This book was one I was very excited to review. The premise is so fantastically creepy! An entire village vanished, leaving behind only a disfigured corpse and a newborn baby? Then the granddaughter of a villager coming back to make a documentary, hoping to shed new light on the mystery? Sign me up! I keep that enthusiasm for maybe the first 10% of the book, and then found my attention waning.

Very little is revealed, and very little happens until almost 50% through the story. There IS tension, and you can't help but feel that maybe something weird is happening just out of view, and that's why I stuck with it. Then, BAM! Once the ball starts rolling, it never stops, until you reach the startling conclusion. My favorite parts were the past portions, narrated by Elsa, where the mystery of Silvertjärn is slowly revealed. You can almost feel her terror seeping through the pages. The Lost Village is a slow starter, for sure. I still think the payoff was worth it in the end. Thank you to Minotaur Books and Netgalley for the chance to review this advance copy.

an absolutely atmospheric and intriguing read

That ominous cover! That intriguing synopsis! What else do I really need from this book? Does it live up to how it looks and sounds?

The Lost Village follows Alice Lindstedt, a filmmaker who wants to make a name for herself in the industry through uncovering the mysterious disappearance of almost 900 people in the small village of Silvertjärn. With her ties to the village given that her grandmother lived there until a little bit before the new pastor arrive where things started going odd, Alice, together with four others, went to this village far off the city without phone signals and somewhat feels isolated. After a day in the village, things slowly crumbled and Alice's schedule gets ruined and the completion of the film may not even matter if they do not survive the next few days.

For me, the strongest point of this novel is its atmospheric writing. It's a slow read and there's quite a slow build up in the beginning. Sten really set the ominous mood of the novel and parts of the narration feels like I'm watching one of those typical American thrillers. It's like I can get a nice feel of the village and my head just comes up with the most suspenseful sounds as I read thrilling scenes.

The mystery aspect of the story really kept me intrigued. While I didn't care about the characters until later in the novel (which is a let down for me), my motivation to find answers really kept me going. And somehow Sten didn't really disappoint. Part of it felt a bit lackluster (so maybe that's just me) but the reveal absolutely made sense. The back and forth of the narration between the present and 1959 together with the letter for Alice's grandmother, really made curious and paved the way for a good reveal.

There really is a lot more to the book than just me hinting on things. Because as always for mysteries, I don't want to spoil anything or ruin your experience in uncovering and reading about the interesting things about the story.

OVERALL, The Lost Village is an absolutely atmospheric and intriguing read. The narration is brilliant. It gives a great build up for the reveal. Although the characters feel a bit flat in the beginning, they get a bit more interesting midway in the story but still not that notable for me. Yet mystery-wise, it's still a fantastic read.

Thank you to the author & publisher and for an advance copy!
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The Lost Village centers around a Swedish village called Silvertjärn, where 900 of its residents vanished in 1959 without a trace with no explanation of why to this day. Alicia and 4 of her friends travel to the village to film an amateur documentary on the village’s past. Two of the main characters also have family ties to the village hence making the project more personal. What is expected to be only 5 days of staying in Silvertjärn turns out to be a nightmare as something sounds off from day 1. Suddenly they begin to have creepy visions and one by one, greater chaos ensues.

The book chapters are split between Alicia’s present and the village’s past history leading the reader to exactly what happened to the village.
What I liked about this book was the eerie sense from the first pages. You know something is terribly wrong with this place and you can’t stop turning the pages to witness the foreboding apocalypse. All characters past and present were also very easy to demarcate from each other.
What I liked less is the translation to English. I realize translations aren’t easy but it created for some clunky words but not bad enough to spoil the flow of the story. I also wish mental illness was presented in better light throughout the book. I understand it was misunderstood in 1959 era but I didn’t notice much difference in the present day either. Lastly, I don’t really feel like this book fit into the horror genre even though it had horror elements to it. All in all, I enjoyed the book and look forward to reading Ms. Sten’s future works.

