I liked Sten's earlier book about a town that disappeared, so I was looking forward to reading this, and I was not disappointed. This is a great gothic tale, full of mysteries and murder and dark twists. I really enjoyed it and think it will be a hit with anyone who likes the gothic, Shirley Jackson's work, Kate Mortons novels, and Scandinavian mysteries.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, St Martins Press and Minotaur books for the arc of this spine tingling, gripping novel set in a haunted manor.
Loved the setting of this book, snowy, isolated, country manor/estate.
Loved the authors writing style, this was my first read and I was blown away. It kept me guessing as to what chilling thing was going to happen next.
Main character, Eleanor, suffered from face blindness, or prosopagnosia, which was something I was unfamiliar with and really liked how it was incorporated into this story. I would have enjoyed this book more had this been discussed throughout the whole book, and not just in the beginning.
Big twist in the end which still has me thinking about it………
Will definitely read more by Camilla Steen!

I was most definitely tethered to my reading chair with this thriller. It was well written with twists and unexpected turns. I would have liked clarity on two scenarios but will refrain from identifying them, so as to not contain spoilers. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC. #TheRestingPlaceBook # StMartin’sPress #Netgalley @stmartinspress @netgalley @bookstagram.

Addictive, thrilling, chilling, edge-of-your-seat reading all packed into this pulse-pounding, amazing novel!

I loved Camilla Sten's previous novel, The Lost Village, so was of course thrilled to hear about her latest novel, The Resting Place!

This novel is written over various timelines - the present, 5 hours later, 5 hours + 5 minutes earlier... and it all adds to the suspense of the novel, leaving you wanting to know what happening, what is going to happen now, and builds the mystery for you. I loved that about this book. I also loved how the novel was written in short chapters, which I really like.

The story follows a woman by the name of Eleanor - she is being interviewed by the police at the police station. Something had happened when she arrived at her grandmother's house (whom she calls Vivianne), which she is being questioned on now. Suffering from prosopagnosia, Eleanor has face blindness. Unless she can identify you by various facial characteristics, or other marker she associates you with to be able to tell you apart from others, she cannot tell one person apart from another person.

I loved the writing of this novel and how it had me hooked to see what would happen next. There were many twists and turns in the book to keep you entertained and hooked on the book, and a big shocking twist at the end that I did NOT see coming, it blew me away.

Some parts of the novel were written by a character by the name of Anushka, back in 1965. Who is Anushka, and what does she have to do with Vivianne and Eleanor. All will be revealed in good time.

A definite must-read that I highly recommend. You will love this book!

I didn't like this as much as the Lost Village but it was still a really enjoyable read! The author is so good at creating spooky atmospheres!

Eerie. Atmospheric. Suspenseful. Spine-Chilling. An uneasy sense of feeling like you’re being watched as you’re reading. Ah yes, must be a Camilla Sten novel! Camilla Sten has a knack for writing stories that literally raise the hairs on the back of my neck, and that is no easy feat because I don’t scare easily.

I fell in love with Camilla Sten’s writing after reading her downright chilling novel, The Lost Village. That book was easily one of the creepiest books i’ve ever read, and definitely one of my favorite books of 2020. I’ve been eagerly anticipating another release from her since finishing The Lost Village, so I was absolutely thrilled when I received a widget for The Resting Place. I dove into it immediately, and finished it in nearly one sitting. This book did not disappoint.

In what I am coming to recognize as typical Camilla Sten fashion, this book creeped me the hell out. There were so many points through this story that literally gave me the chills, and just as with The Lost Village, I had that eerie sense of being watched as I was reading.

The Resting Place, just as with The Lost Village, takes place in another isolated, remote setting where it seems like there appears to be no one around, yet you also get the sense alongside the characters, that you are being watched, and that there’s someone peeking at you from around a corner, unseen. To add to the creep factor? The main character suffers from prosopagnosia, aka face blindness, which prevents her from recognizing any familiar faces.

