The Resting Place

I receive a digital advance copy of The Resting Place by Camilla Sten (translated by Alexandra Fleming) via NetGalley. The Resting Place is scheduled for release on March 29, 2022.

The Resting Place follows two timelines. In the present day, we are with Eleanor, a woman with prosopagnosia (face blindness) who walked in on her grandmother’s murder. Unable to identify the killer, even though she saw them up close, Eleanor is uncertain who is responsible and worried that they may come back for her. Eleanor is contacted by a lawyer to address an estate in the Swedish woods her grandmother left behind. Eleanor travels to the estate with her boyfriend, the lawyer, and her aunt. In the past, we are with Anushka. Anushka works for Eleanor’s grandmother as a maid, and travels with the family to the Swedish estate every summer.

The two timelines play off of each other, with secrets revealed as we bounce back and forth. I found myself much more interested in Anushka’s story from the past. Her story is much more fully revealed, and the characters in the past are more developed. Eleanor and the other characters in the current day story felt flat by comparison, and had a less cohesive story line. I was also disappointed by the reveal of the “bad guy” in Eleanor’s story line. While Sten explained the why and how of the murder after the reveal, there was no way for me as a reader to have figured out the mystery on my own. There were other twists and reveals, but these I figured out so early in the novel that the end lacked a satisfying “Ah, I get it now!” moment.

As with other Camilla Sten novels I have read, the strength of this novel is the lonely, creepy setting filled with mysteries. This time, Sten drops her characters into the middle of nowhere in Sweden at an estate with a missing caretaker just in time for a blizzard to trap them there (and hide what might be lurking on the property). Like the characters, I felt both confused and trapped by the estate.

Overall, The Resting Place was a very vibey novel that delivered on a feeling of suspense. While I didn’t love the current day story line, the intertwined story from the past provided the depth I needed to pull me in.