Wow what a book! I don’t believe I have read a book so intense has this one was! It keeps you in suspense from the start and I couldn’t guess at the end what would happen. I would give this 10 stars if I could because it was that good. Anyone who loves mystery and suspense should read this.

This book really captured the essence of the horror indie-film maker vibe. Really creepy, lots of unexpected twists and turns, and definitely kept me hooked!

A very intriguing book. Documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt has been obsessed with the inhabitants of a small mining town since she was little. In 1959, her grandmother's family disappeared in a mysterious tragedy. Since then, there have long been questions that have haunted her about two people, a stoned to death woman in the center of town and an abandoned newborn. Alice has gathered a small group of friends in the village to make a movie and tell everyone what occurred. The story is interesting because it describes Alice's genuine desire to find out what happened. I liked that the narrative described what happened in the past and present. When reading this story, I thought a little about Chernobyl, I know there is no similarity, but I felt that feeling of loneliness and mystery, not to mention that it kept me intrigued till the last page. I thank NetGalley, St Martin's Press, and Minotaur Books for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review

Really enjoyed this, I read it essentially in one night. Although, I did predict one of the main plot questions, that didn’t take away from my enjoyment. An easy, but engaging read.

Dark and a bit intense, The Lost Village is the perfect winter storm read. Definitely some shades of The Blair Witch Project! Well written, creepy and sometimes disturbing. I can't wait to read more by this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this free ARC.
A great atmospheric horror novel set in the middle of nowhere Sweden. I could see how it was ending, but Camilla threw in a nice little twist. I'm excited to see if any of her other works will be translated into English.

This book is different from my usual genre. I am glad I switched it up
I found this book to be Erie, and engaging. I would definitely read more books by this author
Thanks so much for the chance to read it

The Lost Village is an unputdownable horror novel set in an abandoned Swedish village- a bit of a low build initially, but it quickly escalated while switching timelines from past to present.

Eerie and atmospheric and better-left read in daylight. I found myself bundling up tightly under the covers while simultaneously checking I wasn’t too close to dangling a foot off the bed. Just in case.

I loved exploring and learning about the village. I was on the edge of my seat every time I felt the tension build, and I was screaming (silently to myself) when I knew that the situation was escalating!
This book is a great read if you’re looking for something to keep you up all night on the edge of your seat.

Synopsis: Alice is a documentary filmmaker obsessed with the happenings of Silverjarn finally realizes her dream when she gets the funding to go ahead with creating her documentary. Alice's grandmother was from Silvertjarn and had moved away shortly before the rest of the townspeople disappeared, including her mother, father, and sister. Alice and a small group - Emmy, Robert, Max, and Tone - journey to Silvertjarn for a five-day stay to get preliminary photographs and videos for the documentary.
Immediately upon arrival, everyone feels an eerie sense of foreboding. Strange things begin to happen. The film crew feels as if someone is watching them. They hear whispers and giggles emanating from the buildings. On their first day exploring, Tone severely injures her ankle but refuses to leave for the hospital. Things progressively get worse from there.
The story moves back and forth between 1959 and the present to learn more about the town’s history, how the village’s people lost their hopes with the closing of the mine, and how the arrival of a new pastor gave them the false hope they desperately needed.

My Evaluation of the Book: Silvertjarn is a thoroughly creepy setting. The descriptive writing makes you feel like you are exploring alongside the film crew. The combination of past and present timelines made the story more compelling and added to the suspense. I could not put this book down, like Alice I became obsessed with knowing what happened to the residents of Silvertjarn. How could that many people just disappear?
I was shocked when Tone suddenly disappeared despite having an injured ankle. This had me wondering if Tone lost her mind and was behind the events happening to the remaining crew members or if something else entirely was going on. I could not wait to see where this story led, however, I knew the mine would come into play eventually since that was the only place was never examined. I'm glad I stumbled upon The Lost Village on NetGalley.

