This story was very suspenseful and will grab you from the very beginning. I would suggest going into it blink and prepare for a bit of slow burn during the middle. Overall I would recommend this book.

I was looking forward to reading this book has I had read Ms. Sten’s The Lost Village and was not impressed, but wanted to give her another chance. I am so glad I did as I enjoyed this book. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I could not have been more surprised at the end. I will be looking forward to seeing more from Ms. Sten.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Great set up! Just what you would expect from Camilla Sten, a haunted mansion, a mysterious killer and a heroine that has prosopagnosia ( face blindness).

Eleanor grew up under her elderly grandmother's care but it was a fractured relationship. At the start of the story she possibly views her aunt's murderer but her prosopagnosia prevents her from remembers any facial features to report to the police. A few months later, she learns she has inherited a mansion that she knew nothing about. Her and her boyfriend meet her other prickly aunt Veronika and the estate lawyer at the site.

The mansion is dark and deserted - the groundskeeper is missing. A blizzard cuts the group off from communicating or leaving. Before long, it's clear that there is a killer on the grounds but who is it and why?

Very good thriller, spooky and creepy. The end seemed a bit rushed but I enjoyed it all the same! If you like Haunted Mansions, Locked Room Mysteries and Inheritance Stories, this book is for you! thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Camilla Sten's The Resting Place is an atmospheric and spine-tingling marvel with with all my favorite elements including a puzzling mystery, an old mansion filled with secrets far away from everything, and characters stuck there because of a horrible snow storm. Eleanor is our main character and she has prosopagnosia or facial blindness, which is the inability to recognize faces including family and friends. The story starts with Eleanor walking in on her grandmother's murderer trying to flee covered in blood. In most cases a person who walked in on that would never forget the face of the monster who murdered their love one but because of Eleanor's prosopagnosia she can't recognize the person who killed her grandmother.

When a lawyer calls with news that her grandmother left her the family's mansion she takes her boyfriend to look at the mysterious estate that she had no idea about. When she gets there she finds her aunt is also waiting at the front of the mansion along with the lawyer. What is supposed to be a quick inventory of what's in the house turns into a nightmare for everyone in the house as the secrets are uncovered, eerie things are happening, and people go missing.

I really enjoyed her first novel "The Lost Village" and was excited to read this one and I was not disappointed. This story was a real nail biter as we followed Eleanor in the present and the Eleanor's grandmother's maid Anushka in the past. I loved the dual point of view and timeline because it never gave me a chance to find a part in the story that dragged because every time one of the short chapters would end it would leave you on an edge of your seat cliffhanger. This is such an atmospheric and creepy locked room thriller and it takes place in a haunted mansion which for me was a real plus.

I loved the history of family drama that was continuously being revealed and I found it so creepy how her grandmother's voice still haunted Eleanor even after her death The story just kept getting stranger and stranger as I continued reading and when I finally arrived at the huge plot twist and reveal I was just staring opened mouthed at the pages because I thought I had it figured out but man was I wrong. I love the way the author created such a menacing and intense atmosphere throughout the book that had me jumping at the littlest sounds while I was reading.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the digital copy of this book with me in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved Camilla Sten’s first book to be translated into English, The Lost Village. I loved her slow building of a creepy, ominous setting and, without giving anything away; I thought the ending was clever and unexpected. It didn’t take the easy way out when everything could have easily been blamed on the supernatural. I couldn’t request this book fast enough when it popped up as available to review. I was prepared to read another smart horror and I was not disappointed! The Resting Place leans hard into Gothic territory with a long unused estate house, isolated and remote (where no one can hear you scream.)

The story starts with a murder, witnessed by the main character, Eleanor who unfortunately suffers from prosopagnosia or face-blindness and can’t identify the murderer. The scene then shifts to the manor house where Eleanor, her boyfriend and her aunt meet with a lawyer to sort out the estate. The atmosphere is ominous and strange things happen and, like reasonable people, they want to get the heck out of there but then a blizzard hits and they are all trapped. You just know a dead body will enter the picture soon!

The tale jumps between two time periods, the past storyline being of the previous residents of the house. It took me a bit to figure out the connections. At least I thought I had it figured out but there was a surprise twist. And then another surprise twist! The theme of this story is definitely identity; more than one person is pretending to be someone they are not. Everyone has hidden secrets and the house itself has its own mysteries. While this story starts with a slow, menacing creep but once the layers of deception start peeling off like an onion it was an exciting read that I didn’t want to put down. I just had to know what had happened to the characters in the past and who was responsible for the murder that started the story. I was quite surprised by the answers. If you like Gothic murder mysteries and horror that is more chilling than terrifying then I think this will be your cup of tea too!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Minotaur Books for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

I enjoyed Camilla Sten’s atmospheric book, The Lost Village, last year, and I was eager to read her newest novel, The Resting Place. Sten delivered a spin-tingling, suspenseful thriller that kept me guessing.

