The Lost Village is an entertaining thriller/horror story that gives very strong Roanoke mystery vibes with a mix of a paranormal fear factor. I gave this one three stars. This isn't because I didn't like the book on the contrary, it read like one of those late night thriller movies that require a full bowl of popcorn and a blanket to hide under then things get a little too tense. Sten does a fine job of presenting the the drama and uncertainty of the situations with in the story. Unfortunately, I felt like I'd read books with the same construct before: abandoned town, things not appearing as they should, characters picked off one by one. The main difference is the details and the ultimate conclusion. It was a fun read but somewhat easy to predict the direction of the plot. To be honest, there is nothing wrong with that. The story is exactly what it presents itself to be.

I really appreciated Sten's inclusion of mental illness, mainly depression. I really loved how the story and character backgrounds displayed the reality of mental illness for both those who struggle with the illness and the effect it can also take on those that care about the person. I was grateful to see that the character dynamics explored acceptance and forgiveness. This part of the storyline did seem a bit separated from the main storyline, but it added another dynamic to the characters and relationships.

The story is also told in a "then" and "now' format. In my experience, reading these types of books can be a little difficult especially if the reader is used to a continuous timeline. Sten did a great job of balancing the two and providing enough information without leaving me feeling as if one side outweighed the other.

Overall, this was a really fun read for me. Just enough tension without going too far over the top. I'm not a hard core thriller or horror fan, so for me this was just a good level of drama.

Alice is a documentary filmmaker who sets off with her crew for a small town in Sweden where in the 50’s, the town’s entire population of over 900 people disappeared, except for a newborn baby found in the school. Alice’s grandmother once lived in the town before the mysterious occurrence. The Lost Village is reminiscent of an 80’s horror/slasher film, with in-fighting amongst the characters, creepy abandoned buildings and “sightings”. No new ground here, not very imaginative, and everything was pretty predictable. Loved the premise, but the story doesn’t deliver. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Haunting, creepy and chilling are three words that I would use to describe this book. Alice wants to create a documentary of an old mining town that became famous when every resident of the town disappeared without a trace in the late 1950's. One of her connections is her late grandmother who once lived in this town but has moved away before everyone vanished. Alice goes to the town with a group of friends determined to find the answers to the mystery. Once camp is set up, creepy things begin to happen. They see strange things, equipment gets destroyed and people start going missing. Will they find the answers they are looking for before it's too late?

I felt pulled into the story right away as Alice described what her documentary would be about. So many people these days are drawn to these types of stories on streaming services like Netflix and Hulu or in Podcasts. They've begun to make their way into books in their own unique way. When executed correctly it really allows the reader to connect to the story. Unfortunately, the delivery on this one fell a little short for me. I am solely speaking on the documentary part. I am not sure any if the characters ever did any actual filming while in the village and while you did learn a bit about the history of the town most of that was done because of letters that were introduced by Alice or when you flipped to the the past. It seem liked every once in awhile the author would throw in the word documentary so readers would remember thats what the characters were there to do. I am not sure how the author could have changed this aspect of the story though. The story overall was good and kept me pretty entertained. It's told in dual timelines, one of my favorite kinds of stories. I found myself excited to read about the past and learn what was going on in the town. I felt certain parts of the story were unnecessary, Alice's friendship and past with Emmy, one of the characters, just didn't seem to add a ton of value to the story. What I did love is that this kept me on the edge of my seat and certain parts were definitely spooky. I could definitely see this playing out on the big screen and it being a huge hit. I'd probably be found covering my eyes with a blanket. Overall it was a decent thriller that I think many would enjoy.

This book was given to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Wow! I really recommend this book. It is told from two timelines, THEN and NOW. Then is set in the late 1950s in a small village in Silvertjarn, Sweden. The men of the village all worked in the mine, until one day, the mine closed. This left the town in despair with no job prospects and no income. Then one day, everyone in the town disappears, except one newborn baby girl. Fast forward to NOW - Alice's grandmother grew up in Silvertjarn and her mother, father and sister are among the ones that disappeared. Alice has always been fascinated with this and has decided to make a documentary. She and her small crew go to scope out the village to make a trailer in order to get funding for the documentary. What they encounter is a village with secrets. Unexpected injuries, noises and unexplained sightings happen throughout their 5 days. Is one of them messing with the others or are they not alone? I LOVED all the characters (the NOW 5). Thank you so much NetGalley, St. Martin's Press & Minotaur Books and Camilla Sten.