The story starts off with the main character, Eleanor, going to visit her cold, shrewd grandmother, and not only does she find her murdered, but she also unknowingly comes face to face with her killer.

Soon after, Eleanor is notified that she has inherited a sprawling estate from her grandmother, and this is what leads her to the remote, desolate location.

This is a fast paced psychological thriller that has a lingering feeling of unease and dread as you delve deeper into the story. The feeling of danger and being watched is always present, leaving you feeling uneasy and chilled throughout the entire story. The story is told in short chapters, and alternating points of view that weave between the past and the present, and because of the short chapters, it’s an easy, fast paced read that never has a lull or dull moment.

Eerie, atmospheric, and just downright chilling, this is a book that you won’t want to put down until the flip of the last page because it’s a story that keeps you thrilled and entertained from start until finish.

Camilla has a knack for writing stories that send chills down your spine and raise the hairs on the back of your neck, so if you’re the kind of reader that enjoys reading horror/thriller novels that actually scare you, then this book is an excellent choice for you.

I don’t want to write much else, because i honestly feel that this book is best to go into blindly, if only for the best reading experience possible.

5/5 stars!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Resting Place by Camilla Sten is a creepy, chilling thriller that will have you guessing until the very end. The story revolves around Eleanor, a Swedish woman who has prosopagnosia or face blindness. When her grandmother is killed right in front of her, she is unable to recognize or give any details about the killer to the police. Later, she finds out that her grandmother left her an estate in the middle of nowhere. She and her boyfriend decide to go check the place out. They meet a relative and a lawyer, but the groundskeeper is nowhere to be found. When sinister accidents start happening, Eleanor will have to find out who the murderer is before the murderer finds her!

Here is a thrilling excerpt from the beginning of Chapter 1, which is from Eleanor's point of view:

"The light in the small room is cold, the stark, white glare of an eco-friendly bulb. I’m sure it’s meant to be reassuringly normal, just like the anonymous chair I’m sitting on, and the smooth, light-wood table in front of me.
When I look at my hands I can still see the blood, even though I scrubbed them red and raw with the antiseptic soap in the bare white bathroom.
The door opens and I give a start. The man who steps into the room is wearing a police uniform. He has short blond hair and is carrying a portable recording device in his hand."

Overall, The Resting Place is an unputdownable thriller with a spooky location that is perfect for fans of Riley Sager's books. I love books about haunted locations, and a haunted estate in the middle of the woods, trapped in a blizzard with the danger of freezing to death, really takes the cake. The first half was slow-paced, but the action really picks up in the second half, and I could not stop reading until the climax/reveal.

I did take off 1 star because of the amateurish writing. At one point, Eleanor gets trapped in a moving closet, and I thought that this would be a great moment of suspense. It turns out she's in a dumbwaiter, and as her boyfriend explains the situation to her, her response is - and I quote - "Dumbwaiter? What the f*** is a dumbwaiter?" Maybe the author's attempt at humor got lost in translation. I can suspend my disbelief for a lot of moments in thrillers, but am I supposed to believe an adult woman does not know what a dumbwaiter is?

In another unbelievable situation, a character remembers how to get to the wine cellar despite not having been at the house since they were 5 years old. Then, it's revealed that their father allowed them to drink the wine - when they were 5 years old. Later, a character is bashed in the head to the point of profuse bleeding, and the other characters put the victim in bed to sleep it off. After that, a character in their 20's is running away from a much older character in their 60's, and the character in their 60's actually catches up to them. It's explained that the much older character is "in good shape."

I took off another star because of the unsatisfying ending. It was completely unpredictable. Some readers will like that, but I prefer when the authors drop hints along the way so that the reader can try to figure out what will be revealed. I felt disappointed by the twist. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the creepy atmosphere of the book, and the second half of the book was truly unputdownable. If it wasn't for the aforementioned points, this could have been a 4-star or 5-star review. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of thrillers in general, you can check out this book when it comes out in March!