Eleanor suffers from prosopagnosia. The inability to remember or recognize a face, even those of her closest friends. Over the years, Eleanor has made links between hair cuts, facial hair and, of course, voices to recognize those around her. Her closest friends know to call her and share pictures if they get a haircut or change the color.

When she arrives at her grandmother, Vivianne’s apartments for their customary Sunday dinner, she is feeling resentful but duty calls. That is when she notices the door ajar just as someone rushes past her. Inside, she finds her grandmother murdered. Fast forward five months and Eleanor still suffers from nightmares and worries that every face is that of the killer.

When a lawyer contacts her, she is shocked to learn she has inherited Solhoga, a country estate. She and her live-in boyfriend Sebastien travel to the estate tucked away in the Swedish woods. They plan to meet the lawyer there and hopefully the estate manager who no one has been able to reach. She is surprised when she discovers her Aunt Veronika waiting for them.

An odd family history and the gloomy atmospheric Solhoga Estate set the tone for this chilling tale. Family secrets and resentments give way to truths as they unlock the door.

The author shares two time periods. Present day and 1965 via the maid Annushka’s diary that Eleanor discovers. The diary divulging the disillusions, pessimism and cruelties Vivianne, the madam of the house, made everyone endure.

Creepy closed off rooms, and the claustrophobic setting gave this a Noir vibe. The constant feeling of someone watching, flickering lights, a missing estate manager and a snowstorm all add to the foreboding. I found myself unable to put it down. What happened here? Why did Vivianne never mention the summer home? What doesn’t Eleanor know?

The tale was clever with plenty of twists, heartache and suspense as Eleanor moves closer to discovering the secrets buried here. Sten masterfully wove past and present to create a suspenseful thriller that will keep you enthralled.

Oh this was such a good thriller! I was pulled in right away This one had it all a locked room mystery, eerie setting, and interesting backstory! I kept turning the pages needing answers to the mystery. I loved the authors writing how she alternated between past and present. I will have to read more of her books now! I definitely recommend this.

Thank you to NetGalley, Camilla Sten and St Martin's Press for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to read this one after being a huge fan of The Lost Village! I was a bit surprised by this one, it was less horror and more thriller, but overall so very very enjoyable anyway. It was action packed and pretty creepy in the abandoned old house. It was a quick and easy read and I just kept turning the pages to see what the heck was going on!

Happy Pub Day to THE RESTING PLACE by @wednesdaysten and thank you to the author, @netgalley and @minotaur_books for the e-ARC.

When Eleanor walks in to see her calculatingly cruel grandmother, Vivianne, bleeding out, she comes face to face with the killer. The only problem is that Eleanor lives with prosopagnosia (face blindness) and therefore cannot recognize the assailant before they run out into the night.

As Eleanor tries to pick up the pieces after this horrifying event, she is summoned to an old family home to settle the estate. As she learns more about her family history, she realizes her family, and particularly Vivianne has been keeping some dark secrets.

I really enjoyed this atmospheric mystery/crime thriller translated from Swedish by Alexandra Fleming. The characters were well fleshed out, the setting was creepy, the secrets were juicy! I did find myself being a little confused about how prosopagnosia works but it just prompted me to look up some information about this condition.

I am looking forward to reading more by this author (good thing THE LOST VILLAGE is sitting on my shelf right now!😆).

🤖🤖🤖🤖/5

I am generally not a fan of locked room style mysteries. The singular setting tends to limit the plot and the stories get a bit tedious and boring. The Resting Place is one of the best ones that I've read so far. The dualing timelines and multiple mysteries, lend to a thrilling story line. I did not want to put this book down. When I wasn't reading, I was thinking about what was happening and how it would all unravel. I did figure out one of the mysteries but I was never completely sure that I was right so I loved the reveals. There was some misdirection so I had an inkling about a character that didn't play out like I imagined. While most of the characters were unlikable in some way, I hated Sebastian. I found his character to be so annoying but it didn't change my view of the book. I also thought the book could have been a tad shorter but overall it was an excellent read.

For me, there are few things better than Gothic-inspired mysteries set in snowy climates, so this book is pretty much perfect.

Eleanor walked in on her grandmother, Vivianne’s murderer. But she has a disorder that makes it impossible to identify faces, so she doesn’t know who the killer was.

