It was the synopsis of this book that first caught my attention- it seemed right up my alley with paranormal and spooky. However, to me it seemed more the equivalent to a B rated horror movie. Which isn't to say it's bad- because boy I watch any horror movie I can- but for a book seemed I could have spent that reading time on something I know has a bit more oomph for me.
Alice Lindstedt is a documentary film maker who, since being a little girl, is obsessed with the missing 900 residents from a small town dubbed "The Lost Village". Those included in the vanished were her Grandmothers entire family. And one woman tied to a tree with an infant crying in a building.
While Camilla kept her readers intrigued during Alice's documentary- overall it left me a bit wanting. To be fair about the review- I did read this after reading a 7 book series that just still has me a bit captivated.
Over all an interesting book and concept and can't wait to see what other stories Camilla takes her readers on.

I jumped at the chance to read this book when the description mentioned cross between Blair Witch Project. And maybe this creep factor section from the book will also get you to want to read it, "My body is acting without me. I hold my breath. Still I hear them, those scratchy shallow breaths. I feel a tiny thread of urine run down my thigh and wet my jeans." When I was reading this part during dinner one night with the family, all I could do was stop and say, "Oh my goodness".
Thank you to #StMartinsPress #TheLostVillageBook #NetGalley for an honest review.
Release date is March 23rd

Remote, abandoned, and surrounded by forests, Silvertjärn provides the perfectly eerie and gothic atmosphere for Sten's horror novel. The dense fog rolling across the town square and the eerie noises from surrounding forests and scattered huts add haunting qualities to a story that isn't a ghost story. Like a fairytale once you walk too far into the darkened woods. Abandoned and rundown homes and buildings change from curiosities to menacing hiding places as the group spends more time searching for any clues about the missing villagers and unraveling the past through letters as the group combs through present day ruins.

I highly recommend this horror novel to fans of the genre who enjoy a creepy atmospheric read late at night.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-copy.

In 1959 the unthinkable happens and a village of 900 people vanished into thin air. When the police inspect the village they find a dead women tied to a pole in the village square and a crying infant. Sixty years later filmmaker, Alice Linstedt is raising money to make a documentary about the lost village of Silvertjarn. Alice’s has always been obsessed with the story as her grandmother’s family were among the missing. Alice puts a crew of 5 together to make a film about the village to generate interest and dollars, but when they reach the village unexpected things start to happen, is it one of the crew or is there someone else in the village? Something sinister is afoot and no one is safe! This book captured me from the start, but I didn’t like the direction it took in the end. It tried for a creepy vibe, but it just never reached its full potential.

I have to start this by saying I am so bummed this is Camilla Sten’s only translated book. We are on the tail end of winter, and this was the perfect atmospheric horror to just hold me back from the rays of springtime a little longer. The Lost Village follows a filmmaker named Alice and her crew when they venture into an isolated village, where the population disappeared 60+ years ago, to film a documentary on the mystery of what happened. We are also given flashbacks from the perspective of Alice’s great grandmother, a former resident, during the year everyone disappeared. It’s a great setup that allows you to feel unsettled before the story even begins.

I would say the pitch of this book being a blend between The Blair Witch Project and Midsommer was spot on. The setting and the atmosphere is creepy from the start - there’s no way around the eeriness of this unexplainably lost village. I found it to be incredibly engaging and easy to just go there in my mind, escaping whatever was happening outside of reading this book. It’s an experience I think we all crave as readers, especially in a horror or mystery setting.

I also feel like the overall mystery of this was really intriguing. I had some ideas as to where it was going, but was still overall surprised by where we ended up. At first I was wary of the use of dual timelines. It’s overdone, and sometimes ends up either taking you out of the main story or handing you the entire plot way too soon. But, the flashbacks here were sparse enough to add to our understanding at a nice pace. I think the fact that I wasn’t totally caught off guard, but horrified nonetheless, when the truth of the mystery came out is a testament to how well Camilla Sten wrote this book. I also appreciated that the flashback scenes and perspective offered their own taste of mystery and horror without straying too much from the main story.

One gripe I could give this was that I wish it was scarier throughout. We are given little creepy glimpses up until about the last third of the book where it really picks up, but I thought overall the dial could have been cranked on the scary parts while still maintaining the mystery.

That being said, I really enjoyed this, read it in just a couple of sittings, and desperately look forward to more of Sten’s work being translated in the future.

CW: suicide, psychosis, mental illness, body horror, violence, sexual assault, death

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an e-arc in exchange for review!

Wow...

This one absolutely captivated me and I loved it.

