Eleanor. Sebastian. Veronika. The lawyer. The groundskeeper. All of them are isolated at a former home of Eleanor's grandmother Vivianne, who was recently murdered. Eleanor arrived at the murder scene just after the crime was committed, but due to her prosopagnosia (face blindness), she could not identify the killer. Now strange things keep happening at this eerie home with a dark and mysterious past... and where IS the groundskeeper??

The dual timeline of this story pieces together the present with Vivianne's distant past, and the reader has a common thread in a series of diary entries, written in the past and discovered in the present.

I had very high hopes for this book because I absolutely LOVED Sten's previous novel, The Lost Village. I found The Resting Place reminiscent of Rock Paper Scissors- they share the element of face blindness as well as the locked-room (property) sort of aspect. However, it certainly seemed that Eleanor's prosopagnosia was selective. Granted I am not an expert on the condition, but there seemed to be several plot holes in this regard. I enjoyed reading this, but in the end I felt a little disappointed.

Many thanks to Camilla Sten, Minotaur, & NetGalley for having the privilege to read this ARC & review this in return for my honest review.

Let’s start with: I LOVE the spooky feel of her books! They really get me all cuddled up in my blanket at night waiting to be spooked.

It started fast paced but over the time it got slower & slower. I was hoping it would keep the pace! I’m still happy with the end though! With that being said it definitely deserves a 4 star. I enjoyed this one!

Ho-ly moley! I love this book. The writing, the tension, oh it was just so good. I love books that feature unique protagonists and it worked so well in this book. I cannot wait to read more by Sten.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

There were some good twists in this and it was sufficiently creepy, but most of the time I found things a little hard to follow. I’m not sure if something was lost in the translation, I missed a detail along the way, or it was just the writing style. I really enjoyed her last book and didn’t find it hard to follow at all, so I’m not sure. The characters were pretty well developed and easy to follow. It was an interesting read.

It's rare I finish a book in one sitting, but this one was an exception! Eerie and very atmospheric, it was a perfect weekend read. There were times it felt slow, but not in a way that was a detriment to my overall enjoyment of the book.

I did feel, slightly, that the concept of face-blindness did give some leeway with the suspense building, and made it far easier for the twist to occur. BUT, again, not something that took away from my enjoyment.

Happy Publication Day to The Resting Place by Camilla Sten! This is my current read and it starts so strong it hooked me in and I can’t wait to see where this thriller is going.

Synopsis: The medical term is prosopagnosia. The average person calls it face blindness—the inability to recognize a familiar person’s face, even the faces of those closest to you.

When Eleanor walked in on the scene of her capriciously cruel grandmother, Vivianne’s, murder, she came face to face with the killer—a maddening expression that means nothing to someone like her. With each passing day, her anxiety mounts. The dark feelings of having brushed by a killer, yet not know who could do this—or if they’d be back—overtakes both her dreams and her waking moments, thwarting her perception of reality.

Then a lawyer calls. Vivianne has left her a house—a looming estate tucked away in the Swedish woods. The place her grandfather died, suddenly. A place that has housed a dark past for over fifty years.

Eleanor. Her steadfast boyfriend, Sebastian. Her reckless aunt, Veronika. The lawyer. All will go to this house of secrets, looking for answers. But as they get closer to bringing the truth to light, they’ll wish they had never come to disturb what rests there.

Thank you to @netgalley @minotaur_books and the author for an advanced e-copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

UPDATE: Really enjoyed this one! It brought up an extra layer of suspense over a normal thriller since Eleanor can’t recall faces and it makes you feel anyone and everyone could be lying to her and have ulterior motives.

This book moved between the past and the present which I usually enjoy.
I thought this book had a lot of potential but ultimately found the plot slow

Thank you to netgalley.com for this ARC.

I enjoy a good mystery set in a Nordic setting especially in the winter - makes things so much creepier I feel. This was a good story with twists and turns. Did really see the ending coming until well into the book, which is always good.

I also enjoyed the dual perspective and time line.
Would recommend this book for fans on Nordic noir.

The atmospheric detail in this book is incredible. I felt that Camilla Sten's The Lost Village was a bit predictable, but my partner pointed out that Sten was just skilled at subtly leaving breadcrumbs to make potentially unbelievable plot elements seem like the natural progression of the story. I read The Resting Place with that in mind and saw that they were definitely right. There are certainly a few clarifying questions I'd like to ask the author (all spoilers, so I won't spell them out) but leaving those questions unanswered doesn't subtract from this story in any way, shape, or form.

Readers may also enjoy "Rock Paper Scissors" by Alice Feeney.

This was an intriguing story and puzzle of is she actually seeing & hearing things or is it all just inside her head. Overall, a fun suspenseful read.

3.5 rounded up to 4 stars. This book is a slow burn that keeps you guessing until the very end. I find prosopagnosia interesting, so I enjoy books that feature it. I enjoyed the dual timelines from past to present, and the locked door trope. I did find all of the V names confusing. Overall it was a bit slow at times but still enjoyable, and I'll definitely check out this author's previous translated book.

Not my favorite. I’d absolutely recommend readers try THE LOST VILLAGE first. I found this to be very slow at times and was bored. I’m also not a huge fan of the facial blindness storyline.

Eleanor has prosopagnosia, which means she cannot recognize people’s faces. This proves particularly troublesome when she comes face-to-face with her grandmother’s (murderer and cannot identify the killer. It turns out that her grandmother, Vivianne, has left a secret mansion in the forests of Sweden to her. Eleanor, her boyfriend Sebastian, her aunt Viktoria and the estate lawyer visit the house to catalogue the property. The visit turns into a nightmare when Eleanor begins seeing and hearing things that none of the other guests seem to be aware of. As Eleanor searches the house and property, she uncovers secrets and mysteries that have been hidden away for half a century.