So I have to admit I did not like this one as much as I was hoping for. I've read too many similarly plotted books this year to not be letdown by the common threads. 1. A manipulative preacher who uses religion against this town of suffering people and 2. The fact that the entire town is/has been locked in the mine. Granted details are different but those two concepts were too predictable for me and while I loved the journey through the book the end just ruined it for me. I'm saddened by this because more than once this book appeared to be more than it appeared-perhaps even supernatural at times. However this is never fully explained especially once Aina (a survivor from the 50's) shows herself as the killer and stalker. We do have some unexplained phenomena like hearing children singing, on the fritz walkie talkie nonsense and Tone going into a funk, but not much more than that. Everything Aina said can't really be scrutinized since she's clearly off her rocker and has been alone for 50+ years. It's also kind of a bummer that the preacher took everyone down into the mine to sacrifice them all. It's clear he most likely had plans for himself to escape with Aina but instead his plans were set astray when the mine caved in killing them all. I mean that's kind of dull, I wish more had happened. Like Aina realizing the preacher was a fake and killing him herself or something. A cave in is too easy and boring for all the groundwork he laid. The townspeople down on their luck after the mine closes are essentially the perfect specimens for a cultist takeover and the preacher just walks right in and pulls a Charles Manson on them. It was an OK read overall. I mean one can't deny the power of religion and how in the right hands and with the right voice it can be used for soooooo much evil. I wish the end of the book continued on more with the supernatural or unexplained aspects instead. At the very least still allowing the MC's to film their documentary even if just in honor of their lost friends, but instead they leave with nothing.

2.8
I want to thank netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to early read this book. This was a book I was very excited to get to however, for me personally it did not do much for me. I throught the premise was great and the scene was eerie in a great way. The story however seemed to drag on for me without building much suspense and I did not care for most the characters for most of the book. I needed know know more about them. The parts telling the past were very predictable and slow. That was my main issue with the book. The plot moved very slow and predictable. I did find that by page 184 the story picked up some but most the action was not til the last thirty pages and for me that was way to late. It did have an interesting story towards the end but, just was not my cup of tea I guess. I am thinking others may like it better.

This was out of my comfort zone book. I usually do not ready spooky mystery books. Reading this book I was on the edge of my seat. And I just needed to know how it would end.
Maybe is know my cup of tea, but it was sooo good.
4 stars.

"The Lost Village" was creepier than I expected. In August 1959, the residents of the Swedish village of Silvertjarn mysteriously disappeared. When the police arrived, they found a dead woman who had been tied to a pole and stoned to death and they found a newborn baby, but no one else. The homes still contained belongings, so it did not appear to be a mass exodus. However, no explanation could be found for how hundreds of people had disappeared without a trace. Fast forward to the present, where Alice Lindstedt, whose grandmother grew up in Silvertjarn but moved away with her husband as young adults, wants to create a documentary about the town and the disappearance. Alice and four others (Tone, Emmy, Robert, and Max) are heading to Silvertjarn to explore the village and take photos and videos to promote the Kickstarter campaign to fund the actual documentary. Alice has gathered as much information as she can find on the town, the investigation into the disappearance of the villagers, and individuals such as Birgitta Lidman (the dead woman) and her baby, but the available information is limited, consisting largely of letters her grandmother had received from her younger sister (Aina) and information her grandmother had been able to undercover following the disappearance of her family and friends.

The book mostly takes place in the present, with the exploration of the village by Alice and her team and the mysterious events that occur -- strange noises, people thinking they saw someone, items disappearing, physical harm, etc. However, the story repeatedly goes back to the events of 1959, explaining how the village changed after the closure of the mine and the appearance of a young, charismatic preacher to replace the old alcoholic pastor. Between the exploration of the village in the present and the flashbacks to the past, the story builds to the revelation of what really happened in Silvertjarn in 1959. Both Alice and Tone have kept critical information from the other three members of the group, and these omissions will end up quite dangerous. The author does a great job of evoking a sense of creepiness and mystery with how she describes the village, the buildings, and the overall environment. Some of the plot twists are not too surprising, but others are quite unexpected. The author does a good job of keeping the reader guessing. If you enjoy creepy stories, this might be a book for you.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley.

To begin, just a "thank you" to St. Martin's Publishing Group, as well as Netgalley.com for an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

I question my 3-star rating of this novel. I could go up to 4-stars. I'll settle for 3.5-stars for this one.

Reading the one-sentence blurbs on this novel, it seemed to be a novel I could get into. A tragic disappearance of the townsfolk, with the exception of a woman found tied to a post in the town square, and an infant found alive is all that the town of Silvertjarn, a small mining town in Sweden, have left around the 1950's. Questions abound as to what happened to this ghostly town? Why is there the remains of a woman beaten in the town square? And what of this infant? Who is she and why was she found alive?