3.5 stars ****SPOILER ALERT****

TW: Harm/death of a mentally disabled person, talk of past suicidal behavior/attempt, broad generalization of usage of a psychiatric medication.

I have to say that I have differing feelings on this book. On one hand, I thoroughly enjoyed the creepy atmosphere, the possible "haunted town"/ "ghost" vibes, the slow to build suspense, etc. The writing style, told through two points of time labeled as only "Now" and "Then", assembles a fascinating back story to both timelines and is an easy story to fall into. While suspense builds and the stake get higher, I began to question almost everyone to a certain degree at some point or another. The eeriness factor is done quite well and, while you really find yourself rooting for Alice and the success of her future film, you also know that something evil is about to befall this group. Ultimately, the ending was a bit far-fetched but still decent as I appreciated the ride the entire story took me on and how it made me not want to stop reading.
On the other hand, I have some major issues with this novel. The trigger warnings above mention the majority of the difficult content. My problem with the book actually lies in a personal grievance with the way the characters approached the medication the character Tone was taking, called Abilify.
Abilify is indeed an anti-psychotic medication and the author was correct in that it may be used for serious psychiatric disorders. HOWEVER, it can also be used for less severe conditions as well. In the novel, when the groups discovers that Tone is taking this medication, it is immediately assumed and portrayed that Abilify is ONLY used to severe psychiatric disorders. THIS IS NOT ALWAYS THE CASE! This medication has multiple uses for lesser degree conditions, even those as "minor" as boosting the effects of a separate current depression medication in the body.
It is my fear that those who read this book could now incorrectly associate Abilify (and those who take it) with major psychiatric disorders. that should never be assumed! This a dangerous assumption and more research should have been conducted and/or conveyed somehow before determining Tone's condition. Also, while I do NOT advocate going without prescription medication of any kind, not everyone on Abilify are a danger if they are off of it.
All in all, this novel leaves me heavily torn between wanting to recommend it and not wanting anyone to get a bad idea about those who use an important psychiatric drug. Despite my rant, this IS a good, suspenseful book...just overlook the "slight" faults and enjoy a fictional, bordering on horror, novel.

Thank you to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an opportunity to read The Lost Village.

Book Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️ 💫
Cover rating : 🌟🌟🌟🌟

A documentary crew ... a village with a mysterious past ... ghosts ... and murder ...

✔️ an interesting story and characters
✔️ I really enjoyed he documentary filmmaking aspects and the crew wondering around the ghost town
✔️ a good mystery
✔️ I enjoyed the three POVs. Alice, her great grandmother, and her great aunt’s ( through letters to her sister )

✖️ slow paced - especially the first half of the book

Absolutely eerily atmospheric in the way that it can make your skin crawl as you wonder if the story is real or not. Parts were a bit predictable, but this story was absolutely one that was more about the journey.

CWs: depression, anxiety, attempted suicide, negative stereotypes of mental illness, abuse of a disabled person, strangulation, implied rape, religious fanaticism, gaslighting, brainwashing, forced kissing/“you owe me sex because I’m a nice guy”

Gotta be honest, I’m a big chicken, and I have NO idea why I signed up for an e-ARC of a book that’s been compared to The Blair Witch Project and Midsommar (which I have never seen, and never will, for a REASON).

The Lost Village is set in the isolation of the Swedish countrywide, focusing on the mystery of the village of Silvertjärn, from which almost every resident suddenly disappeared without a trace, except for an executed woman and a crying baby. It follows Alice Lindstedt and her film crew as she tried to make a documentary on the village; it’s her passion project and very close to her heart, because her grandmother, who had moved away from the village, lost her entire family in the incident. As the week passes, it becomes very clear that the ghost town may not be completely abandoned....

Given what I said about being a chicken, I didn’t find this book to be particularly scary or creepy. A few chills here and there, but nothing that kept me up at night. However, it was also hard to put down. It’s very atmospheric and really pulls you in! Big props to the translator here; while I can’t attest to the accuracy of the translation, the writing isn’t choppy or awkward.