I have also added this review to Goodreads, BookBub, The LibraryThing and Instagram and these posted as of 3/11/21 links are below.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3621273627
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/3638989612
https://www.librarything.com/topic/327548#n7445462
https://www.instagram.com/p/CMSxbFfA9Dy/

DNF at 42%

The problem with comparing a book to films is that you run the risk of reminding readers how much better those movies are in contrast to the novel they're reading. For Camilla Sten's English-language debut (as translated by Alexandra Fleming), Minotaur Books's advertising department has saddled The Lost Village as a Midsommar meets The Blair Witch Project horror thriller. Granted, it was the type of elevator pitch that immediately caught my interest, and the prospect of a film crew exploring a ghost town where nearly 900 residents mysteriously disappeared without a trace is more than enough to pique my interest.

Unfortunately, Sten's story just isn't rich enough to hold my attention. Almost immediately it devolves into cliche as, while exploring the town's deserted schoolhouse, they stumble across a room filled with jars of fetuses. This is immediately followed by an attempted jump-scare cliffhanger at chapter's end. If you've ever seen a horror film before, you can wisely guess that in the following chapter's opener, this moment is revealed to be much ado about nothing and everything is fine, aside from one character's twisted ankle. The film crew is staying in Silvertjärn for five days, and the lack of any forward momentum or original ideas over the course of the first three days of their trip, and the maddeningly repetitious reminders that Silvertjärn was abandoned for unknown reasons, left me skimming until, bored, I finally decided to just call it quits.

My advice? Skip this one and treat yourself to a movie marathon of The Blair Witch Project and Midsommar (the director's cut especially) instead.

I was 100% sure I was going to love this book. It has a documentary film crew, a mysterious ghost town, a group of young people investigating 900 people disappearing in a small town, and to top it all off, it takes place in Sweden. I knew I was going to love it, and I completely did.

It really bothers me that this book has gotten such low ratings, but I think that's a problem with its marketing. This book is said to be a cross of Blair Witch and Midsommar, and while it has elements of both those movies, it's not a horror novel. Instead, I would classify it as a literary mystery with some scary scenes.

The plot moves along at a perfect pace and there's a great mix of character building and story. I really enjoyed the shift from the past and present to help the reader fully understand what happened. While I wasn't as interested in the past (those were the elements I fully guessed), I was really curious about what was happening to the five characters in the present.

While I was really invested in the plot, my favourite part of this book is the atmosphere. The village of Silvertjarn was a character of its own and it was so creepy and unsettling that I found myself a little scared at times. This is one of the rare occasions where reading a book has made me feel unnerved and there were parts of this book that actually frightened me.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and it's definitely in the running to be my favourite book of 2021.

The Lost Village follows a camera crew to a deserted mining town where everyone mysteriously vanishes. Alice, the granddaughter of a former resident, is obsessed with finding out the truth of this mining town. She and her crew travel there and soon realize they are not alone. From hearing footsteps, earie noises, and seeing figures, this deserted town is not so deserted. As things shift from bad to worse, Alice and her crew need to find a way to make it out alive, and the only way to do that is to solve the mystery.

Camilla Sten did a great job bring elements of horror and mystery to this dark thriller. At times I felt the plot could have been developed a little bit more and I did find the ending to be fairly predictable. Though, it was still a well written story that kept me interested from beginning to end. If you enjoy dark and mysterious thrillers, you'll enjoy The Lost Village!

Synopsis: Documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt has been obsessed with the vanishing residents of the old mining town, dubbed “The Lost Village,” since she was a little girl. In 1959, her grandmother’s entire family disappeared in this mysterious tragedy, and ever since, the unanswered questions surrounding the only two people who were left—a woman stoned to death in the town center and an abandoned newborn—have plagued her. She’s gathered a small crew of friends in the remote village to make a film about what really happened.

But there will be no turning back.

Not long after they’ve set up camp, mysterious things begin to happen. Equipment is destroyed. People go missing. As doubt breeds fear and their very minds begin to crack, one thing becomes startlingly clear to Alice: They are not alone.

*Sigh*

I wanted so badly to rave about this book, but I found the ending utterly unbelievable. The book gets some major points for CREEPY suspense - in fact I was so anxious at one point that I had to stop reading at scary nighttime and finish in the safe daylight - but then the ending ruined it all for me.

I don't want to give away anything so I won't say much more, but send me a DM if you're curious.

The Lost Village...a place Alice has heard about for many years...a place where everyone vanished...a place she wants to know more about. So she gathers up a crew and heads out to document their experience. What ensues is a creepy and disturbing tale.

I loved the dual timelines. And I loved the creepy factor. However, the slow burn aspect of it wasn’t necessarily for me. I’m sure anyone who likes that kind of thing will love this scary, atmospheric tale. And when I say scary, I actually had nightmares at one point and had to stop reading it before bed.

