The description of the book quickly drew me in, and the story is so compelling and atmospheric and doesn’t let go. It is about a remote village in Sweden, which was once a thriving community, and now has unexplainably been abandoned for years. What happened to all of the residents? A documentary filmmaker, with a small crew, goes to the village to try to figure out what happened all those years ago. This is a very good book and highly recommended.

Camilla Sten proves to be a masterful storyteller as she expertly weaves together two plots (designated as "Then" and "Now") in a suspenseful and foreboding tale that escalates into an unexpected denouement with multiple astonishing reveals. The "Now" timeline refers to current day events as filmmaker Alice Linsdstedt attempts to make a documentary film regarding the inexplicable disappearance of the nearly 900 hundred residents of the village of Silvertarn in the 1950's. The only survivors being Alice's grandmother, Elsa and a screaming newborn found in an abandoned building. Silvertarn was a small mining community that turned to a virtual ghost town after the mines closed. Alice grew up hearing of the mysterious events and secrets from her grandmother and her knowledge base is formed by letters written by Elsa to her sister Margaret in Stockholm.
Alice organizes an exploratory journey to the village in hopes of securing interesting photos that will pique the interest of internet followers to mount a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund the documentary. Her team is composed of friends and ex-friends ( all bringing their own psychological baggage). Soon after arrival, mysterious events arise.... unexplained noises and visions, equipment disappearances , serial injuries to team members , and then the mysterious explosion of their vehicles. The spectre of "not being alone" arises as does the panic level.
In juxtaposition with the current narrative, the "Then" tale told through the eyes of Elsa weaves together the actual events that lead up to the "mysterious disappearance" that provide the motivation to the inexplicable mystery.
Camilla Sten provides a compelling and propulsive psychological thriller that maintains an all pervasive mood of dread and trepidation. One can't help but expect the "boogey man" to jump out. Not to be missed is the character of Pastor Mattias, that preaches "hell fire and brimstone". Almost all fall into his thrall. This is the first US translation of this highly acclaimed psychological thriller , first published in Sweden in 2019. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press / Minotaur Books for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review.
Anticipated publication: March 23, 2021.
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The Lost Village by Camilla Sten ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

A huge thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this early copy!!

Guys, this was my first ARC approval from Netgalley, and I squealed! The Lost Village has been on my most anticipated reads list for 2021, and you should put it on yours too! It’s coming out in March.

This book was creepy, gory, and horrifying, and the tension was clear from the very beginning. You knew something was wrong, but you couldn’t put your finger on it.

I loved the setting. An abandoned mining village where everyone disappeared except a baby. Sign me up. The author took her time to describe it, so I felt like I was there too. Also - the author’s descriptions of the abandoned building exploration was fascinating. So if you love looking at pictures of old, abandoned buildings or if you drive by an old, abandoned building and think “I’d like to go in there” READ THIS BOOK.

The plot also kept me interested. It jumps between past and present, which I thought worked really well. I was just as invested in the past as I was the present. Fair warning - many elements in the plot are intense, gory, and horrifying.

It took me a while to get the characters figured out. In the present, there are five main characters. In the past, there are about five main characters as well, but other village people get mentioned. It was a lot to juggle at first, but it was necessary to have so many players.

Overall, this book made me uncomfortable and angry, but I was so entertained. I would recommend it to anyone.

One village in a remote forest in Sweden, abandoned, empty. Where are all,the people? Only two clues remain to point searchers in the direction: a baby and a body. It’s a deliciously creepy read. A film crew camps in the ghost town, hoping to unravel its secrets. The chapters flip back to modern day and the year the town history stopped. I liked this book. I thought the reason for people’s disappearance was a little far fetched, but it is fiction. So take a trip to the little hamlet where everyone vanished and bad things continue to happen to see why.

I'm not sure why I thought I could read this in the dark... The visuals painted by the author are a bit haunting and creepy. From the beginning I wanted to know what happened to the people of the village and loved that Alice has gathered a group to discover the answers.

The beginning is definitely a bit slow, but it all picks up and is definitely the "thriller" that I was seeking. Once the character's personalities and relationships are established, the reader is truly able to "visit" this long abandoned village.

Very well done. Thank you for allowing me to read this.

A thrilling, nail-biting page turner. I read this book in basically one sitting, because I couldn't put it down! Seamlessly blending the past with the present, The Lost Village takes the haunting genre and turns it on its head. Any time you think you've figured out what happens, Camilla Sten throws another twist at you and leaves you questioning everything. If you like horror books, you definitely don't want to miss this one!