The Lost Village is pretty ambitious: there’s the storyline with the film crew, as well as letters between Alice’s grandmother and her younger sister Aina, and chapters from the perspective of Alice’s great grandmother Elsa leading up to the disappearance. I think these storylines could have been balanced better, especially when it came to the pacing of the film crew chapters. They were extremely slow and not much happened. The all important question of “is it supernatural or not” isn’t toyed with a lot, which I think would have created more tension and suspense in the plot. I also wanted to see the documentary aspect used better—-if they are taking pictures and filming, why not have more scares pulled from the footage, or show some of the documents in the info packet Alice constantly references? (Or even better—-the ones she didn’t include in the packet!)

I did love Alice and Emmy’s relationship and the discussion around mental illness. It was a beautiful, emotional, complex dynamic, and I loved seeing their history unfold. However, this discussion against mental health stigma is marred by Sten leaning fairly heavily on the horror trope of a mentally ill person being responsible for the strange happenings. It’s still perpetuating the idea of mentally ill people being dangerous or violent.
The end was highly unsatisfying, and I was also left with a lot of questions from earlier on in the book. It was ultimately an ok read that didn’t quite live up to what it promised and leaned more on tropes than I cared for. Fellow Scaredy-Cats, If you’re in the mood for an atmospheric, attention grabbing read, though, The Lost Village might be for you.

The Lost Village is a book about four filmmakers who visit an abandoned village on the hunt for what made the villagers disappear decades ago.
……..
Things I liked:
(1) Really creepy, I saw a review that compared this one to Blair Witch and it really has similar vibes
(2) I really liked the premise of the book
(3) the secrets between the characters were exciting as they uncovered them

Filmmaker Alice Lindstedt grew up listening to her grandmother’s memories about Silvertjarm, a mining town in a remote part of Sweden. She wants to make a documentary on that village. Nearly everyone disappeared with the exception of a newborn baby and a woman stoned to death. What did those people do? Alice wants to make a name for herself with this documentary so gathers a group of friends for help in making it. A they explore the village first, Someone thinks they saw a person in the village. Suspicions that they aren’t alone grow due to the strange things that have been happening. The group loyalties are tested as equipment disappears, a person is missing, and others are injured. Why is this happening? The flashbacks that indivuals have only causes more tension.

The author has written a novel that has two time periods — one is 1959 and the other is present time. These two timelines are smoothly written as the story goes from the present to the past to the present throughout it. It is a horror story in that you don’t know what caused the people to disappear and what is happening at the present time. The ending does tell you what caused the people to disappear. I liked the mystery of trying to see what was causing what happened in both time periods.

I am a sucker for locked-room mysteries where I try to determine: who the killer is, how they did the crime, and how they evade discovery. When all is revealed, there should be a rational explanation to what has taken place. If the writing is good and the author treats the reader with respect, and there are no tricks involved (information withheld), you are in for a thrill. In The Lost Village, we are treated to all of the above as it takes place in a ghost town with mysteries to be solved from the past and the present.

Alice Lindstedt is the want-to-be producer of a documentary about Silverjarn, the lost village: in 1959, police found the body of a woman tied to a pole, a baby crying, and no sign of the other 887 residents. All that is left are the deteriorating remains of empty building and houses, awaiting the return of the inhabitants. Alice has at her disposal the letters her grandmother—Margareta—received from her little sister, Aina: letters that are witnesses to the events in the village leading up to the discovery.

Alice brings a team of four to explore and photograph this ghost town: Tone, a woman with a camera brought in by Alice but not known by the others; Emmy, an experienced documentarian, the assistant producer; Robert, the technician and probable boyfriend of Emmy; and Max, the financial backer of the project and friend of Alice. When one of them goes missing, the secrets, mistrust, and infighting ramps up. It isn’t long before they become part of their own locked room mystery.

The antagonistic relationship between Alice and Emmy, and the secretive one between Alice and Tone are key to the deterioration of the group. Slowly we learn the reasons behind Alice’s sensitivity and anxiety when it comes to Emmy, and how this influences her feelings and interaction with Tone.

