In this atmospheric Swedish thriller that's reminiscent of Blair Witch, Midsommar, and Midnight Mass; a group of friends travels to an abandoned village to document its history.

This definitely had a slow burn, but overall, I think <u>The Lost Village</u> was perfectly creepy. The only thing that really got me was some of the inconsistencies throughout the novel, particularly in regards to character descriptions. They weren't super detrimental to the story but they just irked me (the pastor's eyes being compared to another character's even though his are "a cold gray" and hers are "an emerald green", or someone's hair being described as "light and fair" and then suddenly it's "dark and thick"). I don't think this was the most well-written or original thriller I've read as of late, but it was definitely entertaining and worth the read!

This one is a creepy good time! This one had me checking the locks on my door. Don't read it at night!

Thank you Netgalley for my gifted ARC!
As soon as I read the synopsis of this, I knew I was going to love it!! I had no idea where it was going half of the time and the way the chapters switched between present time and 60 years ago was gripping!!!! This village story was super creepy and gave me the chills! Definitely don't read in the dark lol. Overall this perfect horror book was just what I needed to get me out of my reading slump. Even though I wanted more answers from the ending and was left a little unsettles, I enjoyed the spooky story!

The premise of The Lost Village is amazing and I was really looking forward to reading it. It just didn't live up to the (my) hype, unfortunately.

In 1959, an entire Swedish town just disappears. Sixty years later and a film crew is making a documentary about it. No actual filmmaking occurred though – which was an aspect I was excited about.

I never felt connected to any of the characters. In fact, I don't feel like any of them were ever fleshed out completely.

This wasn't a bad book, just not something I would read again or go out of my way to recommend.

I enjoyed the overall story and creepy vibe of the abandoned town setting. Slightly predictable but still fun and engaging.

Alice has been obsessed with a small abandoned Swedish mining town her whole life, “The Lost Village.” One day in 1959, all the inhabitants disappeared except her grandmother who was out-of-town and a small, abandoned baby. Despite multiple investigations over the year, no one has determined where the residents went and why. Alice is leading her crew to film a documentary, get initial shots and marketing materials for their documentary, and solve the mystery. It becomes quickly apparent that they are not the only ones in this village.

Three words to describe this book: Gothic. Atmospheric. Creepy.

Cover: Super creepy. The cover matched the vibe of the book.

Character Development: Alice is a developed character, and the story provides background around her mental health and how that has impacted her past friendships and relationships. I did feel like the context of the relationships of her crew members are missing. I wanted more on why these folks agreed to go to an abandoned village, on a shoestring budget to help their friend Alice.

World-Building: Fantastic. I love creepy, spooky, terrifying books and this book gave me goosebumps. The author does an excellent job describing the town and I felt like I could see this world. If you like gothic vibes, you will like this book.

Plot & Pacing: This book is billed as a cross between Blair Witch and Midsomer. I would say that the book does not live up to this comparison. I found the plot and the explanation for the disappearances to be a bit too simplistic and I wanted more complexity. I wanted the plot to match the atmosphere of the world. The pacing was uneven throughout the book, especially in the first half. The second half clips along at a steady pace.

Verdict: I loved the creepy vibe of this book, but I was a bit disappointed by the plot and lack of character development. I would recommend this book if you are new or want to sample a gothic mystery/horror genre. This book is also great for folks who want something creepy without tons of gore.

ARC was provided to me by St. Martin’s Press, in exchange for an honest review.

#NetGalley #TheLostVillageBook

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten was just wow! I found this to be an interesting story with enough unexpected twists to keep my interest. The setting of this story is creepy and will definitely have the reader immersed in the story. I recommend to anyone who enjoys a good creepy thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, I could not really get invested in this book. I had a hard time believing that Alice would be filming and choose the crew she did, I didn't care for the characters, and just couldn't get myself involved in the creepy factor. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

In 1959, the entire population of a small, remote village in Sweden vanished without a trace. The disappearance of nearly 900 people caught worldwide attention, and though there were many theories, no one discovered the truth behind the phenomenon. Unfinished coffee still sat on the kitchen counter. Clothes still hung to dry on lines. And the bloody, mutilated corpse of Birgitta was still tied to a pole in the town square...

Documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt has been obsessed with the vanishing since childhood. Though she didn't reside there at the time, her grandmother was born and raised in Silvertjärn, and on that fateful day, she lost everything. Her mother, father, sister, and friends were simply...gone. After her grandma's sudden death, Alice, with the help of a few friends, travels to the lost village, determined more than ever the uncover the horrifying truth of what happened nearly sixty years ago.

Told in dual timelines, The Lost Village offers both a glimpse at life in the late 50s and the present day research into what caused the disappearance. From the first page, the reader is greeted with an ominous, eerie setting. The abandoned, remote village, surrounded only by forest and river, is downright creepy, with decrepit buildings that look like time capsules. It is clear that the townspeople did not simply move away, because everything was left behind. They seemed to just...vanish. The desire to know why made the story utterly compelling.

I am fascinated by the human condition and representing that thematically is one of Sten's writing strengths. In The Lost Village, she tackles mental health, developmental disorders, mass hysteria, and sexual assault. (T.W.: The latter is not explicitly described. The actual act occurs off the page.) Sten also writes about human mentality, and our perverse, almost innate, desire to blindly follow spiritual leaders. In this aspect, the book truly shines.