This book was very well written and is a suspenseful page-turner. If you enjoy a good mystery and love creepy old houses (like I do), you’ll love this book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Just found this book really strange.Very different then any books I have read before, I have never read a book that discusses blindness before..Thank you for giving me a chance.

Just a word of thanks to both Netgalley, as well as Minotaur Books, for allowing me to have an advanced reading copy of The Resting Place in exchange for an honest review.

Camilla Sten’s newest thriller, The Resting Place, begins when our main character, Eleanor, visits her grandmother Vivianne, only to find her being murdered with a pair of scissors. Unfortunately, Eleanor is unable to recognize the killer due to her prosopagnosia - the inability to record and remember faces of people. And so begins another enjoyable thriller from Camilla Sten.

I enjoyed Sten’s last novel, The Lost Village, and The Resting Place did not disappoint either. As the novel progresses, we find that Eleanor is left with an inheritance of a large manor named Solhoga. Eleanor, her boyfriend Sebastian, and Eleanor’s aunt, Veronika, are all to meet a lawyer at Solhoga to inventory and divvy up the inheritance. As with any good thriller, not everyone is as they say they are. Eleanor believes she sees someone in the shadows, she hears things at the manor, etc. Ultimately, readers find there is someone also at the manor, and the excitement intensifies as there is also a snowstorm causing the power to go out, and not allowing the crew to leave the manor. Concurrently throughout the novel, readers go back to the 1960’s in which we read about a dark familial secret that ties in to why Eleanor’s grandmother was murdered.

The Resting Place was an enjoyable read, and reminded me quite a bit of A Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware (also an enjoyable thriller). Camilla Sten’s writing will keep you turning pages.

The short chapters and switching POV made it hard to put this book down. It was a bit hard to follow at times because I would need to remind myself who was related to whom, but that may have just been me since their names were strange, being a translated book. Make sure you have plenty of time when you get to the end, so you can finish it all in one big chunk! My kids kept interrupting for dinner, and it was making me resentful of them! lol

I received an arc for honest review from the publisher. Thank you Minotaur Books!
I was definitely excited to read this one. I read Camilla Sten's first book, The Lost Village, and really enjoyed the creepy atmosphere it delivered. The Resting Place is another book with a great, creepy atmosphere. I really love Sten's settings.
The Resting Place is a manor house, in the middle of the forest, where dark secrets have been hidden.
I really enjoyed it. It was a quick read. It had pretty short chapters, so it was easy to want to read a lot of it in one sitting. It alternated between the present day and diary entries from a previous resident.
I was definitely intrigued finding out the story of what had happened in this place, with this family. I thought it did a great job of slowly revealing things. It could be a little confusing in that there were multiple characters who had more than one name. It was a thing I had to keep track of in my head.
Our main character also has Prosopagnosia, face blindness. This mostly comes into play when her grandmother gets murdered at the beginning of the book and she's not able to recognize the killer. I liked the way the disorder was explained. It was like she couldn't put the pieces of the face together into a recognizable way. She would look for specific things to recognize people, like eyebrows or hairstyles. The Prosopagnosia was important, but kind of a background element at the same time. Something that Eleanor just had to learn to live with.
This had a tense feel to it that I enjoyed. Our characters are stuck at this house, with frigid temperatures and snow.
There were parts of the ending that were interesting. The ultimate who-done-it was a little lackluster. Just more of a why? Why go to all this unnecessary trouble. Through the diary entries, the readers discover the secrets of the manor, but I don't think the main characters ever really do. I also would have liked a little more about what happened after, especially with Eleanor and her boyfriend, they didn't seem to be the most in love through most of the book. Are she and her aunt closer now? What happened with the other guy? Also, why was Vivianne so mean?
I definitely enjoyed it. I'll read more stuff by Camilla Sten in the future, when she comes out with her next book.


BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 4/5
Love the Creepy Setting

Camilla Sten does it again!! Knocked it right out the park with The Resting Place. A claustrophobic thriller theme book that had me fully mesmerized!! Dual time lines, dysfunctional family, lots of twist making it it the perfect late night read to keep you fully creeped out and wanting to sleep with the lights on.

A huge thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-arc, a physical copy and an ALC. And yes, I utilized and enjoyed all three!! The narration while reading along with the physical book is always my favorite way to read and to devour these type of thrilling books. Then reading late into the night on my kindle kept me extra on edge & terrified! These opinions are my own. I HIGHLY recommend this one!! Go in blind and enjoy the ride!!

Thanks to NetGalley and all for an ARC copy in return for an honest review.
I really enjoyed the writing style and the plots of both timelines. However, I just had a hard time getting pulled into the book and didn't really feel the suspense building. Didn't dislike it but probably not one I'll be recommending.

I truly enjoyed this book and I flew through it in less than 2 days. Although I liked The Lost Village more, this is a perfect locked room mystery and a very different kind of story while revolving around the same themes. This, at it core is a family drama but I’d also say that it’s a chiller (spooky thriller). I definitely recommend reading this book on a cold winter night so that you can truly feel the snowed in atmosphere.

***From this point on my review contains spoilers***
Okay, I loved this story and I never suspected that the psychiatrist was also the little girl from the diary and I definitely never suspected her as the culprit. The story flowed perfectly between the present and the found diary, which is and always will be one of my favourite tropes. While some of the twists were easy to see coming, like the cousins switching places, I never would have guessed how this came to be. Overall I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good mystery.

The one thing I disliked the most was Elanors loyalty to Sebastian. He sucked!! Why does she want to work it out with that asshat?