I liked how the author, Camilla Sten, organized the book between “Now” and “Then”; it allowed both stories to develop and mingle. Alice and the village have so much in common: the way they hold secrets, are falling apart, and manifest mistrust.

I strongly recommend this book.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Minotaur Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt grew up with her grandmother’s tales about “The Lost Village”—an old mining town whose 900 residents vanished without a trace. Its only sole survivor was a newborn found abandoned in the village’s schoolhouse, and among those who disappeared were her grandmother’s own sister and parents.

Determined to get to the bottom of it, Alice brings a small documentary crew made up of her friends to investigate.

However, things start to go awry. They can’t quite shake the feeling that they’re being watched. They keep hearing eerie laughter. Their equipment is mysteriously destroyed. A person goes missing, and panic starts to set in.

There is something truly haunting about watching videos of people exploring old, derelict buildings, and The Lost Village by Camilla Sten manages to perfectly capture that. It oozes creepiness and atmosphere with every page.

I have to say though … I was a little surprised about the formatting. Going in, I was almost expecting an epistolary novel where the story is told through a series of blog entries (like a diary) and collected letters in order to add a more meta quality. While we do get some of the grandmother’s letters, the story mainly alternates between Alice as the narrator in the present and the past told through the third person.

I feel like there was a missed opportunity with the execution and formatting here, but I was still nonetheless completely engrossed in uncovering the village’s dark history and invested in the characters themselves. I especially loved the charismatic and creepy pastor (whom I almost wish we saw more of).

All in all, The Lost Village is a hair-raising and unnerving folk horror with a nail-biting climax and shocking revelations—perfect for fans of The Blair Witch Project or Silent Hill.

DNF. I was drawn in by the premise of The Lost Village. Alice is making a documentary about a remote village where all the people suddenly vanished 60 years ago - including most of her grandmother’s family. It was very atmospheric and creepy as they got there to film and I could see the Blair Witch comparisons. However it was moving too slowly for me and after reading more reviews and seeing where it’s headed - I decided this one isn’t for me. Thank you to Minotaur and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

The Lost Village is a stand-alone thriller by Swedish author Camilla Sten. I will definitely be reading more from this author! Though it took a bit of time to really immerse myself into the story, once I got going I was hooked. This was my first foray into Scandinavian thrillers...but it definitely won't be my last.

Alice Lindstedt is a documentary filmmaker who has grown up listening to her grandmother's stories about the deserted mining town of Silvertjarn, Sweden. In 1959 her grandmother's family, together with almost 900 other residents, simply disappeared without a trace, with the exception of two people: a newborn baby girl and a woman who had been stoned to death in the town square. Obsessed with the story, Alice decides Silvertjarn will be the perfect subject for her film. She and her crew Tone, Emmy, Robert and backer Max head to the remote location; it doesn't take long, however, before disturbing things begin to occur. Equipment is damaged. Someone goes missing. They feel they are being watched. Are these occurrences supernatural in nature, or is the danger in Silvertjarn all too real?

I found this book to be more a story of a slowly increasing feeling of dread than what I would consider a thriller. I felt deeply disturbed by the unfolding events. The dynamic between the crew members was a fractured one to begin with; Alice and Emmy were as close as sisters in college until all trust was lost. Emmy and Robert were a couple. Max wanted more from Alice than to just back her film. And Tone had personal issues of her own, besides having a secret connection to Silvertjarn. When a crew member disappears, the little trust the others had begins to disintegrate. I began to wonder if the strange happenings were supernatural in origin, a mass delusion or if someone truly was watching and stalking them. The creepiness factor really began to increase, and I was caught in its web. The ending seemed a bit anticlimactic to me, but it was the story's eerie build-up that kept me enthralled. I'm really looking forward to see what Ms. Sten comes up with next!

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.

