Once I started this, I couldn't put it down. I was addicted and hooked from the get go. I loved trying to figure out what really happened to everyone in the town and how and why they would all disappear, without their families even knowing what was going on. In the book, it had mentioned Jim Jones, who I had just watched a documentary on and that made this all the more believable, realistic and interesting.

However, I will sat that Alice did throw me off a bit. I wasn't a huge fan of her until towards the middle/end of the book. I didn't like how rude and put off she was towards Emmy. I know she explains why but I think seeing more of their friendship and how it dissolved would have made her frustration more understandable. It was too off putting at first, especially when Emmy was just trying to help or talk, in general. I did fall for all of the characters eventually, though, and I really liked the flashback scenes of the town. They were so interesting and I loved to hear about Briggita and the pastor.

The scary part is how someone can so easily manipulate others. While Aina, herself, isn't so believable at the end, the rest can be. This had me a nervous wreck and constantly stopping to look around at my own surroundings. It was definitely the scariest book I've read in awhile and it had me on the edge of my seat!

The Lost Village was a super hyped up book for me because I love horror books and the premise sounds promising. I'm not sure why but I love horror books that deal with a film crew that goes to a pretty creepy place. Plus, I love stories about abandoned places.

The things that I liked:

The characters are three dimensional compared to characters in other horror stories. You actually care about those in this story and you hope they survive the whole situation.
The story keeps you guessing the entire way through which actually keeps you attached to the story.
I love love love the creepy setting.

What I didn't like:

I didn't really like how slow this book is. There aren't many scares or creepy factors in the story. The book doesn't give you chills up and down you spine like I would have thought. It's more or less just following a group of people as they're visiting an abandoned place. Crap doesn't really start hitting the fan until maybe the last 60% of the book.

The other thing I didn't really care for is how the book ended. I was expecting things to end a lot differently and not similar to how a lot of other horror stories have ended. I do wish I had liked the story more than I thought I would.

I love a good story about someplace that's been abandoned. What happened? Where did everyone go? I want to know! So I jumped at the chance to read The Lost Village.

Everyone vanished from Silvertjarn, Sweden in 1959. When the police responded to an anonymous call, they found only a woman's corpse hanging in the center of the village and a baby left in the school. Houses looked as if residents had just stepped away for a moment, all at the same time.

Alice is working to get funding for her documentary project on Silvertjarn. She's assembled a crew, and they're going on location. She doesn't have much in the way of money, so the budget is tight and their time will be limited. But if she can make this project happen, it could be her big break. She also has a personal interest in the project, as her great-grandmother's family had lived there. Of the family, only her grandmother had gotten out.

The village is out in the middle of nowhere. No easy access to supplies or services. The crew figures to have some good uninterrupted time to investigate and document what they find. But almost off the bat, weird things start happening. Some abandoned places just feel empty, and some feel positively spine-tingling. For me, Silvertjarn fell firmly in the spine-tingling category. I would have packed up and hauled it out of there before I'd spent one night. Noises where there shouldn't be any. Items going missing or being damaged. And when one of the crew disappears after being injured, well, that just ramps up the creepy factor.

The story is told from Alice's point of view in the present time and from Elsa's point of view in 1959. Elsa was Alice's great-grandmother, and her story really ties events in the current time together. I liked Elsa best out of all the characters. She saw things going wrong and tried as best as she could to make a difference, to do the right thing. Alice, though, wasn't a very likable protagonist. She was so driven to make the project a success that it felt like she ignored the risks that were rapidly becoming apparent the longer they stayed.

So, creepy factor: excellent. And that's coming from someone who doesn't really like horror. Characters: it was hard to muster up concern for any of the modern-day folks. The final reveal: not really what I was expecting! Overall, I found it a worthwhile read.

In 1959, the whole population of a mining village in Norrland, Sweden, disappeared. Only two people were left behind – the body of a woman stoned to death in the village square and a baby in the school classroom. No-one has been to Silvertjärn since and no explanation was ever found. Neither were the bodies.

Sixty years later, documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt wants to return to Silvertjärn to find out what happened to the 887 residents and who killed Brigitta Lidman. That’s the set-up for The Lost Village, which appeared as Staden when it was first published in Sweden in 2019, and is now appearing in translation around the world.

