Title: The Resting Place by Camilla Sten
Translated by Alexandra Fleming
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspse
Length: 322 pages
Book Rating: B+
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
Crimson Peak meets The Sanatorium in The Resting Place, a heart-thumping, unforgettable novel of horror and suspense by international sensation Camilla Sten.
Deep rooted secrets.
A twisted family history.
And a house that will never let go.
Eleanor lives with prosopagnosia, the inability to recognize a familiar person’s face. It causes stress. Acute anxiety.
It can make you question what you think you know.
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, the horror of having come so close to a murderer—and not knowing 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 chilling 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 uncovering the truth, they’ll wish they had never come to disturb what rests there.
Review:
The Resting Place by Camilla Sten is a spellbinding Swedish mystery.
Eleanor Fälth’s relationship with the grandmother who raised her is so complicated she has set up strict rules about phone calls and visits. When Eleanor shows up for her obligatory once a week dinner, she is stunned to walk in minutes after her grandmother’s murder. Even though the killer is still present and walks right by her, she cannot offer any details due to her face blindness (prosopagnosia). After not coping well with the resulting anxiety, Eleanor is finally doing much better. Surprised to learn her grandmother owned a summer house away from the city, she and her longtime boyfriend Sebastian join the estate lawyer Rickard Snäll to inventory the contents. Upon their arrival, she discovers her aunt Veronika has decided to join them. With a winter storm bearing down on them, will Eleanor learn her grandmother’s secrets? And will she uncover the identity of her killer?
Eleanor has been unable to make contact with the groundskeeper Mats Bengtsson so her first order of business is to locate him. She is still not able to track him down so she is surprised when she sees a figure lurking by a nearby cottage. Then during the fierce storm, Rickart goes to the cellar for more wine and never returns. Danger awaits Eleanor and Veronika after they decide to venture out in the storm to see if they can find them. Will Sebastian now take her sighting the night before more seriously?
The Resting Place is an atmospheric mystery with a chilling storyline. Eleanor is a sympathetic young woman whose recent past leaves her questioning herself. Sebastian is completely out of his depth so Eleanor quickly realizes she is much stronger than she believes. The country home is secluded and they are soon cut off from the nearby town once the blinding storm settles in. With shocking twists, Camilla Sten brings this suspenseful mystery to a an absolutely stunning conclusion.
