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A review by rinku
Das Haus der stummen Toten by Camilla Sten
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I didn’t know what to expect of The Resting Place but in the end, I enjoyed it more than I think I would, so I gave it 3.5 stars. What was great about this novel was its main character and the atmosphere, but the story itself had some cliché and predictable moments and didn’t develop the side characters as much.
The story follows Eleanor who witnessed the murder of her grandma Vivianne with whom she’s grown up with. Together with her boyfriend, her aunt, and Vivianne’s lawyer, they go to the summer house of her grandma to estimate the value of the house. Strange things happen there, and Eleanor starts to find out that her family has a dark secret that happened at this place. To uncover this secret, there’s another POV from the past told. The POVs were changed in a good pace so that there’s always some tension. What I liked as well was how creepy and atmospheric this book was right from the beginning. This atmosphere only intensified since you can’t be sure which characters Eleanor can trust and which don’t.
Some moments in this novel were so cliché though that I rolled my eyes. Of course, a snowstorm comes, leaving the characters trapped. If this wasn’t enough, mobile phones weren’t useable anymore, there was no electricity, the car was dead, and the road blocked – this was a bit tiring. It also annoyed me how no one never believed the main character anything. I could guess other things as well and I don’t know if it speaks for the story or if it doesn’t: It was quite obvious that the lawyer wasn’t a real one or that Annuschka had an affair with Vivianne’s husband and was Eleanor’s real grandma . Still, the general mystery was interesting and engaging.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of the ending and it’s probably the reason why I couldn’t give a full four-star rating: The reveal that Carina, Eleanor’s therapist and Marit’s daughter, was the murderer just came out of the blue and was a classic case of the murderer telling how the murder went down before wanting to kill everyone involved. I’m not sure what to think about the twist that Vivianne shot Marit instead of Annuschka. In comparison, I liked the twist that Annuschka became Vivianne, even though I guessed it from the beginning. When we got Annuschka’s POV for the first time, I actually though that it was Vivianne’s POV .
Eleanor was a nice main character for the story, and I found it interesting that she has face blindness. Some aspects of her character were a bit cliché, but her struggles and her trauma because of Vivianne’s death were still depicted quite well. The other characters were a bit stereotypical for the role they had in the story; for example, Sebastian was the useless boyfriend that never believes Eleanor anything and doesn’t help her.
All in all, The Resting Place was an atmospheric and interesting autumn read but probably nothing that will stick with me for too long.
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Car accident