After reading The Lost Village by Camilla Sten and falling in love with it, Camilla automatically made her way onto my exclusive list of auto-read authors. So when I found out one of Sten’s most popular books, Artavagaren(the Resting Place) was going to be translated to English, I couldn't wait to read it!

Our main character Eleanor suffers from prosopagnosia(face blindness) which prevents her from recognizing any familiar face. When Eleanor went on her weekly visit to see her shrewd grandmother Vivianne, unbeknownst to her she walked into a vicious murder scene and came face to face with her grandmother's killer. Soon after Eleanor is notified that she inherited Solhöga, a sprawling estate from her grandmother. Eleanor feels a strong pull to Solhöga to find some answers about her grandmother.

The chapters alternate between past and present. The present is told through Eleanor’s point of view and the past(1965) is told through Annushka’s point of view. The chapters are all very short which makes for a fast read.

Camilla has turned psychological suspense into a form of art. The Resting Place is atmospheric, suspenseful, creepy, pulse-pounding, claustrophobic, and spine-tingling all at once. Not only is this a thriller, but it also has the elements of a locked room mystery. When the big twist was revealed, I was so surprised that I almost fell out of my chair!

I absolutely loved The Resting Place. I loved all of the characters and I especially loved the creepy Swedish woodland setting that this story takes place.

I highly recommend The Resting Place to all fans of noir thrillers as well as Camilla Sten’s prior novel, The Lost Village.
The Resting Place will be available on March 29, 2022. Many thanks to Netgalley and Minotaur books for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

“The Resting Place” by Swedish author Camilla Sten puts a spin on the classic tale of a killer stalking their victims and a family mansion shrouded in secrecy. This thrilling read will be hard to put down as a violent past comes to light and a killer hunts its prey one by one.

Set in the snowy woods of Sweden is a family mansion Eleanor has never known existed—until after her Grandmother Vivianne is brutally murdered. When a lawyer calls to inform her that she has inherited the estate, Eleanor is told they must take inventory of the house and grounds. Not long after Eleanor arrives with her boyfriend Sebastian and her estranged Aunt Veronika, does it become clear that something isn’t right with the place. Items have gone missing, there are footprints in places the four have never been, and the groundskeeper cannot be located.

Eleanor is convinced someone else is lurking on the estate’s grounds, stalking the group as they explore the family house. After witnessing her grandmother’s death, everyone chalks it up to paranoia and trauma. As stranger things begin to happen around the house and shadowy figures haunt the woods, the isolation begins to settle in and one thing becomes clear: the house has a violent history that has not been put to rest.

Sten has once again created a chilling tale that is full of creepy and unsettling events that will raise questions about why this house has been kept secret for so many years and whether it has something to do with the death of Eleanor’s grandmother. Hints and clues are expertly woven throughout the tale, giving glimpses of what life used to be like through a maid Anushka who worked at the mansion under Vivianne and her husband. As past and present are woven together to explain a complicated history centered around the frosty and indifferent matriarch, Vivianne, comes the spine-tingling feeling of there being something not quite right about the house or the woman who used to own it.

What’s unique about this novel is the main character has a disorder called Prosopagnosia: the inability to recognize faces. There aren’t too many psychological thrillers that choose to focus on a physical disability over mental illness, which adds another level of ‘creepiness’ to the book but also generates a deeper interest in the tale and the main character. Eleanor is a believable character from her anxiety of finding ‘markers’ she can use to recognize people, to the aggravation of being passed off as ‘traumatized’ or ‘paranoid,’ by her boyfriend and family to her desire of developing self-confidence. Readers will relate to Eleanor and be captivated by her journey to a secret house that will destabilize everything she thought she knew about herself and her family.

The only thing that was jarring was the sudden shift from the murder of Eleanor’s grandmother to the secret family estate. Though there is a connection between Vivianne and the house, the mystery encompassing her death is left behind for the strangeness of the family home, the missing groundskeeper, and the events that took place years ago that resulted in Vivianne never speaking of her family home. In the last half of the novel, the question of who killed Eleanor’s grandmother and why is picked up again, but the sudden shift at the start makes it feel as though the who murdered Eleanor's grandmother isn't as important as the mystery surrounding the abandoned estate.

