Tuesday, June 21, 2022

REVIEW: The Resting Place by Camilla Sten

 
Title: The Resting Place
Author: Camilla Sten
Published by: Minotaur Books
Released: March 29, 2022
Source: Review Copy Provided by Publisher
Goodreads      Amazon
 
Synopsis: A spine-chilling, propulsive psychological suspense from international sensation Camilla Sten.
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.
A heart-thumping, relentless thriller that will shake you to your core, The Resting Place is an unforgettable novel of horror and suspense. (Synopsis from Goodreads)
 
My Thoughts: 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
 

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