There’s a wonderfully compelling premise behind The Lost Village: A group of filmmakers have come to Silvertjarn, a village mysteriously abandoned several decades ago, to make a documentary. I was immediately enchanted by the lost village, and intrigued by the mystery. Why had all the villagers disappeared without trace? And where to?
Documentary-maker Alice has assembled an eclectic bunch of people to help her and is hoping to crack the mystery.
Once there, however, the group soon realises that something is very wrong. It appears that they are not alone, strange things start going on and their radios pick up weird voices. Suddenly things ramp up, and the wonderful adventure turns into a bloody nightmare.
The story alternates between the present, and the past. We get to know the villagers and their way of life.
I really wanted to love this book. The start was hugely gripping as the intrepid group ventured into the village, full of dreams and excitement. But for me the book didn’t quite live up to that wonderful promise. I didn’t really get to know any of the characters, and found it a little long.

I loved how this story unfolded told first from Then to Now.

In 1959, two policemen go to inspect, Albin thinks the two, who reported in, had one too many, but when they arrive at Silverjarn, they find 900 townspeople gone, one, tied to a pole and obviously deceased, and hear the sound of a baby crying.

Sixty years later, Alice, along with her friends, Tone, Emmy, Robert and Max set out to find Silverjarn. Alice is set on doing a documentary called The Lost Village, and has gathered as many facts as she can from her grandmother, who had once lived in the town, and lost her mother, father, and sister.

The plan is to explore and film for a total of five days. They set up camp. The first day of exploring, leads to an accident of one of the team members, who insists to keep going they'd be fine. Alice and the others press on, but things start to happen that make some members question the others. Alice gets upset with Emmy, after seeing her and rather than knock on the van's door, just stands outside. Alice and Emmy have a past, where currently, they are just tolerating one another. When Emmy volunteers to stay behind with the injured teammate, the others go exploring. Alice, Robert and Max return to find one of the van's gone, and Tone gone.

The past is told through the eyes of Elsa, who is Alice's great grandmother, and letters written by Aina, Elsa's youngest daughter. The town of Silverjarn is built around mining, everyone knows one another. Elsa has made a promise to take care of Birgitta, the mental handicapped daughter of a friend who passed away. After the closing of the mine, the townspeople start to lose hope and don't find much solace from the pastor, who is overindulging too much. Elsa meets a new pastor, who is sent to assist. He seems to lift the people's spirits. Elsa can't help but notice how her husband is slipping more and her youngest daughter is pulling away.

The reader gets bits and pieces from the past to fill into the present, as Alice desperately tries to find something to explain what happened to the town. She does happen upon her grandmother's old home, and while briefing exploring finds a letter hidden written by Elsa.

One thing after another go terribly wrong, and leave the team to set aside the documentary to look for shelter and provisions, having no idea that they aren't alone, like they believe.

This was an excellent thriller/mystery with a good dose of creepy thrown in!

I requested and received an ARC from NetGalley via St. Martin's Press and I have voluntarily reviewed this book.

A documentary following 4 young people wanting to make a documentary about an abandoned mysterious mining town out in the middle of nowhere. What happened...and why? Despite an interesting premise (shades of “Blair Witch Project” the opportunity for a great story is not realized in “The Lost Village.” The first 2/3 of the story (I kept track) is mostly concerned by the old scars resurfacing amongst the major female players in the narrative (the men are mainly background noise except for one oddly misplaced incident in the latter part of the story.).
But what triggered my negative vibology was the crazy use (misuse) of orthodox Christianity in a corrupt, unexplainable context. To say more would subtract from new readers any “surprises” in the plot. Suffice to say that the final 1/3 of the book escalates into extreme violence that makes little sense.
Wanted to like this book and still grateful to NetGalley for the opportunity to read Camilla Steen’s The Lost Village. Perhaps others will enjoy it more than I did.

Alice Lindstedt had always been fascinated by her grandmother’s tales of the ghost village of Silvertjarn, a small mining town in Sweden. Her grandmother grew up there but married and moved away from her parents’ home. In 1959 the village was found to have been suddenly and inexplicably deserted by the nine hundred people who lived there. Only a dead woman found in the town square and a newborn baby girl in the schoolhouse remained behind.