Alice Lindstedt, along with a group of friends to serve as her crew, goes to an old mining town to create a documentary about the residents that vanished there 60 years prior. The only people found were a woman stoned to death and a young baby, crying in the school. After hearing stories from her grandma, Alice is determined to discover the secrets that must lie in wait. However, after spending some time in the town, Alice and her crew realize things are not what they seem, and they are not alone.

The writing and mystery in this book was lovely. I was sucked in by the premise of the abandoned mining town, the stoned woman, and crying baby. I knew there would be wonderful mysteries to be revealed along the way, and I was correct. Every few chapters, we get Elsa's (Alice's great-grandma) point of view of what was happening in the town in 1959. This slowly builds up the story of what happened to the town and townspeople.

My biggest complaint is that I wasn't pleased with the ending or the twist. I didn't find it shocking enough, and it just wasn't quite what I was looking forward to. I suppose I was expecting something more forcefully surprising and I didn't get it.

If you are a fan of Blake Crouch's Abandon, this is a great book for you. I'd also recommend to lovers of historical fiction, mystery, thrillers, and abandoned towns. The vibe this book portrays is wonderful and spooky.

A good, spooky book!! This story is told on split timelines between present day and the 1950s. On the current timeline, the story is told from Alice’s point of view as she and a crew visit the village to film a documentary and look for clues about how and why the entire town vanished. The story is personal to her since her grandmother is among the vanished.

On the “then” timeline, the story unfolds from Elsa’s point of view and Aina’s letters to her sister. We learn about how the mining village was plunged into poverty and slowly gain insight into the turmoil in the town leading up to the opening scene of the novel.

Overall, this was a great read if you like spooky stories. Some unbelievable moments but I really enjoyed it and it was told in a very vivid manner that made me feel like I was there with the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten was a highly entertaining and spine chilling Scandinavian thriller. The novel takes place in a creepy, remote town called Silvertjärn located in Sweden. Told through alternating between past and present, The Lost Village is a story about documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt and her film crew. The group of friends are seemingly obsessed with learning about what happened to an entire town of vanishing residents, including a macabre series of murders. The story builds when the protagonist and film crew begin exploring the atmospheric, spooky town and it’s not long before bad things start happening. The author weaves the story together in an inventive style by using imagery to engage readers and build tension, while evoking a sensory experience through storytelling. Everything else is left to the imagination. In tone and pacing, The Lost Village falls somewhere between a mystery novel including the descriptive mood and language but with an ode to the shock value of the horror genre. This book truly feels made for the big screen and has a good plot, full of suspense and endless ups and downs.

The premise of The Lost Village is that all the people in an entire secluded town disappeared on the same day. Sixty years later, a 5 person film crew comes to the abandoned village to shoot a documentary about the disappearance. Soon after they arrived they encountered several spooky visions and creepy sounds, followed by very serious accidents. None of the members of the film crew who survive will leave unchanged!
There were several triggers in this book involving serious abuse of a disabled person and mental health. I also found some of the first half of the book to be slow moving, but interesting enough to want to read on to find out what would happen next.
I could not have predicted the ending of this book! The resolution of the mystery was complete, unexpected and plausible! Many thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for sending me an advanced reader copy. My review is an honest report of my enjoyment of this book

I basically read all of this in one day because I could not put it down. What I always hate with books like this is that the ending is a real letdown, and this book did not do that! I was satisfied with how it ended. I was satisfied with the whole book. I went into work today and told all my coworkers they need to read this book.

This book certainly had the creep factor with the missing people of the village of Silvertjarn and the only one found being a newborn baby. Fast forward to a group trying to make a documentary of the phenomenon, who also have connections to the town and strange goings on with possible sightings of someone else there and is it definitely sit on the edge of my seat while reading it. It is not so much a supernatural creep, but the evilness of men that drives the story and while I did guess the who and why of it, it was still a good book to read, sad at times for the victims of the evils of men, but still an interesting story.

I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars really. I love it, the twists and turns were all in the right places, the characters and erie environment was all properly placed. Just obe problem- not sure if it's just me, but I was able to completely predict what happened, without the shock factor. Maybe I've read so many books like it, but it didn't leave me suspended as much as I was expecting. The ending landed flat, but the credit is deserved that it was well written. It just wasn't living up to the hype for me. Good book though.

I can't imagine a ghost town better than Silvertjarn. Deserted since 1959, it was utterly charming in a horrific, apocalyptic kind of way. I could imagine the buildings as if I walked through them at some point. Loved the author's descriptions of the beautiful abandoned school, the yellow home with the green door, and the grown-over feel of the forest. Though the characters weren't high on my list of favorites, the setting blew it out of the water. Fabulous ending!

