Girl gathers friends to invest and help with her documentary project to go to a ghost town where her grandparents once lived but mysteriously disappeared with the whole village one day without any warning. Once they arrive, strange happenings occur and even worse, some of them go missing. Is it something paranormal or is someone after them? You’ll have to read and find out for yourself but it was creepy, atmospheric as heck and very entertaining even through the eye rolling worthy parts. A very well written book and so descriptive of the surroundings! Fans of the Blaire Witch Project and ghost towns will love this one❤️ ⁣

CREEPY! Fast paced. Don’t start this one until you have time to commit to taking it to the end, cause you won’t want to put it down. Trying to pull together a documentary only to uncover the CREEPY village, voices, the feeling that you are being watched. This is not a Ghost Hunter set up, um, something is rotten in Denmark and this crew is about to find that out. First Hand! Have fun, get your blanket ready and enjoy the ride!

I really wanted to love this book but I didn't. The writing style was informative but it didn't hold my interest

This was an interesting storyline, good descriptive text but I found it extremely difficult to get into. It just didn’t grab me the way I’d expected it to after reading the synopsis.

The start introduces us to a team of documentary makers as they arrive in the Swedish mining town of Silvertjarn where in 1959 all the resident mysteriously disappeared. Alice, who leads the team, has been obsessed with the mystery for years – her grandmothers’ family were amongst those who vanished. Determined to discover the truth, Alice and the team set out to investigate – uncovering secret and some horrors along the way.

Overall, this was an interesting read, but it just wasn’t as gripping as I’d imagined it would be.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley UK for the review copy.

The lost village had so much promise. A suspenseful tale about a village completely abandoned and why? Why was the village just lost in time alone and without any trace of what happens. When a film crew goes to investigate the scene strange things start happening. This story had so much going for it, a ghost story, a thriller with suspense but the story fell flat for me. The arc of the story did not hit until I pretty much lost interest in the story.

I think it would make a great limited series or movie as it would be much more interesting to watch then to read. Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur books for my advanced copy.

Thank you to Netgalley for an copy of The Lost Village.
I so wanted to like this book , it was just hard to get into. Very boring.

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten
My Rating:🌟🌟🌟🌟💫/5
Pub Date: March 23, 2021
.
Alice Lindstadt is a young documentary film maker who went to a village where her Grandma once lived. The mysterious lost village has history and Alice is bound to find answers. She took her crew of 5 people and a little to none budget from donations and embarked on a haunting adventure of a lifetime.
.
This was ultimately creepy when I started. The descriptions of the eerie village was ominously dreadful and terrifying. The state of the dead body found hanging on the pole was disturbingly ghoulish, gruesome and revolting. It even got scarier when the only living found was a crying baby in a school building. Chills run down my spine when the desolation of the village seems to be watching and listening to the crew. I felt like it was watching me when I was reading! It was downright spooky.
.
I must admit that as the story progressed, I was able to see what was coming and expected how it unfolds. Nevertheless, it did not spoil the thrill. The death of other key characters was a good conflict mix. The author did a great job with the alternating timeline. It makes a more vivid comparison of what the village really was then and now. Overall, it was a fast page turner and an absolute dark and twisted suspense read!
.
Big thanks to #netgalley for the eARC and @minotaur_books for my printed copy in exchange of an honest review

I love creepy stories and this one had all the elements for it. I was all set for spine-tingling, chilly moments and I wasn't disappointed.

The book was a slow burn but boy did it have me at the edge. I kept looking over my shoulder, getting spooked all the time. The author has done a fantastic job with the world-building and the characterisations. I was totally invested in the story and was hooked from the beginning.

We are introduced to Alice, a documentary filmmaker whose current project is a film about an old, remote mining town in Norway. One day this town vanished into thin air including Alice's great aunt and great grandparents. The only people found was a newborn baby and a woman who was stoned to death.
As soon as Alice reaches the town things start going horribly wrong.

The setting of the story was superb with its atmospheric spookiness.
I guessed the ending but that is probably I read a lot of books and let me add that in no way took away from the satisfaction I got from reading this book.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

*Thank you, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book for a honest review.*

**Triggers: unmedicated mental illness, grooming, and violence.

The Lost Village was a wild ride about a small mining town where people vanished into thin air, the only survivor being a baby. Alice is looking for her big break in the directing world and chooses to go back to her roots to try to solve the mystery of her grandmother's small town.

Alice puts together an unlikely team to help her shoot and capture her dream documentary, but soon things begin going wrong and weird things start happening around the small town that no one can explain.