Full review on my blog: https://westwordsreviews.wordpress.com/2021/05/09/the-lost-village-camilla-sten/ and Crime Fiction Lover https://crimefictionlover.com/2021/05/the-lost-village-by-camilla-sten/

This was a super atmospheric thriller set in the abandoned mining town of Silvertjarn, Sweden. Alice and her crew show up in town to create a documentary about how the 900 residents of the town disappeared in 1959. Only two people remained when everyone else disappeared: a woman who was stoned in the middle of town and a newborn baby girl. Alice is mildly obsessed with the mystery of the town. When her crew starts seeing & hearing weird things....MYSTERIOUSNESS INTENSIFIES!! Their equipment is damaged...some of the people go missing. What is happening? Ghosts? mysterious lurker? psycho killer?

Alice carries on with her search for the truth of what really happened in the town in 1959 and whatever is going on now. The narrative switches between the NOW of Alice's crew and the THEN as told through letters etc. of the town's residents. As I said, this was definitely a very atmospheric read. I could picture this eerie abandoned town in my head. The story was enthralling but I didn't 100% love the ending. But, it was a fun, thrilling read and would be a great pick if you are into ghost towns and the like.

This was a bit of a disappointment for me. Nothing really happens for about 75% of the book and then after that it’s just unoriginal plot. Comparing it to Blair Witch and Midsommar is an insult to be honest.

The Lost Village was an enjoyable, unsettling read. It had a wonderfully spooky and eerie atmosphere, with enough mystery to keep me intrigued. I can see this also making a good movie.

Based in an abandoned town, The Lost Village is a story that explores what happens when a town's livelihood is shut down, the power of human connection (for both the good and the bad), and the hold history can have over us. I really enjoyed how the the present and the past were tied together and woven into a narrative that was unsettling and in an odd way relatable.

The struggles of the characters, both past and present, to care, to explore themselves and their families, and to find closure were interesting, though I did not find any of them particularly groundbreaking or unusual. I did not find myself deeply invested in any of them, though I did find myself more intrigued by those from the past. However, this said, I didn't particularly dislike them, and the relationships that they had to each other and to the town worked well to highlight the atmosphere and the particular story lines.

This type of book is my favorite type of horror book, and I think this one captured it well. I love when books like this make you question what is real, who is the villain, if there even IS a real villain. I love books that blur the lines between the potentially supernatural, the mental, and the real.

I would happily read more from this author and thoroughly enjoyed this book.

This book was just the ghost story I needed to break me out of a slump. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough and the ending was not expected at all! This book had all the makings of a perfect Halloween read.

I enjoyed reading this one, such a different kind of read. I loved the ascending creepiness of the story and the ominous atmosphere the writer created. Right from the start I was invested in trying to figure out what happened in this Scandinavian ghost town. There were some slow parts, but overall a really fun read.

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten highlight the issues of women fighting with mental illness in a sensitive and important way, while incorporating the topics into a horror novel. There are multiple characters in the book that struggle with mental illness, discrimination and disability. The book highlights the struggle with one's inner demons and the problems that cam arise in a community if they see persecution as an answer to these issues.

The relationships between the characters is complicated and well written. The dialogue is plausible and the ending is satisfying. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a satisfying book to read.

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten gave me plenty of shivers from the opening chapter to the very last page.
This was a different type of thriller for me and for the most part it completely worked! I zipped through it in a day, dying to know what happened to all of the villagers. I also really appreciated the letters and the past time line the author used to give insight into what was happening just before everyone disappeared.
I have to say the end felt a bit unrealistic to me. But I went with it and still really enjoyed the book!! It was so atmospheric and truly a gripping story!

So if you are able to “just go with it”at the end as @bernluvsbooks always says, check this one out!!!
I survived The Lost Village, will you?

Thank you so much @minotaur_books {partner} for sending this one my was for review!!

Haunting and creepy tale of small town evil. The flashback between what happened in the 1950's and the present day work very well at building the suspense and culminating in an ending that was surprisingly unexpected and satisfying. A good book. I would recommend it.

Alice sets out to make a documentary film about a small mining village surrounded by mystery when all
the residents disappeared suddenly in 1959. Her grandmother grew up in the village and shared stories
with Alice, so she felt it was her calling to uncover what happened to the town and the residents. With
a small crew and limited budget, Alice heads to the remote village. Immediately the crew knows
something is off when they start hearing noises and strange things start happening to them. But Alice is
determined to get footage for her film, but at what cost?

I thought this book had a lot of promise based on the description. While it was not what I expected in a
“disturbing thriller”, I enjoyed the dual storyline between past and present and was curious as the
events unfolded to find out what happened to the town and residents. Unfortunately, it took awhile
before something happened and most events were predictable.

