next book from Camilla Sten. While the creepy factor wasn’t as evident in this, the story was immaculate and I enjoyed every moment of the turbulence.

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I really enjoyed this book! I didn’t see the ending coming and all the twists and turns were interesting! There were a couple spots that felt like it dragged on a little bit but the ending definitely made up for it. I highly recommend this one if you are looking for a good thriller. Thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for a copy of the arc in exchange for an honest review!

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This book did not have the wow factor I was hoping for in a dark and creepy thriller. .There were too many characters, especially those with names starting with V, and it became unmanageable as the story wore on. Monotonous through the middle, the ending seemed forced and I was honestly just happy to be finished with it.

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My thanks to St. Martin's Press, Camilla Sten and Netgalley.
This book. This story was just wonky.
Maybe not the story, but perhaps the reader? Who me! Yes you! Couldn't be! Then who?
O.K.,enough!
I met a woman around 4 year's ago, and she had face blindness. She did say that when she first met someone she saw their face, but then it was gone.
I'll admit that I spent days thinking about being face blind. Oh, also get boyfriend was with her too. So, another layer.
I am no good a faces or names. I rely on sound and smells. Is that weird? That seems strange to me!
I don't have anything new to add to the reviews here. I was a wee bit weirded out by what was going on. I definitely enjoyed it more than Ms..Stens last book.
I'm truth? The whole damn thing had an oddly dreamy feel to it.
I'm here for the next book.

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Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review of the book.

In this second English-translated novel by Camilla Sten, we see her return to the paranoia and unsettling ground that she used in The Lost Village . I found her new novel to be much better paced and more even all around than her earlier effort.

In this story, we are introduced to a character with prosopagnosia--face blindness. While I would have liked to have seen this used to greater effect in the overall narrative, it was a clever and interesting twist. Our protagonist, Eleanor, walks in on the murder of her wealthy (and often cruel) grandmother; she "sees" the attacker, but cannot recognize or identify the killer in any way. After the older woman's death, Eleanor finds that she is joint heir to a country estate that she never knew existed. As the setting moves to this house, the tension quickly rises and the reader starts to understand that the house contains secrets that could be deadly to Eleanor.

Overall, the atmosphere is tense and threatening; the house feels real--and very creepy. The characters are also much more well-drawn here (then in The Lost Village ) and, even when you figure out the direction the story is taking, you still need to keep reading to find out HOW the events will unfold. I raced through the last 25% of this, unable to wait to discover what happened next.

Sten is certainly an author to watch. I will put her books on my "must read" pile. I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt when I was less impressed with her first novel than were others, and I'm glad I did. This novel clicked for me in ways the first did not and I felt like the author was better hitting her authorial stride. A great October read.

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this was a really good mystery novel, it had what I was looking for in this type of book. The characters were great and I really enjoyed the environment.

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I didn’t know if Stein’s next book would be as good as the Lost Village, but it totally was. Usually I can figure out the twist pretty early on but she had me guessing almost until the end.

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Note – Thanks to Netgalley and Minotour Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second Camilla Sten book I’ve read. I read The Lost Village last month and it was a decent read. I wanted to give her another try.

In truth – I didn’t love it. It started out all mysterious and eerie. The timelines flipped back and forth from the past to present and back again. In the beginning, it was hard to know who was who – I got a little lost in the introduction of the character Anushka.

The spooky atmosphere starts to build immediately as Eleanor and her boyfriend, Sebastian, reach Solhoga, the abandoned family mansion in the woods. Floorboards creak, a dumb waiter has a mind of its own, shadows appear in the woods and doors open by themselves. The main character has prosopagnosia (face blindness) which adds to the intensity of the story. You can clearly see the two storylines racings heading towards an intersection. Clearly, the author wants us to think the house is haunted and tries to write it as a character on its own.

Unfortunately, it fell a little flat to me. The storm that cuts Eleanor and her party off from all civilization seems a little contrived. The characters were uninteresting and over-dramatic. There were a few loose ends that left me with question – like Vivianne’s background. It’s hinted at but never really explained. The relationship between her and Anushka is weird and unexplainable. The family dynamic was really disjointed. Sebastian was condescending and commonplace. I didn’t buy that he cared even a little for Eleanor.

The macabre ending was predictable and uninteresting.

I will say that Sten’s writing style, her use of vocabulary is stunning. She’s descriptive and fluid. She’s detailed without losing you in the detail and is adept at creating a tangible atmosphere.

Overall, I wanted to love this but I didn’t. However, I’m still a fan of Camilla Sten and eagerly await what she’s got in store for us next.

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I enjoyed this book a lot while I was reading it, but it wasn’t a compulsive “gotta see what happens next” read for me. Ironically, I also read back-to-back books with prosopagnosia in a snowy setting, so that was interesting timing. Overall, I think this was well done and a good read! I wish it had pulled me in more, but part of it could very well have been that I’m clinging to the last remnants of summer and not wanting to even read about snow right now! One other note is that since this took me a good while to read, I lost track of the characters - especially those that all stated with the letter V.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

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Thank you to NetGalley and St.Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for my DRC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book will be out March 29th, 2022!

I have to say that with Sten's previous book, "The Lost Village", I had a fun time reading that. It's not my favorite, but I enjoyed every second of it and the reveal towards the end was SO GOOD. So when I saw that Sten was releasing another book, I knew I just had to try and get a DRC. And where "The Lost Village" left me wanting in some aspects, I think that "The Resting Place" might just be a perfect suspense/thriller. The main character, Eleanor has Prosopagnosia or face blindness and my goodness. It never occurred to me how terrifying having that would be, especially when witnessing a crime like murder. This novel's inciting incident is when Eleanor's grandmother is murdered and Eleanor sees the killer but unfortunately, does not recognize them. Eleanor is then led to her grandmother's country estate and what ensues is truly spooky. I loved it. It was such a fun ride and I love Sten's handling of dual narratives and dual time-lines. She does such a brilliant job with it.

I highly recommend this book and will definitely be purchasing once it's out.

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