While I was able to predict the twists and reason behind the disappearance, I still rate this book as an unputdownable read, because the story itself is quite powerful. This book isn't about the thrill; it isn't about making sure there are enough red herrings to surprise the reader. What makes it a powerful read is what happened to the people of Silvertjärn and HOW it happened to them.

The Lost Village is an excellent starting novel for those interested in Scandinavian crime fiction. It is also a good read for anyone interested in suspense or light horror. Fans of fictionalized documentary series, similar to The Blair Witch Project, or true crime will likely enjoy this one. But keep in mind, although its themes are very much based on real world happenings, The Lost Village is not technically true crime.

"The Lost Village" is a thriller written by Camilla Sten. The main protagonist, Alice Lindstedt, is a filmmaker who is creating a documentary about a "lost village" whose occupants keep vanishing. Having heard about it her whole life, Alice now wants to get to the bottom of what is happening to these people. Along the way, strange things begin to happen to her and her team.

I didn't really enjoy this book, as I felt it was unnecessarily gory and grotesque. However, I am thankful to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Alice Lindstendt returns to the small village where her grandmother was born to film a documentary about how, in 1959, the entire village disappeared without a trace. Shortly after her and a small crew get to the remote location, strange things start happening. It appears that someone or something doesn’t want them to find the answers they seek. This book had exactly the spooky atmosphere that I was looking for at the time. I enjoyed the writing and felt that the plot was perfectly paced. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to Minotaur and NetGalley for my early copy of The Lost Village.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Lots on intriguing aspects to this book but none of them fully realized. I enjoyed the Blair Witch but this was nothing like that. I suspected that this was going to be a great fast read but it was hard to get through.

After hearing that "The Lost Village" was the love child of "The Blair Witch Project" and "Midsommar", I instantly was in the mood for some spookiness and couldn't wait to dive into this new to me author novel.

Did it live up to my expectations? No. A lot of things can go wrong with a novel such as the beginning of the story—if it’s too slow and a whole lot of nothing is happening (which was the case here), I will zone out and find myself browsing for another book to cure my boredom. The second—the characters. Those two can make or break a novel for me, especially if it’s a thriller or mystery series. The characters weren’t anything to rave about. The petty bickering and the relationships between the characters were confusing and all in all, didn’t make sense. Overall, “The Lost Village” reminded me of a B-rated horror flick that no one wants to see (or read in this case).

Full review to come on Instagram and Amazon. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy.

I enjoyed this book, the plot was suspenseful but I felt like not much happened in the first half of the book. At times it was a bit predictable. The ending was good and answered a lot of the questions I had about what had happened. I disliked Alice, the protagonist, because it felt as though she had caused a lot of the troubles for the group. Overall it was a decent read.

I have tried to go back and read this book three times now, long after it’s release but I decided to stop altogether unfortunately.
I can’t really say what made me do that and I’m rarely dnf books but I just couldn’t get into this story at all.
Very grateful to the publisher for my review copy

THE LOST VILLAGE is a horror and thriller fan's dream! Having documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt investigate the disappearance of an entire village sets the stage for something wicked to enter into the story. Sten brilliantly ups the scare factor while still developing a solid plot through her fabulously tense and addictive writing style. This book is sooooo good. I cannot wait for more from the author.

This book interested me for its Blair Witch Project meets the lost colony of Roanoke premise. While it does deliver some atmospheric, creepy moments, overall The Lost Village fell a little short for me. Firstly, Sten relies heavily on telling vs. showing to develop characters and plot. Secondly, the "Then" portions are written in a really heavy-handed way without leaving much for the reader to intuit or weaving much of a mystery. Thirdly, the dialogue is lackluster and the sentence structure itself is very stunted. The whole book has a stilted, disjointed feel. I recognize that some of this could be attributed to translation, but character development is very thin, and the 'Now" narrator, Alice - despite all her internal musing - comes across as shallow and uninspired. That she's attempting to make a film isn't believable. I typically enjoy books with shifting timelines and varying points of view, but the 'Now' and 'Then' chapter headers themselves were even nondescript yet somehow distracting in their generic-ness, adding to the abrupt transitions and feeling throughout that something was just missing here - and it wasn't just the village inhabitants.

So this was a SUPER fun read. I loved the creepy atmosphere and the question aid who or what was creeping around. This was absolutely a great creepy thriller!

A documentary film crew goes to investigate a tiny mining village that has been abandoned for sixty years. Why was the village abandoned? No one knows. One day over nine hundred residents simply disappeared, leaving behind houses full of furniture, clothing, and food. The streets stood empty save for the broken body of a woman tied to a wooden post, stoned to death. Only one living soul remained in the village - a days old baby found crying in the nurse's office of the school.

Hoping to find answers, Alice and her crew drive out to the town - miles away from any other sign of civilization, and begin to make their way through the ghostly buildings. But something - or someone - else seems to be there with them, and quickly all order turns to chaos as the five crew members face the evil within and without.

This book is a slow but steady tale of quiet horror, with crumbling buildings, disembodied footsteps, the tension of old wounds between the characters, silhouettes in the rain, giggles and moaning songs echoing through the emptiness. The tension and fear builds up like a humming in the ears as you read, as the strange occurrences of the present day warp and merge with the even stranger mystery of what happened to all those people sixty years ago. A closed down mine, a town full of desperate people, a handsome preacher come to save them all, a mentally challenged woman abused and murdered in the name of cleansing the town of evil.... what exactly happened then, and why is it affecting the filmmakers today?

I loved this book. Isolation and fear, grief and doubt weep off the pages. The story will leave you with discomfort in your gut and ice water in your veins.