Fans of thrillers and murder mysteries will enjoy this intense and fast-paced read as they dive into the complicated history of Eleanor’s family and the chilly backdrop of the secret estate. Look for this novel on its publication date of March 29th, 2022, and add this spooky novel to your reading lists!

A huge thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press (Minotaur Books), and Danielle for inviting me to read this e-arc and to share my honest opinion in this review!

The summary of The Resting Place sounded intriguing and I had previously read another book by Camilla stein called the lost village which was enjoyable so I figured this would likely be good as well. I was not disappointed! The Resting Place is a story of Murder, mystery, family secrets, mental health, friendships, love & loss. It goes back and forth between the current timeline of the main character & fifty years earlier from the point of view of one of her family members at their vacation home.
I can't think of anything in the book to dislike and look forward to reading what the author comes up with in her next book.
I was provided with a arc by NetGalley to read and give my personal opinion of the book.

Camilla Sten's 2021 release, The Village, was a favorite book of mine, so I was highly anticipating the Resting Place. It did not disappoint.

Eleanor has prosopagnosia--the inability to recognize faces. So when she arrives at her grandmother's apartment just as the woman's murderer is stumbling out, Eleanor is unable to give the police many details about the killer. As a result, Eleanor's anxiety grows.

When a lawyer tells her that her grandmother left her a house deep in the Swedish woods, Eleanor feels she has no choice but to go there to find answers about her family's volatile past. But the violence that Eleanor thought was buried may very well be coming for her next.

I liked this book a lot. It didn't have the same type of dread that The Village did (at least for me), but it does give you a healthy dose of claustrophobia. Sten's ability to set the atmosphere is, again, excellent, and you'll feel your finger tips freezing in the deep freeze of the Swedish woods. It also explores the complexity of families and all the ways we are tied to each other regardless of how our loved ones treat us.

I'd definitely recommend this to fans of Camilla Sten and those who love a good Scandinavian horror story.

Special thanks to St. Martin's Press for inviting me to read this ARC for the purpose of a review. It was a pleasure.

Eleanor suffers from "face blindness" an inability to recognize of distinguish faces. So when she walks in on her grandmother's murderer leaving the scene, Eleanor is unable to provide the police a description a her killer.
Months later and the guilt of not being able to help catch a killer weighing on her, Eleanor goes to visit the secret country house her grandmother, Vivianne, owned. Accompanied by her boyfriend, her aunt, and a lawyer, the house immediately gives off sinister vibes and soon mysterious things begin happening.
With the journal entries left behind by the Annika, Vivianne's maid, the mystery surrounding Vivianne's past and the secret of the house is slowly unraveled.
I enjoyed this book for the mystery and the setting. Somethings in it I don't think were executed overly well (4 adults and not one of them know you can put a car into neutral and push it pretty easily?). Also, it is unclear whether the present day people were privy to the revelation at the end of the book or whether just the reader got that. Also, there was no resolution with the lawyer/PI...was the family successful in getting their house back?

Camilla Sten has quickly climbed to the top of my favorite authors list! The Resting Place is every bit as addictive, chilling, and haunting as The Lost Village, while delving even further into the complex theme of family secrets. Both timelines were equally intriguing and masterfully composed, taking the reader on a psychological ride all the way to the staggering conclusion. Camilla Sten has a strong writing voice that makes you eager to experience her next book. Don't miss this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for access to this arc!

I loved Lost Village, so I was very excited to receive an invite to read Camilla Sten’s new book; The Resting Place. This thriller was one I couldn’t put down after I started reading. The twists were wrenching and the atmosphere was very taut. One of the most unique aspects that really took this book up a notch; the main character of the book has Prosopagnosia (face blindness)!