I thought this book was super interesting and had a good mystery. I enjoyed the chapters going back and for between present and past. It helped keep the mystery alive and also let you see how the town felt and what it turned into after a new pastor showed up unexpectedly. I did find the beginning a little slow and dry at times, but it really vamped up around the half way mark. I thought it was a great mystery that will definitely keep readers who enjoy a paranormal twist in their books as well.

When I saw this book being compared to The Blair Witch Project, I was intrigued. I found The Lost Village to be an interesting story that kept my attention, but there wasn’t anything in it that grabbed me. Although these people were in Silvertjarn to film a documentary, there was so much time spent preparing to film, and not much actual filming happening, even though they were only going to be there for a few days. For some reason, even though this book has many story features I love, I found it to be just okay.

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

First, I loved the premise of “The Lost Village” by Camilla Sten, and that is why I requested it on Netgalley, unfortunately this book just did not work for me.

The problem I had with “The Lost Village” with this book is that it just doesn’t make sense on so many levels, especially the ending. Sometimes I can overlook and move past plot holes, illogical storylines, or outlandish plot twists for the greater good of the book, but I just couldn’t get past that much of the story and actions don’t make any sense. Also, for a "horror" book it isn’t wasn’t that scary or eerie. I didn’t get that spooky, foreboding feeling by reading this book.

Let me also say that I hate when publishing companies compared books to other books or movies, rarely do they ever live up to the comparison. “The Lost Village” is no exception, how is this like “Midsommar”? Because it takes place in Sweden? “Blaire Witch”, maybe, but I don’t believe the film crew ever films anything in this book, which is really strange.

Usually in mysteries and horror one is often left disappointed at the ending, which can make or break a book. Well, the ending to “The Lost Village” is just ludicrous. I mean come on.

With all that said, I can see how others might like this book. My wife, for one, thought this book was eerie and spooky and liked that aspect of the book. Also, if you are someone who is not as questioning about details as I am or can suspend belief then you will probably also enjoy this book. I just couldn't do that. It is a pretty quick read, so check it out if you like these types of books.

I will give it 3 stars although it should be closer to 2.5 stars.

One of the most entertaining books I've read this year! The Lost Village was atmospheric, creepy, and unputdownable! A good, old-fashioned scary book. Too often, today's horror authors resort to gore and violence to hook their readers, and that usually results in books that are disturbing, but not scary. Camilla Sten, on the other hand, leaves gore and violence out of her book (for the most part) and the result is a slow-building suspenseful novel that lives up to its comparisons to The Blair Witch Project. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. I'm looking forward to reading more books by this author!

Good book. I liked the story but it wasn’t one that I just got me hooked.

I do recommend though .

I don't read too much in the horror genre, but this was a great way to dip my toe in. Filmmaker Alice decides to scout out a location for her new movie based on the mystery of an entire village that disappeared back in the 1950s. Some of her family members went missing, so she has a vested interest in finding out the truth behind the mystery. But when Alice and her crew visit the village for a visit, they're met with some super creepy disturbances that make it a trip they might not all survive.

This book was a wild ride, especially because the reader isn't quite sure if the events occurring are paranormal or the result of being in an abandoned ghost town. I didn't guess most of the twists and the ending was utterly satisfying. The book is a little bit of a slow burn when it starts off (and it's a tad tough to figure out all of the characters), but the action and pacing does pick up, creating an eerie tension and suspense that makes it pretty readable. I also really loved that the sections go back and forth between the village in the 50s and the film crew in present day. This was a fantastic way to help the reader solve the mystery of the town.

I would definitely recommend this to horror fans or anyone who wants a suspenseful read (but that still has a pretty strong stomach for the disturbing and macabre).

Thank you to Netgalley, Camilla, and Minotaur Books for an advance copy of the translated edition of The Lost Village.

Based on the cover and title alone, I immediately wanted to read this book so I was very excited to receive an advance copy.

An amateur documentary film crew heads out into the isolated and abandoned town known as “the lost village” to investigate what happened to the entire population who just vanished without a trace in the 1950’s. Well, the entire population except for a newborn baby and a woman strapped to a pole who had been stoned to death. The head of the project, Alice, is especially invested as her Grandmother’s family was part of the vanished, after her Grandmother had left to pursue life in Stockholm. Once they are in and set up, things start to go sideways. Strange noises, the feeling of eyes on their backs, and even crew going missing. Alice came to the lost village hoping to find answers and she is going to get more than she bargained for.

This is described as The Blair Witch meets Midsommar, which isn’t entirely inaccurate, but if we’d gotten more bits of Midsommar, it would’ve been incredible. The story is creepy, moves along at the right pace for this kind of danger looming horror book. The atmosphere that Camilla builds is tense and uncomfortable. Very clever on her part, was adding in a tumultuous past relationship between two of the film crew to throw off the reader and keep them guessing at what’s going on out there.