Thank you to NetGalley, Camilla Sten, and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read and review this chilling novel.

A documentary crew investigates the Swedish town of Silvertjärn 60 years after a mysterious disappearance. Every single resident vanished suddenly without a trail in the 1950s. All 887 people, except a woman stoned to death and a newborn baby. In the present day, the documentary crew ventures to the abandoned town in hopes of revealing what the police couldn’t all those years ago. Alice (the director fueled by a personal connection to the town), Tone, Emmy, Max, and Robert are terrorized by a unknown source not long after their arrival. The book flips between the current time with the documentary crew and the townspeople in the 1950s to weave together the disturbing mystery behind Silvertjärn.

I wanted to read this book because it was said to be in the vain of The Blair Witch Project and Midsommar, and rightly so. I would add that it also gave me similar vibes from the Silent Hill movie with the abandoned atmosphere. I thought the storyline was original and really interesting. The story was laid out in a way that kept my attention with first hand accounts mixed with written letters. I appreciated the parallels presented when switching back and forth between "Now" and "Then" but I wish there were more details in the "Then" part of the story because it was quite intriguing to me.

I loved the writing, the spooky atmosphere, and the unexpected twist at the end. Would love to see this as film one day.

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publishing Date: March 23, 2021


In 1959 the police receive an anonymous phone call to find a body of a woman brutally murdered in the center of the town and the entire village with a population of 877 missing without a trace. This town became known as Sweden's "Lost Village".

Fast Forward 60 years: A young documentary film maker (Alice Lindstadt) is taking her small crew to film Sweden's "Lost Village" which has been a lifetime dream of her's since her grandmother was one of the only surviving family members who had moved away shortly before this great mysterious event and had lost her own parents and sister in the mass disappearance. The team will film for only six days due to a slim and stretched budget but Alice is hoping to find some answers to questions that have haunted her throughout her life and hopefully be her breakthrough moment as a real film maker. Desolation is what they find and from the first day eerie sounds and shadows everywhere seem to be watching and waiting. Then one of the crew gets hurt but Alice refuses to shutdown the filming and this will become a fatal mistake for one of more of the crew while they are relentlessly stalked by an unknown entity that seems determined to stop them from leaving this village of horrors!

This was a deliciously sinister and creepy story that had a haunting atmosphere and storyline. The storytelling put my nerves on edge and the spooky tension I would feel at times was just chill inducing. The author did a terrific job with intertwining the past with the present and I just yearned to know more about the history of this community and it's people. I hope Camilla Sten will continue to write more books about horror or dark thrillers because she certainly has created a winner with this one and I highly recommend to any reader who enjoys a good horror story not to miss out on this unusual, spooky and clever book.

I want to thank the author "Camilla Sten", the publisher "St. Martin's Press" and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this terrific book and any thoughts and opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!

I am looking forward to reading more of Camilla Sten's books and I have given a rating of 4 1/2 Spooky 🌟🌟🌟🌟✴ Stars!!

📚 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 / 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝗪 📚⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
Title: #TheLostVillage
Author: Camilla Sten
Publisher: @minotaur_books
Pub Date: 3/23/21⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
Type: #Paperback #ARC⁣⁣⁣
Genre: #Mystery #Thriller⁣⁣
Must Read Rating: ⭐⭐⭐💫⁣

Mini Synopsis:

Documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt has been obsessed with the vanishing residents of the old mining town, dubbed “The Lost Village,” since she was a little girl. In 1959, her grandmother’s entire family disappeared in this mysterious tragedy, and ever since, the unanswered questions surrounding the only two people who were left—a woman stoned to death in the town center and an abandoned newborn—have plagued her. She’s gathered a small crew of friends in the remote village to make a film about what really happened.

My thoughts:

-This one was creepy, haunting and chillingly atmospheric! It gave me some SERIOUS Blair Witch vibes and definitely got under my skin. I loved that this book was centered around a documentary to help the main character uncover secrets from her family's past, but I wish there were chapters that outlined more of the history / mystery of the village before Alice and her team left for the trip. The reader is thrown right into the action, and while I would normally prefer to start off with a bang, I found myself really confused on what was actually transpiring for the first half of the book.

-The setting was EVERYTHING and I found myself reaching to turn on a light many times throughout this book. I loved how Sten described the village with such great detail that you felt like you were there. I can tell a lot of research went into creating this experience for her readers.

-The book flips from past to present and gives a nice look into each of the characters development, but I found myself wishing for more chapters in the past. I wanted to know more about the town's history, its inhabitants, their way of life and their cult-like obsession with religion. The small snippets that the reader is treated to definitely had me wanting more. This was a short book, but I think that a few more chapters could have been added in for additional depth and plot support.