Months later, she travels to the family summer estate she didn’t know existed with her aunt, Veronika, boyfriend, Sebastian, and attorney, Rickard. Although the longtime caretaker, Mats, is not answering their calls, Eleanor senses another presence. A terrific snowstorm blows in and Rickard goes missing. With their phones and car batteries dead, they are trapped with the malevolent presence and generations of family secrets.

Told in a dual timeline, with flashbacks to the 1960s, THE RESTING PLACE is impossible to put down spooky, and utterly fabulous.

"The Resting Place," by Camilla Sten, translated from the Swedish by Alexandra Fleming, is the bleak story of Eleanor who, after her mother's death, is raised by her harsh grandmother, Vivianne Fälth. Eleanor suffers from prosopagnosia or "face blindness." She is unable to recognize an individual by observing his or her features. Therefore, she distinguishes one person from another by taking note of their hair style, clothing, eye color, and scent. One Sunday, when Eleanor arrives at Vivianne's house for dinner, she finds her grandmother on the floor with her throat slashed.

Sten moves back and forth in time between the present and the mid-1960s to tell this complex tale of family dysfunction, mental illness, murder, and a sordid past filled with secrets and lies. After her grandmother's passing, Eleanor and her boyfriend, Sebastian, visits Solhöga, a spooky manor house north of Stockholm that Vivanne had inherited from her late husband. Eleanor, her Aunt Veronika, and a probate lawyer named Rickard Snäll are there to take an inventory of the property.

When the significance of the flashbacks is revealed, the resolution is mind-boggling. In addition, the author trots out a well-worn thriller trope: a fierce blizzard cuts out phone service in Solhöga, so Eleanor, Sebastian, Veronika, and Rickard are at the mercy of a homicidal maniac. The gloomy plot makes little sense, and the characters are too superficial to earn our sympathy. In this grim tale, heinous sins committed decades earlier come back to haunt everyone involved.

Interesting book. It was a suspenseful, creepy read that kept you me on the edge of my seat. I was kept reading until the last page.

This was my first novel by Sten and I'm excited to check out more of her work.

This novel kept me at the edge of my seat and I was excited that it surprised me. I had a feeling early on where the book would go and I was completely and utterly wrong.

Eleanor has prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, so when she sees her grandmother's killer running out of her apartment, she has no way to identify the murderer. Haunted by her inability to avenge her grandmother's death, Eleanor and her boyfriend hope to find answers when they are summoned to Solhoga to tie up some loose ends with her grandmother's estate. But once at the estate, ghosts of Vivianne's past that should have lain dormant are resurrected and the truth will leave a trail of bodies in its wake.

Overall I enjoyed this novel, however, I didn't feel a connection to the characters and part of me felt like the meat of the story was jumped into a little too quickly. With a little more buildup and setting the stage, I would have been more connected to the storyline.

The prosopagnosia addition was a unique twist (though I have read another book recently with the same disorder!) and it added a lot to the storyline. I felt the author was consistent in making it relevant without harping on it too much.

There were a lot of moving pieces to this plot and my lack of attachment to the characters made it hard for me to really get invested. I struggled to predict what would happen next - perhaps because I wasn't overly invested or maybe because not enough bread crumbs were provided. Either way, it was ultimately a very enjoyable read and I one I would definitely recommend if you enjoy eerie novels that keep you guessing.

Finally, this is a translated work and the translation was exceptional. Often with translated novels, the text is choppy or doesn't have a great flow, but that was not the case here.

Thank you very much to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a copy of this novel.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Camilla Sten. This was a very atmospheric book and very creepy because of the main premise that surrounds this book. This book has two strong timelines that is not always achieved in most books but this was well written in both parts. I won't outline the synopsis but the book was just so well thought through and made it easy to read as it always held my attention while reading. As the authors second book that I have read, I have to say that her books are to be looked out for as they are always intriguing.

Eleanor has prosopagnosia, the inability to recognize faces. This causes her distress when she walks in on her grandmothers murder, even coming face to face with the killer, and being unable to identify who it was. Anxious as ever, Eleanor is invited by a lawyer out to her grandmothers abandoned country estate because it was left to her in the will. Accompanied by her boyfriend, Sebastian, and aunt, Veronika, the group explores the eerie house and start to unravel secrets that were better left buried.

Murder? Mysterious house? Family secrets? These are some of my favorite elements to a thriller and The Resting Place has all three! I loved the creepy atmosphere that Camilla Sten created in this book, especially the “locked room” feeling of being in a house in the woods. Not only was the setting mysterious, but the characters as well. I enjoy when books throw suspicion on multiple characters, and this book does it well. Overall, I enjoyed this thriller and look forward to reading more by Camilla Sten!

Thank you St. Martins Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an e-arc of The Resting Place.

The Resting Place is a solid thriller, complete with similar creepy/gothic/nordic vibes. Seriously, if you like slow burn horror, check this one out.

