Eleanor suffers from prosopagnosia (face blindness) which prevents her from recognizing any familiar face. She’s had this her entire life and has learned to cope with it by recognizing specific physical features, mannerisms, and voices. When Eleanor goes to her weekly dinner with her Grandmother, Vivianne, she witnesses Vivianne’s murder. Unfortunately, Eleanor’s condition makes it worthless that she’s seen the murder’s face. Months after the murder, Eleanor is notified that she has inherited the Solhoga estate. Never having been to Solhoga, Eleanor hopes to find answers about who her grandmother was while visiting Solhoga. When Eleanor arrives at the estate though, along with the estate lawyer, her aunt Veronika, and her boyfriend Sebastian, strange things start to happen including a freak snowstorm. Cue all the creepy and eerie vibes.

Just like The Lost Village, The Resting Place, is told in alternating past and present tense. Not only do we get Eleanor’s point of view but we read from Annushka’s diary, a character from the past. We flip between the two continuously throughout the story, which provides some nice background on Annushka’s time spent at Solhoga, while also contributing to the overall mystery of the story. The short chapters, which Sten puts forth, really help the story to move at a quick pace and build up suspense.

I had never heard of Prosopagnosia, until picking up this book. Honestly, I’m shocked that this is my first psychological thriller that uses this medical condition in a storyline. As the synopsis states, “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.” I felt this was used well in the context of the story, and allowed the reader to be completely surprised by the end. Or at least I was surprised by it.

The Resting Place keeps you on your toes and is a great example of psychological suspense writing without the main female characters just being gaslighted. Personally, I think that Camilla Sten’s books should come out in September every year instead of in March because they are perfect for spooky season, which is exactly when I read it. Highly recommend picking up a copy when it hits shelves in 2022, and I can’t wait to read more from Sten.

Fun fact, Camilla Sten is a Swedish writer and her books are translated into English. She has three other books not yet translated. Her mother is also the famous Crime author Viveca Stein.

AMAZON | GOODREADS | ★★★★

The Resting Place comes out March 22, 2022. Huge thank you to Minotaur books for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.  If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my Instagram @speakingof_books.