I have not read a Camilla Sten novel. And, to be honest, the beginning of this novel had me wondering if I should continue. But - I've learned to give a novel a fighting chance (50-page limit), and ultimately, this one did not disappoint. Fast-forward to Alice, an up-and-coming documentarian, and the four members of her staff who have come to film and try to "get to the bottom" of all of these mysteries in the town of Silvertjarn. Albeit a slow start, the novel does get interesting as it intertwines Alice and her quest to find the truth of the mysteries of Silvertjarn with the past of Elsa, a relative of Alice, and her desire to help Brigitte - who is looked down upon by members of the small village.

The book hits its climax midway through the novel, as there seems to be someone else in the empty town. My interest in how this novel ended peaked with the themes of family, mental-illness, and how people are easily fooled by hucksters stating they are "performing God's work" here on Earth.

The Lost Village is a novel that I am happy I did not give up on. Interesting read and was an enjoyable read by the end.

Not typically a mystery reader, I completely enjoyed this story! Mystery, religion, mental illness, family ties, and an abandoned village combined by the author to weave a tale I couldn’t put down!

Suspenseful and creepy novel about a small Swedish village that disappeared 60 years ago, and a small film crew making a documentary. I admit that there were sections that I didn't read after dark (but I'm a bit of a 'fraidy cat).

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a slow book, but in a good way. It allowed the story to build. It was a very atmospheric read and I definitely was creeped out the entire time. The back and forth between past and present was very well done and flowed seamlessly.

Would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a creepy story.

Summary:
Alice decides to shoot a documentary film about a ghost town that was left abandoned years ago. Everyone who lived there mysteriously disappeared, including her own grandmother and family. Following the tragedy, only two humans were discovered in the town: an abandoned newborn, still alive, and a young woman, stoned to death.

Alice arrives in the abandoned town with the small crew she’s assembled, including Emmy, her old roommate from college, determined to shoot a documentary focused on the town’s history. But as soon as they arrive, mysterious things begin to happen. Equipment is destroyed. People go missing. And it soons becomes clear that they are not alone.

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This story is told through alternate timelines, switching between the present (Now), in which Alice and her crew scout the deserted area, and the past (Then), in the months leading up to the abandonment of the town. Old letters, sent and received by Alice’s ancestors, are also incorporated.

In the ‘Then’ timeline, a good deal of the events are foreshadowed early, but this is by design. It allows you, the reader, to figure out what is going to happen before it’s revealed, and it’s incredibly effective in creating a sense of impending doom.

To counterbalance that, the ‘Now’ timeline is edge-of-your-seat shocking and unexpected and full of twists I did NOT see coming. It’s bold and dramatic and surprising and scary and also, unexpectedly, sad. Alice is a wonderfully flawed main character, and I really appreciate how well-developed the relationship is between her and Emmy.

This story has similarities to the work of filmmaker Ari Aster (Midsommar, Hereditary), which I love!! It’s smart horror that doesn’t just entertain and scare, but provides interesting - and at times uncomfortable - social commentary.

And just like Aster’s movies, this book is NOT for the faint of heart.

I’d say this is perfect for fans of horror, first and foremost, but also those who enjoy psychological thrillers or mysteries.

Thank you #netgalley and @stmartinspress for the ARC of #thelostvillage!

This will be posted on my blog and social closer to publication date, unless it’s requested earlier.

This was described as The Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar and this is so accurate!! It draws vibes from each without stealing from either.

The way the book is presented as a pitch for a documentary creeped me out from the very beginning. The story flips back and forth between NOW and THEN. NOW, a small team of investigators/journalists/filmmakers, not all without direct ties to the subject matter, are scoping out a town that was mysteriously deserted THEN. THEN... a small mining town, full of everyday people, helping each other along. Until a newcomer arrives.

I like scary movies and scary books but I don't often find myself scared. As this book alternates between the two time periods, the intensity steadily builds. It's very mild in the beginning, and it somehow rises undetected. At the midpoint, you're almost relieved when you get to switch to the other time period and breathe a bit. But as both timelines proceed, they reach their peak intensities simultaneously and there is no relief as you alternate between one and the other! This book was *definitely* creepy.... I LOVED it. Highly recommend if you want to feel spooked!

From the synopsis I was expected a ghost story or something paranormal, which made me a bit nervous because I don't typically like books along those lines, but even still, this book brought new elements that captivated me the entire time I was reading and I could not put it down. I highly recommend Camilla Stens' "The Lost Village"!