This book was such an unexpected surprise. It has a mix of scary and creepy vibes and it was just very interesting from start to finish.

It is told in two different periods in time. It goes back and forth between 1959 and present time. Alice is very intrigued with her Grandmother’s story, her whole family and everyone from a little mining town suddenly disappeared. She decides to go back to the small town and make her own research and make a film, but a lot of mysterious events start to unfold.

This book definitely reminded me a lot of The Blair Witch Project, that movie still freaks me out today. It has a lot of the same elements and I just couldn’t stop reading.

The only thing I wished is that the ending was different, everything was going so good, but the ending I didn’t love. If you are looking for a good creepy read, this book is for you.

Alice Lindstedt believes that she has a story to tell. Her grandmother is originally from Sweden's only ghost town, Silvertjarn. In fact, when the entire population of the small mining town disappeared in the late 1950's, her grandmother's mother, father, and sister disappeared with them. Alice wants to visit Silvertjarn and create a documentary about the ghost town and its former inhabitants; she also wants to solve the mystery of what happened. However, when Alice and four of her friends spend five days in Silvertjarn gathering initial footage, she gets a great deal more than what she bargained for.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable thriller that kept me guessing until the very last pages. There are twists and turns throughout this story, but the real star of this novel is the oppressively creepy ghost town where it takes place. Silvertjarn itself becomes a character as you follow Alice in her attempts to simultaneously create a documentary and solve a fifty year old mystery. I highly recommend this novel for those interested in thrillers, gothic horror novels, and novels with setting as a character.

Dear Reader, if the blurb snagged your attention, please don’t let my lack of enthusiasm stop you from reading.

The Lost Village was a swing and a miss for me…I’ve tried three times to engage in the story, and once again, I believe it’s my lack of enjoying the Now and Then change in chapters that made it a no go. The beginning was also wee bit confusing for me; therefore, it just didn’t hook and reel me in to finishing. Sad to say, this was a DNF. Again, this is just one reader’s take on a story, so what didn’t work for me, could be your next fav read!



**I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. **

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten was a suspenseful thriller that follows a documentary film maker as she makes her way to a village in Sweden that has been abandoned for over 50 years. Alice and her crew investigate the village to try and find answers as to why the town of nearly 900 disappeared one day and all that was left was an old lady and a newborn baby. Alice and her friends begin to realise that they are not alone in the abandoned village as many weird, creepy and dangerous things begin to happen to the crew. Can Alice and her friends put together the pieces of the past or will the spirit of the Lost Village capture them before they do?

This book heavily reminded me of Blair Witch Project. I felt like I was on the edge of my seat for about 80 percent of it but the ending fell flat for me. I feel like it lacked the exciting wow factor and I felt like it wasn’t the ending that I had hoped for. I wasn’t overly attached to any of the characters and I wasn’t invested in their outcome. I did like the creepy vibe, the setting and the past paced chapters as I was able to fly though this book in a couple of days. For those reasons I am rating this book 3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur Books and Camilla Sten for the advanced copy of this book. I am looking forward to reading more from Camilla Sten in the future!

4.5 stars rounded up. This was a super creepy story that I really enjoyed! I was on the edge of my seat for the whole book, and at one point I knocked something off my table and jumped about a foot in the air because I was so immersed in the story. Compelling characters, a mysterious plot, and a dark and spooky setting made for an excellent tale that kept me reading late into the night!

Alice is a documentary film makes who has been obsessed with "The Lost Village" most of her life. A small town of 900 people vanished and were never seen from or heard from again. While the disappearance was investigated shortly after, no solid answers were ever found. Alice's Grandmother used to live in this town and lost her parents and sister when this mystery happened. Alice grew up hearing the stories and reading her Great Aunt's letters about her life before she disappeared. As far as anyone knows, there was only one surviver. A lone baby found abandoned in a school building. It just so happens that Alice has found the daughter of the baby and she wants in on the investigation and film project. When Alice and her small team visit the desolate village in attempt to create a promo film to gain financial backing; they get a feeling that they are not the only one's there. The town certainly seems to have been undisturbed for the past 60 years but they still have a feeling there is some other sort of presence. I enjoyed the suspense and mystery of this book. It kept me on the edge of my seat. But I was expecting a much different ending and cause for the disappearance. The ending was almost non-climactic. It may be just that I was expecting something along the lines of paranormal rather than a cult-like following. Though, overall I enjoyed it and found it entertaining and worth the read.