~ Movie Worthy~

It starts with the perfect beginning. The type of beginning that draws you in and you can’t stop until you’ve devoured the book in its entirety .
Alice and a crew of filmmakers set out to discover what exactly happened to the village and its people back in the 50’s, . Where did they all go? This goes beyond the lost village as Alice has a deep past of her own she needs to confront.
This book had me feeling disturbed, sad, horrified, thrilled, it had a supernatural feel to it and made you want to read with a light on. I would have loved to get more background on the characters themselves and their relationships as a whole. The ending was satisfying to say the least.
I would not be surprised if Netflix took this on and made a series or movie out of it.

3.5 stars

The Lost Village follows dual story lines - a documentary crew exploring an abandoned village in a remote part of Sweden and the actual happenings of that same village up to their disappearance. Overall a fun, riveting read. The story opens a little muddled for me (could have been the formatting or the sequencing but it took me a bit to figure out all the players) but quickly cleared up and took off. I read this in little less than a day and can say I was sucked in. For me, it was done very well and enjoyable, even if I predicted what had happened.

The blair witch project trying to be a novel. The end 🤦🤷

Thanks netgalley for giving me the pdf so that I can share my thoughts and opinions with y'all 🧡

'The Lost Village' had a slow start, and for at least half of the book I didn't really like any of the characters. Alice's flaws were layered too thick for me to like her until somewhere at the end, Elsa seemed too smug and do-goody, Aila was a typical brat etc.

I was invested in what would have happened though. The atmosphere in this book was really amazing, and the slow start only made it more creepy than it already was.

For someone like me, who has a fascination for both looking at videos and pictures of abandoned buildings and for cults, this book is very much worth reading. I think it is even if you are interested in one of those things.

The way things ended was a bit obvious, but this book clearly was not about the ending. It was not about solving the mystery at all, it was about the mystery itself.

3,5 stars

3.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin's Press, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review of the book.

Everything about this book seems perfect for me. A great setting (a ghost town in Sweden where all the people simply disappeared one day), an intriguing mystery (a newborn baby is the only one left in the abandoned village), and the expected Scandi-Noir darkness (a woman is found as well, brutally murdered, in the town square). Decades later, a shoe-strap budgeted film crew goes to this very remote location to attempt a documentary on the missing inhabitants. While there . . . things do not go as planned.

I did enjoy this--it's pretty solid. There are some very spooky scenes. But something didn't quite gel for me. I wan't ever on the edge of my seat or anxious to get back to the story. I didn't connect with the protagonist, who--as one character even says--is pretty selfish and narcissistic. Maybe it's a translation issue or, more likely, an overall pacing issue with the narrative. At any rate, it's a solid first read by this author who created an enticing setting and plot and I'll definitely read her again.

This book was spooky and kept me guessing.
About 60 years ago all 800 residents of a small isolated mining village disappeared without a trace. Not a single person was ever found, there were no clues, everyone left their belongings right where they were and they didn't even lock their houses. To add to the mystery, a body of a woman who was stoned to death is still tied up to a pole in the village square and an infant was found in the school's nursing office, alive, unharmed, but abandoned.
In contemporary times, a small group of young amateur filmmakers and photographers visits this village in order to make a documentary and maybe to find out what really happened here. Alice, the brain behind the project, has a very personal reason to be here - her grandmother grew up in this village and both her parents and her little sister disappeared with the rest of the residents. The group expects to spend 5 days and nights in the village, exploring and taking photographs and videos. Pretty soon, however, things start to go bad, very bad...
I loved how spooky the setting of this novel was and how the reader was being forced to keep wondering if we are dealing with some supernatural entity or something or someone else. Can we trust Alice, the narrator? Can we trust the rest of the members of this group?

Spooky Swedish village where in 1959 all the inhabitants just disappeared apart from a newborn baby and a dead woman fastened to a pole having sustained horrific injuries.
Years later a documentary team visit the village to investigate what happened to the family of their leader’s grandmother. What could possibly go wrong ?
Strange things start to happen and it becomes a race against time just to survive.
I loved this book and the way it was written. It jumped between “then” and “now” so the reader learns the background story to what happened to the villagers. I was worried the book would end with the mystery remaining but I needn’t have worried.
The spookiness of the village was almost palpable at times and the book certainly kept me on the edge of my seat.
Lots of twists and turns added to the suspense.
A very well written book and I can’t wait to read more from Camilla Sten.