Play Book Tag discussion

Tagged by three people as "scary" so I'm counting it, though I was never scared myself.

I really enjoyed Camilla Sten's previous title, The Lost Village, and was hoping that The Resting Place would be just as cleverly scary. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations. I wouldn't call this book horror, as I was never scared about what was going on. Instead, I would call it a mystery/thriller, but with twists that I found more confusing than anything else.

Victoria "Eleanor" is haunted by the gruesome murder of her cruel grandmother, Vivianne, several months earlier. She witnessed the murder, but because of having face blindness, she has been unable to assist the police in catching the killer. Then she learns Vivianne had a country home out in the Swedish wilderness called Solhoga. She heads there with her stalwart boyfriend Sebastian, her alcoholic aunt, Veronika, and an estate lawyer named Rickard to settle Solhoga's assets. Soon they're snowbound and trapped, and it's clear that they're not there alone...

This is a pretty great set up, but it never got off the ground for me. I didn't really like anyone in the ensemble cast – they all seemed like wet noodles. Eleanor's face blindness is a weird gimmick, as the book posits she can't even see faces, despite often describing them from the first person. I'm not sure, but I think that's not really how face blindness works. Plus she had a psychotic break from trauma after her grandmother's murder, and thus doesn't trust her own perceptions at the start... which undercuts the drama when she clearly sees someone on the grounds. But she keeps telling herself the stuff she's seeing isn't real. Girl, what?! I think this part would be much more effective if she was insistent she knows what she saw, but it's the other characters who don't believe her. Instead Eleanor bumbles into situations that feel extremely dangerous with the blithe assurance that it's all in her head, and I can't say I enjoyed that all that much.

Sebastian is similarly boring. They've been together for several years, but their relationship is on the rocks, yet this never really comes to a head or gets addressed. Eleanor seems to think he's weak several times, and aside from one vaguely sexy scene they never have any chemistry. It made me wonder why they were still together in the first place. (view spoiler)[I actually wondered if HE was the killer at one point, because why else would he be sticking around?! But that didn't come to fruition, either... (hide spoiler)] Veronika vacillates between a stereotypical angry drunk and a tender mother figure to Eleanor and that didn't make much sense. Rickard seems like he could be interesting, only to turn into literal dead weight later on. (view spoiler)[I don't even think we find out if he lives or dies at the end?? If we do, I missed it. (hide spoiler)] And when the reveal of the killer came, I had to stifle a groan because it felt SO out of place.

This isn't even addressing the secondary storyline, told in flashback from a Polish maid named Anushka who was employed at Solhoga. While I liked most of this plot, I think it gave away too much and made many reveals in the present day section fall flat. Also, I had a hard time believing (view spoiler)[Anushka was really in love with Evert. She seems so overwhelmed with guilt that at times I wondered if the relationship was actually coerced?? And idk, I don't think that was the author's intention, but it made me vaguely uncomfortable nevertheless. (hide spoiler)] And of course, the reveal that (view spoiler)[the real Vivianne had died and Anushka had taken her place truly strained credulity for me. Like, how did sweet Anushka transform into the evil, manipulative woman everyone in her life remembered? I know the implication is that the secret poisoned her so completely, but I had a difficult time believing that transition. And did Carina ever actually realize Vivianne wasn't Vivianne, but Anushka? Like, Eleanor never finishes translating the diary, so it seems like no one knows, even though the final chapters have a jump forward in time with Eleanor visiting Carina in prison. Ostensibly Eleanor could have finished the translation and then told her the truth?? But that never even comes up. I'm so confused... (hide spoiler)]

Overall, I think this book had promise that it failed to deliver on. Strangely, the author's note mentions a character named Alexia who was cut entirely from the final draft because she was "way too funny and interesting and charismatic. She completely stole the show." Which... I think this novel could have done with a character like that! As it is, it feels too insular, with a limited cast of boring characters it was difficult to root for or consider capable of murder.

Still, it kept me reading and I liked a lot of the setup, so three stars feels about right. I just hope if Sten publishes more in English, her work improves from this effort.