Now a documentary film producer, Alice has raised some funding to make a documentary on Silvertjarn and has assembled a team for a five day scouting party to film some initial promotional material in the remote and isolated village. When they arrive in Silvertjarn everyone feels the spookiness of the deserted buildings and almost immediately, mysterious things start to happen, putting everyone on edge.

Alice is also beginning to regret hiring her old classmate Emmy to film the documentary. They were best friends at one time, but the friendship ended badly and it’s clear they’re not going to get alone well. However, Emmy is a brilliant filmmaker and Alice knows she is lucky to have hired her, even if they have trouble trusting each other now. Alice herself seems to be quite a fragile character, annoyingly naïve at times and not always making the best decisions. Another member of the crew is also behaving oddly and has secrets Alice has kept from the others that may impact their ability to carry out their original plans.

The events leading up to the desertion of the village and the current day exploration of the village by the film crew are told in intertwining threads, leading up to the discovery of what really happened in 1959. The historical narrative describing the desertion of the village was the more interesting of the threads with the closing of the mine at Silvertjarn in 1959, the arrival of a new charismatic pastor and the identity of the dead woman all vital factors in the escalation of events that sealed the fate of the village. However, the gradual development of the changes in the villagers that led to their final actions was inferred rather than shown and it would have been good to see more of how this came about.

Although the present day events were often creepy, they often seemed almost predictable with the team not following the basic rules of exploring old buildings. Incidents tended to happen suddenly before much of a build up in suspense, such that the atmospheric tension associated with a horror story was never quite achieved. Nevertheless, an original premise with the haunting setting of a decaying, isolated village makes for a dark and intriguing tale.

Thanks to St Martin’s Press and Netgalley for a copy to read. Expected publication 23rd March.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Lost Village. It took me a few chapters to get into it, but once the pace quickened I didn't put it down until the end. I loved the mystery of a vanished village full of people and the troubled, yet likable, characters looking to solve it. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys a great thriller.
Thanks to St Martin's Press/Minotaur Books and to NetGalley for the digital copy to read in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

"All I wanted was to tell your story, I think. All I wanted was to know what happened. Was that so wrong?"

First of all, I want to point out one important thing: this novel is labeled as 'Horror' on Goodreads. This is not a horror story. It is a smart and suspenseful mystery/thriller, and quite a page-turner! I couldn't put it down, I so wanted to understand what the story was behind this lost village of Silvertjarn, Sweden.

This dual timeline follows Alice and a crew of friends she selected to work on a documentary she has been dreaming of creating for a long time, hoping to unravel the secret around the disappearance of her grandmother and her family in the 1950s.

The way Camille Sten planned this book was fascinating; it's like we were watching the story on a split screen - we got to experience the current characters and their discoveries, followed by the back story. I could not put the book down and was quite relieved that the book was not a re-enactment of The Blair Witch Project, as many readers compared it to. It was a very pleasant surprise and I highly recommend it to all Mystery fans.

Thank you Net Galley and Minotaur Book for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This Swedish mystery suspense novel is a good read. In 1959, the former mining village of Silvertjarn became a ghost town when all 900 of its residents disappeared without a trace. Police received an anonymous call that help is needed in the village. When they arrive, they find the town deserted, a body tied to a pole, and a baby crying in the school. Though many have tried to find out what happened, the mystery has not been solved.

Advance to the present, when a small team, led by the granddaughter of one of the village residents, is making a low-budget documentary on the town. From the moment they arrive, odd (spooky) things start to occur. They start out as spine-tingling, but quickly become dangerous. Will the team make it out of the village alive?

The novel alternates between past events leading up to the disappearance of the village residents and the documentary team's experiences over the course of five days.

There are plenty of secrets in both eras, and the author does a nice job of building suspense in each of the time periods. A good read, but like the Blair Witch Project, it somehow left me a bit disappointed.

My thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for allowing me to read an ARC of the novel which is scheduled to be published on 3/23/21. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.