-I struggled a LOT with how this one ended. It felt abrupt and transparently, impossible to believe. Without giving too much away, I wish this was more of a ghost story. While the hanging questions get answered in the end, I don't think it will be satisfying for many of my fellow thriller lovers. And, I am still confused about the epilogue. It didn't really provide any closure to the book and felt like an afterthought?

Alice is an inspiring filmmaker looking to produce a documentary about The Lost Village, where close to 900 residents mysteriously vanished with no trace. The only thing left behind was a body and a baby. Alice has a personal stake in visiting the town besides her film. Her grandmother was raised in the town. After Alice and her crew arrive weird things start to occur. They hear voices, see figures at night, and their film equipment is destroyed. They can’t figure out if it’s someone in their group or if there’s someone else out there watching them.


Omg. I’m still reeling from this book. I don’t even know how to begin to explain or put my words into a coherent thought.

This book was suspenseful and so messed up in a captivating way.

It was very suspenseful and left me guessing the majority of the time. The two timelines and the jumps between them at times left me a bit ruffled. I guess that is the best way to describe it. At times it felt so jumpy to move from then and now.

There was a dramatic change in Tone’s character and I feel like we as the readers were left wondering at the end.

I loved the concept of the lost village and what happened to all its residents and the secrets that lie waiting. Some of the characters and the description and actions of them left me to just be like wait what? It didn’t make sense to the storyline. But overall it was an engrossing, edge-of-your-seat read.

Published in Sweden in 2019, Camilla Sten’s The Lost Village, a psychological thriller, has now been translated into English to keep readers up late at night, shaking when they hear a strange noise.

As the book opens, two policemen, Albin and Gustav, arrive in the remote village of Silvertjärn, suspecting that the frantic call they had received came from two men who had too much to drink. They spot what they first mistake as someone hugging a lamppost in the town square but soon recognize as a decaying body. The only sound and only life in the otherwise deserted town comes from a crying baby found in the school nurse’s office.

Following Albin and Gustav’s gruesome and mysterious discoveries, readers encounter the project description for a six-part film documentary, intended to help raise funding. Producer Alice Lindstedt grew up hearing her grandmother’s stories about the village where Alice’s great-grandparents and their younger daughter vanished in 1959 along with the nearly 900 other residents. Planning to cover various theories and hoping to discover definitive answers through their exploration of the town untouched for nearly sixty years, Alice offers a series of enticements to potential backers, culminating in a guided tour of Silvertjärn for the series premiere.

The film crew’s first step is a five-day exploratory visit Silvertjärn. Well outside the village, the five-person crew loses all cell phone access, realizing they will be in a dead zone cut off from outside communication. They don’t seem particularly concerned as they prepare for busy days searching the town’s decaying buildings.

From here on, the story alternates between then and now—between life in 1959 Silvertjärn before the unknown events that left pots on stoves and full coffee cups on kitchen counters and the present-day film crew’s increasingly frightening experiences. As time passes, readers also learn more about the various film crew members, their past relationships, mental health issues, and more.

Old family letters sent to Alice’s grandmother Margareta after she moved away to the city and past research complied by her grandmother, who had tried to solve the Silvertjärn mystery, provide clues to village life before everyone vanished without a trace. Exploration of the ghost town begins to turn up other clues.

However, a series of occurrences threatens the very project itself—Alice’s one opportunity to learn what happened to her great-grandparents and grandmother’s sister and to make a name for herself in the film industry.

Plan to stay up late at night. Keep the lights on even if reading an ebook you can see in the dark.

Readers familiar with Viveca Sten’s Sandhamn Murders series may be interested to know that Camilla Sten is her daughter. Rights to The Lost Village have already been sold to seventeen territories and countries around the world, including TV and film.

My thanks to NetGalley, Minotaur Books, and Camilla Sten for an advance reader copy.

Camilla Sten is a very talented writer. There’s no doubt about that. I stayed up to finish The Lost Village because the writing had me itching to find out what is going on. I needed to scratch that itch. The scene was set masterfully and I felt the duel timelines did wonders. I mean, one part, my ice maker released the cubes in the freezer, and I jumped. The tension was palpable, but the reveal was lukewarm.

Alice and co. go off to her grandmother’s former home, to find the truth as to why or how, 900 residents of Silvertjärn, just disappeared without a trace in 1959. When they arrive, they’re all keeping secrets of their own, but will the secrets of the past come to haunt them?