Eleanor suffers from prosopagnosia - she can't remember faces. So when she literally walks in on her grandmother's murderer, she isn't much help to the police. Naturally, she's devastated by the death, but she and her grandmother had a complicated relationship. Apparently, this comes second nature to her family, as estrangement and buried secrets are the name of the game. Imagine Eleanor's surprise, then, when she learns she's inherited a secret country mansion - and then finds herself stranded there, in a snowstorm, with her boyfriend, her aunt, and her grandmother's mysterious lawyer. The mystery grows as the house seems to come alive and Eleanor wonders just how many more secrets she has to find.

When I say slow burn, I'm not kidding, so if you're someone who likes their thrillers with a ton of action and twists and turns, this may not be the book for you. But if you like creepy, isolated stories where you're just waiting for the killer to pop out - and as you read, you just *know* that has to be coming - then I think you will dig this one.

Review of The Resting Place by Camilla Sten

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

This book was a bit of a roller coaster for me. I thought it started off strong with such a good premise but then in the middle it was somewhat slow and dull and dragged. I thought the ending was very solid though which made me glad I read it. I feel overall somewhat disappointed because it had such promise to be a 4.5-5 star read for me and I just wanted more overall from it than it delivered. It didn’t have the extremely creepy vibes I wanted either.

Quick synopsis: The book opens as Eleanor, who suffers from facial blindness (this must be a new thing in books lately but it was used such a cool way in this book!) goes to her grandmother Vivianne’s home for dinner. Upon arrival she finds her grandmother has been viciously attacked and is dying. Eleanor comes face to face with the killer, but can’t recognize them due to her condition. Creeeeeeepy! Shortly thereafter she and her boyfriend travel to her grandmother’s country home along with a lawyer and her aunt. They are there to settle the estate but it’s clear they either aren’t alone or one of them is the killer. To add mystery, Eleanor finds an old diary of someone who used to work for her grandmother at the home and the secrets keep unfolding.

A big thank you to @netgalley and @minotaurbooks for the ecopy of this one.

I am not always a fan of the slow burn thriller, but this one drew me in. I’d use creepy, gothic and atmospheric to describe the tone the author sets. This is the ultimate who can you trust since Eleanor has prosopagnosia or face blindness, where you cannot recognize the face of anyone, even the people you know best. After her Grandmother’s death, she inherits a cottage she didn’t know about with a dark past.

The story unfolds in a dual timeline with twists and turns. Some you might figure out, but a few you won’t see coming.

If you are a fan of slow burn gothic thrillers, you should check this one out.

You won’t get much rest while reading Camilla Sten’s The Resting Place! Read it on a warm spring or summer day while the sun is out. Don’t read it by the light of your cell phone after a blizzard or thunderstorm has knocked out your power.

The story opens in September as the police question Eleanor about what she witnessed a few hours earlier when arriving for her routine Sunday dinner with Vivianne, the grandmother who largely raised her. Something was wrong. The face Eleanor saw leaving as she opened the door was not Vivianne. Vivianne lay dead on the floor. Eleanor can’t describe the likely murderer. Not only did Eleanor see the fleeing person only briefly, she also suffers from prosopagnosia, face blindness, meaning she needs to commit “markers” to memory, such as eye color and hair style, to later recognize anyone when seeing him or her again.

Time passes. It’s mid-February and a lawyer contacts Eleanor and her aunt, the deceased’s sister, to meet him at Solhöga, an estate Vivianne owned in the countryside, one Eleanor never knew existed. It’s time to inventory the estate as part of the probate process. Eleanor, boyfriend Sebastian, Aunt Veronika, and the lawyer Rickard Snäll are soon snowbound at remote Solhöga, far from civilization.

An alternate timeline occasionally interrupts Eleanor’s plot line, gradually bringing the past and the present together to resolve this suspenseful novel. The secondary plot line focuses on Anushka, a servant working for Eleanor’s grandmother Vivianne during the mid-1960s. All changes in timeline are clearly marked with either Anushka’s or Eleanor’s name

As the blizzard intensifies, the suspense builds. Eleanor finds Anushka’s decades-old diary, written in Polish, and begins to translate it using her cell phone and an online translation app. Why had Vivianne kept Solhöga a secret from Eleanor, the granddaughter she raised? Is there any connection between Solhöga and the last words Vivianne had left in Eleanor’s voice mail on Friday night before their ritual Sunday dinner: “I can hear them in the walls’ they’re whispering to me”? Where is Bengtsson, the groundskeeper, who has not been answering calls, all going directly to voicemail?

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for this spooky thriller. Remember to read it in daylight, preferably with people you trust nearby.