What an exciting, intriguing read this was. It was a mystery story. It was a horror story. It was the story of a whole village that disappeared without a trace and the granddaughter of one of the villagers that had left before the mysterious disappearance goes back to try to solve the mystery and make a documentary. But what she finds there and experiences there is beyond her wildest imagination. The book kept me on the edge of my seat and reading at times that I should have been doing something else because I had to find out what happened next. I would definitely recommend this book.

I see a lot of mixed reviews for this one, but it ticks a lot of boxes. It's mysterious, haunting and oh so creepy.

Two generations ago, the entire inhabitants of a struggling village disappeared without a trace. With the exception of a brutally murdered woman tied to a pole, and a new born baby left in the school. Now, a documentary film making team are scouting the area and investigating the mystery to (hopefully) pitch it to a major network. Creepy shenanigans ensue.

The beginning of the book is a little slow, but it didn't deter me. I needed to know what happened, and overall I was satisfied. Ghost towns, possessions, sabotage, brain washing, murder and mayhem. If that sounds fun to you, I recommend you pick this up and sleep with the lights on.

I'm always looking to experience new authors and I'm glad I gave this one a shot! The scenes are set beautifully. The descriptions of the village were so vivid that I could almost see myself there with Alice and her crew. The characters were interesting and the interactions and histories between them were quite interesting. There were plenty of twists throughout. One of the bigger ones I did have figured out before it was revealed, but there were some that really threw me. Definitely an interesting read. I'll be looking out for more by this author in the future!

Great read! I really enjoyed this one! This is a story of a documentary filmmaker traveling to the secluded village where her grandmother grew up and the entire village disappeared with no explanation. Lots of mystery and twists and turns. I loved it!

Present day Silvertjarn is an abandoned village and documentary filmmaker Alice and her friends are going to discover the dark past. Alice's grandmother once lived on the lost village and she is using letters from the past to piece together what really happened to the civilians many years ago. These 5 friends arrive at the abandoned village and immediately begin to hear strange noises and uncover mysterious secrets. Are they alone or is there something darker than expected hidden in this village?

I absolutely loved this book and it had me gripped from the beginning! It had a great mix of locked room mystery and atmospheric horror. This story was very fast paced and always had me on the edge of my seat! There is a great aspect of is this paranormal or are they just imagining these things? In typical horror fashion the characters are messy but I was definitely here for it! I really loved how the author discusses a lot of mental health issues and put an importance on these aspects. There are so many different layers to unravel and I loved every creepy second of it!

Thank you to net galley for the e-arc to review!

So this is perhaps the first international novel I have read set in Sweden. The story follows an amateur film crew out to a remote mining village who’s claim to fame was that its 900 residents have all mysteriously vanished. The town’s sole recovered residents include a newborn baby discovered in the town’s school, and the village loony lady who appears to have been strung up in the town square and stoned to death. The remaining residents are never seen or heard from again. The intrepid film crew is led by Allison, a young woman with a troubled history who can claim an ancestor who has ties to the mysterious lost village. The small crew seems to be plagued by various degrees of misfortune and tragedy from early on in their expedition, and it isn’t long before the small film crew is left wondering if they may end up joining the fates of the towns missing residents. The strength of this story lies in the tone. The creepy unknown is perhaps the strongest character here. While the story does answer some of the story’s mysteries, other things remain unknown, like what is up with the creepy town pastor? Overall this is a good story with a sufficiently eerie setting and background that does a good job of giving you the creeps. This is a genre I need to cover more of to judge properly where this tale may stand, but the pace is good, it doesn’t lag, and the story is generally intriguing. Review posted to Goodreads, Litsy, Facebook, LibraryThing.

This a perfect book for the thrill seeker or if you’re ready to amp your Halloween fright fest. Alice and 4 friends are making a documentary on a secluded village in Sweden that all residents except 2 mysteriously went missing 60 years prior. With some of the Alice’s group having distant ties to the town, things start to turn personal. As more and more evidence unfolds and things start turning for the worse, they realize they need to leave, but they can’t.
I definitely enjoy a good scary book on occasion. It’s not my go-to genre, but this has just the right amount of fright and suspense to keep me from reading late into the night for fear of strange sounds! Lol! I found the character descriptions and build-up were well done and definitely gave you a sense of strong personality and family love. The spookiness of the abandoned village added to the ambiance making the book even better. There’s certainly nothing too deep about the book so it’s an easy read, made easier by short chapters. I would definitely recommend it.