This was a slow burn that truly crept up on me. I was not expecting to be so invested in the plot and the truth. I loved how Alice had her grandmother’s stories and really focused on Margareta’s own research to get to the bottom of it. It was really neat to see that she was clearly on to something.

I think Aina being alive and well hanging out waiting on the world to change just isn’t something my brain can wrap around. This group is clearly not the first group to come, I highly doubt this old woman can just be hanging out in the mines while the police investigated an entire community leaving? Or, the fact an entire mining company was set out to survey the land didn’t say anything about the hundreds of bodies in the mines, even with flooding? Usually, I can let this go, but this has been on my mind and I cannot stop thinking about it.

Overall, I enjoyed the journey. The ending was just so left field that I have more questions than answers. Regardless, the writing is flawless and I’m sure this would be amazing on screen action.

Thank you Minotaur and NetGalley for the gifted copy. The Lost Village is out March 23rd.

Alice has been intrigued by an old mining village where all 887 members mysteriously disappeared without a trace other than one woman who was stoned to death in the town square and a baby left crying in a school. So when she has an opportunity to create a film and attempt to solve the mystery of what happened, she takes a skeleton crew to the village to put something together. However it very quickly turns creepy (think Blair Witch Project) and inexplicable things keep happening to the crew.

There’s no way to say too much without spoilers on this one, but what I can say is I sat in silence for 15 min after reading this processing before I was ready to come back to real life. This was a wild ride with so many unexpected twists. It’s very creepy (and I’m a scaredy cat) so maybe read this one in the daylight. I cannot wait to talk to people about this one because I don’t know what to think and have so many thoughts all at the same time. I loved the alternating time lines between Alice/her crew and Eliza, a woman from the village. If you like horror stories, then this book is for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur for a digital copy in exchange for an honest review. The Lost Village will be released on March 23rd.

The premise of this book was an immediate draw, but unfortunately the novel itself didn’t live up to my expectations. A team of documentarians travel to an abandoned Swedish village to try to investigate the mysterious disappearance of the Silvertjårn villagers back in the 1950’s. The novel bounces between the current investigators (unprepared and out of funding) and the village in the days before it was mysteriously abandoned. The only evidence left to find was the corpse of a woman stoned to death in the town square, and a baby crying in the empty school house. Everyone else vanished without a trace.

AMAZING premise! Tragically, it felt like a very rough first draft. I wanted to give up almost immediately, but managed to make it through. I regret it. The pacing was inconsistent, and the first person perspective of the main character was a hindrance at best. Her thoughts and actions were illogical and didn’t match up with what was happening around her. In general, the characters didn’t act or speak like real people, and their relationships with one another were very unclear. There were a lot of plot holes and unexplained events, while it seemed like important elements were glossed over or only briefly explained. The book would benefit from another hundred pages developing the plot instead of the cumbersome exposition dumps.

I will say that there were some moments in the climax of the novel which stood out against the rest. The last few flashbacks to the village dialed up the tension and dread. (Though that happened at the cost of a horrifically mistreated person, so that was a bummer.) Unfortunately, that energy wasn’t consistent and the rest of the novel was a letdown. Given the stellar premise and select well-written sections, I’m very conflicted in my opinions on the author. Was this a bad interpreter? Perhaps a bad editor? I’m just not sure. I’ve been thinking about how much this book frustrated me for days, so it does leave an impression. I’m just so disappointed that it wasn’t polished into something better.

I think this is a book that I would actually rather watch the movie for, instead of read. It seems more like a indie horror movie than a horror novel. The writing is fantastic and the story line was intriguing. The blurb about the book is DEFINITELY good at drawing you in and making you want to read it. But.. it’s slow at first. And cringy at times. Sad stories are what make it cringy. The cover is gorgeous! Read this book if you want a Swedish horror style novel, a then/now book or a crime fiction novel!

Whoa!!!!!!!!! This book is an intense read but so good!!!!!!! It reeled me in right away & didn't let go until the last page. I highly recommend this book

Started off really well, as a documentary crew explores the ruins of an old Swedish mining town, where the population just vanished one day back in the 1950s. Two of the members of the group have ties to the town through relatives and they're really interested in making the film work, not only to jump-start their careers, but to finally answer the mystery. Sten does a great job of describing the empty buildings and creating a sense of unease. But then there are a bunch of flashback chapters that are intermingled with the present day, plus some awkwardly shoehorned-in letters that fill in some gaps, and things start to go off the rails, both in terms of what happens in the story and the scare factor, which gets less and less. With a bit more effort, this could have held right to the end. As it is, plenty of people will enjoy this. But if you're honestly expecting The Blair Witch Project crossed with Midsommar, you're going to be very disappointed.