Alice is an aspiring documentary film maker who travels with a rag tag crew into the Swedish wilderness to investigate an abandoned village with close famial ties. Forty years before, Silverjarn was found completely devoid of most of its denizens save for a bloated corpse tied to a post in the town square and a crying baby of unknown parentage. The police investigation back then was unable to determine what happened to the villagers except that they had simply disappeared without a trace. As Alice, and her team, start their investigation it is clear that someone or something is sabotaging their efforts. Soon things get from bad to worse with disastrous consequences. Some will never leave this mining town cloaked by a dark forest and a darker history.  We will learn the horrifying truth of what happend in silverjarn those forty years before and how close to home it will get for Alice and those unfortunate enough to have followed her on her journey back through time. I've been waiting for a novel like this for a while. It was creepy in parts and gave off ghost hunting show vibes, as the team scour abandoned buildings looking for answers. But we learn that the most horrifying things in this book are not the ghosts left behind but the power of evil found in human nature and of its ability to transcend time itself.

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten

Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley to for my ARC in exchange for an honest review. Publishes March 2021

Remember the BlairWitch Project- the movie? It had everyone second guessing what was real or not. Was it a hoax? Did it actually happen? Was it based on true events?

The Lost Village has the same vibes. As the reader is pulled in you start to doubt what you are reading. Does the village actually exist? Did people disappear here? Who keeps whispering? I wont go into too many details, I think for potential readers vague is better.

The production team filming the village is on a tight budget and deadline. No one is here for the money, each of them agreed to the project based upon hidden agendas of their own. The village’s history while intriguing has a lot of gaps, secrets and stories untold. The reader is along for the ride, in search to the answers of what happened here? And now, is it still happening?

The book reads like a movie screenplay. The reader can feel each creak of the stairs, each whisper of breath in the air. The ending is messy, there are loose ends but there is also some closure, both for the characters and the plotline. BUT......When I finished I still felt like I didn’t know the whole story.

Tip- Read with the lights on and a pillow nearby. If this book were made into a movie I dont know if I could watch it. I would have my head under the blankets.

Recommend to thriller and horror lovers!!

Really enjoyed this book, a perfect mix of Chills and mystery they kept you turning the page, and keeping the lights on at night.........

Slow burning thriller about a town in Sweden that was inexplicably abandoned in the late fifties. A documentary production company of twenty-somethings sets-up camp to unlock the secrets of the town and experience mounting problems. The story really picked up in the end and was very satisfying. Not a scream-fest.

Thank you for allowing me an advanced copy of this book for reviewing. I did enjoy this book.

Let’s start with the pros:
Loved the idea of the book. Whole town disappears with no trace. Creepy!
Group of young people travel to the town(still abandoned) to investigated for a future documentary.
Many different characters creating suspicion between each other.
Easy read

Cons:
Typical horror movie. Everything that can go wrong, does.
The ending (won’t give it away) was a little out there...even more out there than the fact that there is a town that disappeared 50 years ago and no one else has ever returned to the town to look/search/ investigate/find any evidence.
The ending (again) I didn’t feel wrapped everything up. Maybe setting up for a sequel(?) which I would ready btw!

All of the stars. So atmospheric, so creepy, one of the best horror/thrillers I've read in a LONG time.

A comparison to The Blair Witch Project & Midsommar - sign me up!
The Lost Village has a delicious premise - independent filmmaker Alice and her misfit crew go to Silvertjarn to investigate the abandoned, isolated town to try and figure out just what happened to all of its inhabitants. Soon after their arrival, sinister occurrences plague the team, and their plans quickly disintegrate.

The first half of the book is a slower pace as the relationships between characters form and evolve, and we try and learn about Silvertjarn. I found this part a bit two dimensional. The second half of the novel really picks up pace, and while it was a tad predictable, it was still an enjoyable read. It was relatively atmospheric but somewhat superficial - I think the author could have developed this more, and there are some overall holes in the plot, but all in all, a decent read.

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for review.

I was initially attracted to The Lost Village because of its premise. A documentary film crew travel to a remote village to investigate the sudden and unexplained disappearance of 800+ people many years earlier.

Although my expectations were fairly low, this book totally delivered on creep factor. The sentences created images in my mind so viscerally chilling that I found myself putting on a romantic comedy in the background when late night reading early chapters. And if I'm being honest, the thriller angst held until probably the last 45 minutes of reading - which rarely happens for me.

Even though I didn't fully love or appreciate the "ending", it doesn't matter. The book had me glued, made me feel things other than pandemic overwhelm and made me appreciate Camilla Sten's subtle ability to paint scary images using words.

I read parts of the book during a late night power failure and that definitely added a spookiness, I'd absolutely recommend for anyone spending time camping or at a cottage.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated as always.