The Resting Place by Camilla Sten
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars rounded up**
The Resting Place is the second novel I’ve read from Camilla Sten. The first was The Lost Village, which I read in early-2021 and gave 3.5-stars, not rounding up.
While there were aspects of that story I enjoyed, overall I would say I had been hoping for a lot more. I’m happy to report, The Resting Place gave me more.
This story is about Eleanor, who suffers from prosopagnosia, or face blindness. As in, she is unable to recognize facial features.
So, when Eleanor walks in on her Grandmother’s murder and comes face-to-face with the killer, she is unable to describe the individual after the fact.
The grandmother, Vivianne, was a real piece of work. She was not a nice lady and even though she raised Eleanor, she never showered Eleanor with the love that a mother-figure should.
She’s Lady Tremaine basically. That’s the vibe she was giving me.
Time passes and then Eleanor gets a call: Hey, hi, hello. So, your Grandmother owns this creepy manor home that she never told you about. It’s where you’re Grandfather died actually and guess what, now it’s yours. We need you to come to the house and work through some estate dealings. Okay? Great, byeeeeeee.
Eleanor agrees and travels to the property, tucked away in the Swedish wilderness, along with her boyfriend, Sebastian, her Aunt Veronika, and the probate attorney.
Once at the property, the interactions are tense. Eleanor’s Aunt definitely inherited the family gene of general bitchiness, so there are some uncomfortable moments.
Additionally, the property itself gives off an abandoned and haunted vibe. They’re told there’s a groundskeeper there, Benson, but they’re unable to locate him. That fact alone puts a dark cloud over the travelers.
It’s a confusing first day and what’s worse, there’s inclement weather coming in. Of course!
The Resting Place is told through past and present timelines. In addition to Eleanor’s perspective, you also get that of Anushka, who lived at the property decades before working as a housemaid.
Sten uses diary entries as a medium for telling some of the past perspective and I really enjoyed that aspect. There’s something about getting to read someone else’s diary that is just so darn intriguing.
There’s also some psychological tension created because of Eleanor’s prosopagnosia. The woman literally came face-to-face with a killer and survived. This killer was never caught. He or she could be anywhere, be anyone, and Eleanor has to live with that. How can she trust anyone?
In addition to the tension, this story is full, absolutely over-flowing full, of dark family secrets. The kind of secrets that are hidden from future generations. They’re that bad.
I love family drama and I love family secrets. I always enjoy watching people’s dirty laundry being aired. Call it schadenfreude, call it wicked, call it whatever you like, it’s just me.
My biggest complaint with this one is that I found it to be slightly confusing. After I finished reading, I was thinking about it quite a bit, discussing it with my dog, as you do, and I realized, I have a lot of questions.
Like here we were at the end, and I had numerous questions about the familial relationships, connections and the conclusion. I’m not sure if I just missed something along the way, or if the questions I have are questions that will arise for other Readers as well.
With this being said though, this is definitely a step up for me from The Lost Village. Which frankly, I like that for my relationship with Camilla Sten. We’re on an upward trajectory. I love that.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. I’m excited to see what Sten serves up next!