Last week, while browsing the internet for some book recommendations, I came across this book by Camilla Sten. I was very much impressed by her first book, 'The Lost Village', and so decided to give this book a try.
Eleanor suffers from prosopagnosia - a medical condition where the person is unable to identify human faces. As she reaches her grandmother Vivianne's home to meet her over dinner, she finds her murdered, and the killer walks past. Eleanor is unable to identify the killer. A lawyer calls and informs about a home that Vivianne has left her. She, her boyfriend, the lawyer, and her aunt visit the house to seek answers. With the killer still on the loose and the house holding some dark secrets, will Eleanor be able to get to the bottom of these forms the rest of the story.
The first thing that captured my attention was the condition of Eleanor, which can be a perfect setting for a great story. I expected the story to move in that way. But when they arrive at the house, and the story tended to travel in two different timelines, there was a sense of amiss. On a positive note, the read was mostly engaging. The language was simple enough, and it kept us reading forward without many glitches. Yet, I did not get any edge-of-the-seat experience. The characters were portrayed well but carried a sense of mystery till the very end. As in many similar novels, I felt that the portions leading to the climax were stretched, and I was able to decipher the plot except for the last twist. Recently, I have this feeling that stories that carry multiple timelines in parallel tend to get stretched unnecessarily. The claustrophobic, isolated setting helped the story to a certain extent. Mental health was discussed superficially at times. There was a sense of wasted oppurtunity throughout the read, and that gets played in the back of our minds as we read the book. I think the first book might have set the expectation level at a higher level.
Overall, a decent one-time read, which might not fully entice thrill seekers. The medical condition could have been effectively used in favour of the book. That, along with a toned-down pre-climax, could have given us a much more satisfying read.
Check out the review of other books by Camilla Sten.
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