I think this book did a lot of things right in terms of combining character storylines with the horror/thriller aspect. Often, we get too much story and not enough character or vice versa, and here we got a good amount of both. If something was lacking, it would be that I wanted a little more from the characters in the past. Those chapters felt slower and less developed than the current day story.

I really wanted to like this one but it just wasn't my jam. A bit too slow for my taste and not enough spookiness when it comes to a thriller/horror novel that flirts with the supernatural. That said, it looks like others enjoyed it so don't let this review stop you.

Note: I received a free electronic edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank them, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to do so.

The Lost Village was a really enjoyable read! It was exciting, thrilling, and kept me on the edge of my seat!

The story follows a small group of people heading to a lost village to film a documentary. The cool part about the story is that you find out there are connections between the village and the characters. I liked how the author tied everything together really nice and also how the story flipped between present day in the village and the past. It gave it a really eerie feel at some points and set up the plot well.

Character wise - I enjoyed the characters. They were all quite likable for me. The main character was harder to like at times but I felt like her story was told well enough that you had empathy for her and made her more likeable.

The only piece that I didn't like was that it read kind of like a B rated horror movie. It did work so its not like it was bad or anything but it felt like so much time was building up the story and the suspense and then everything happens so fast and then its over. So that's my only real complaint!

If you enjoy horror movies and an exciting suspenseful story then I would recommend this to you!!

I was provided an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a fairly slow paced thriller. I think the comparison to <i>The Blair Witch Project</i> is fair. It is very much like that given that this follows a film crew making a movie and some strange stuff starts happening. Blair Witch was a bit more ominous and creepy in my opinion. I thought the premise was really interesting. An entire town of people up and disappears without a trace with the exception of a newborn baby and a woman who was stoned to death in the town square. The police conduct an investigation and no one is able to find anyone from the town. Now years later, the granddaughter of one the former inhabitants wants to find out what really happened and tell the story of the town.

This is told in two different timelines and different perspectives. The Now is told from Alice's perspective, and the Then is told from her great-grandmother Elsa's perspective. We also get letters between Alice's grandmother Margareta and her great-aunt Aina which help paint the story of what happened in the past. I much preferred the Then sections to the now sections. I felt like they moved the storyline along a bit more than the Now sections. I also didn't connect with the present tense characters, and was much more invested in what was happening with the characters from the past. Alice and her film crew weren't very likable and they were all very unprepared 5 days of filming in an abandoned, rotting, mining town. There are some pretty unrealistic situations in the book that took me out of the story. I also didn't appreciate the way mental illness was portrayed in the book.

I thought the storyline was interesting, however I found the pacing to be far to slow for my liking. I also found the plot to be very predictable. I did find the final reveal of what happened to be clever and very fitting, but I kind of suspected something similar to be the case from the start. This never gave me the creepy and tense thriller vibe I look for in thriller/mysteries. This book isn't bad, there was just missing for me.

I absolutely loved the creepy, eerie tones throughout this story. The author did an excellent job at keeping the atmosphere to match exactly what I predicted this story to read like. If you don't like a horror suspense story, this may not be for you. On the other hand, the ending was not believable. It seemed way out of left field and lead to some disappointment. It's imaginative, but I wanted something more, and I can't quite put my finger on it. In all, I'm still super drawn the the documentary setting trying to solve a mystery. You don't see that often!

What an impressive debut novel!! I really couldn't put this one down! As the title suggests, the book centers around an isolated Swedish mining town where 887 people mysteriously vanished - leaving their village abandoned - except for a corpse in the town square and a squalling infant to be rescued. Told in dual timelines, with a "then" in the ending days of the town and "now" where Alice, a granddaughter of one of the town's inhabitants who had left before the town vanished (but who lost her parents and younger sister) arrives with her small team to lay the groundwork for a documentary about the town. But in the "now" strange and genuinely spooky happenings begin to force tensions to mount amongst the documentarians.

The plot definitely holds some surprises - along with a few turns that some readers may see coming. The characters all come to life - and I wish that there had been a bit more to the ending - well, at the very least a further out epilogue would have made this really shine. it's definitely a darkly rather tragically plausible story. I really had some trouble with Birgitta's character and fate - the reader is well prepared for it, but it's truly horrific. The tension and the timelines work well - it's a real page turner and I read the whole thing in practically one sitting! There are some creepy moments - plus it has some definite cinematic overtones as well. It's a strong debut and I really can't wait to see what Sten will write next! She's definitely an author to watch out for!!