Eleanor’s grandmother; Vivianne, is brutally murdered on the day Eleanor is due to have her weekly dinner. She runs into Vivianne’s murderer as they’re leaving, but unfortunately it means nothing to her…she has total face blindness.

As time passes, so does Eleanor’s anxiety and panic. She has brushed up with a killer and the thought of not being able to know who it was has left her feeling broken and scared.

One day she gets a call from a lawyer, her grandmother has left her a house. Not just any house, but a mansion in the middle of the Swedish woods. The same house her grandfather died in. A place that hasn’t been seen in fifty years.

Eleanor, along with her boyfriend Sebastian, meet up with the lawyer and her aunt Veronika at the old estate. As they begin dredging up the past, dark secrets emerge that will make them wish they had never come in the first place. How far will someone go to keep these secrets?

The Resting Place is full of dread, tension and suspense. A perfect thriller for a dark, stormy night!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC!

The author has another hit on their hands. It’s eerie, twisty, and one story that takes you on a ride. You get ideas on what is happening or going on, but it’s not always what you think. The characters and story are one you don’t want to miss.

I would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. I read “The Lost Village” previously by this author and loved it, so I was excited to start this one. She definitely sets the scene for the reader and makes you feel you are right there with them. Atmospherically intense, and with a cast of interesting characters, this book keeps the reader interested the entire time and I couldn’t put it down. Can’t wait to read another one by her.

A psychological thriller written in the past and the present until they collide in present day. A very creepy captivating novel that is difficult for the reader to put down. There is an eeriness connected to the setting and the reader never quite knows if there is a supernatural influence contributing to the suspense and terror. A story of family, dysfunction, relationships and murder!

More times than not, truth of the past tragically dies with people. This is one of those stories.

Eleanor, a woman who has a neurological condition, called prosopagnosia, that torments her with the inability to recognize the faces of familiar people, arrives on the scene of her hard-hearted Grandmother Vivianne’s murder. Before Eleanor realizes what has happened, she comes face to face with the murderer but can’t make any sense of their face. The aftermath of her Grandmother’s death leaves her in a state of anxiety and devastating emotions of not being able to identify the killer.

Months later, a lawyer calls Eleanor to tell her that her grandmother leaves her and her Aunt Veronika an estate situated deep in the Swedish forests, and they must take inventory of the house and grounds.
Eleanor and her boyfriend, Sebastian, arrives to the estate along with the lawyer and her Aunt looking for buried secrets and answers that takes them on a treacherous journey they wish they have never taken.
The Resting Place is an intense dual time line that slowly builds while deliberating leaving clues to the mysteries of Eleanor’s family in such a way, you’re not quite sure you know how the story is going to play out. About half way through, I was sure I had most the mystery figured out despite the twisty turns the story takes you on. I was pleasantly surprised with a few details I didn’t see coming.

There were a couple details about two characters that needed to be fleshed out but that said, Sten does a marvelous job casting doubt on the people in surrounding Eleanor and having you second guess yourself on their realities and intentions. Nothing is what it appears and everyone has motives.
I enjoyed reading about the old estate with its great house, out- buildings, lake and woods. You don’t know much about the history of the house or land per say but you get enough to leave up to your imagination.

Stem brilliantly weaves Eleanor’s prosopagnosia and it certainly adds to the creep vibe of the story!

There is so much more to this story that can’t be mentioned and my wish is for readers who enjoy thrillers and mysteries to jump on this book when it is release to the public.

Atmospheric, twisty, hauntingly good story.

Stephanie Hopkins

The resting place is another winner from this writer. The best part about this book is its atmosphere which is eerie. I absolutely love the characters and the plot as well.

I loved THE LOST VILLAGE, so I was psyched to read this new Sten novel in advance (thanks NetGalley!). While THE RESTING PLACE is quite slim in comparison-- and as such, a bit less complex-- Sten's voice is still utterly distinct, engaging, and a true pleasure to read. The pacing, the changing perspectives, the subtleties of the twists... I can't wait to read her next one.