4.5 Stars

First off, an enormous thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read such an amazing book. This books is spooky, and mysterious, and utterly enthralling. I could barely put it down. Every single page something new seemed to happen, building the mystery and the sense of dread. I really enjoyed the dual timelines/POV, I think it really added a lot to the story. My only complaint is the vilification of mental health problems made me uncomfortable at times. I do think the main character’s depressive history was written well, but the psychosis of another character seemed a bit damaging. But other than that I really, really enjoyed this book!

The premise of this book really intrigued me and I was so excited when I received the arc. However, while I did enjoy certain aspects, it did not meet my high expectations.

The mystery surrounding the village was well developed and unraveled nicely and I enjoyed the characters and storyline of the chapters set in the past. But, I had trouble connecting to the present characters which led to me not fully investing in that storyline. There was also a general lack of tension and atmosphere which led to a good, but not great read.

This book doesn’t come out until March next year but I just want to rave about it now for a minute!

This is a horror film in book form and omg it scared the shit out of me 🤣
One night I put the book down and walked around the house turning out the lights when I caught my reflection in the window. The book had left me so jumpy that I nearly leapt out of my skin, I bolted down the hallway and into the safety of my bedroom. I laughed about it with my partner but my heart was pounding!
For a book to evoke such strong feelings you know the author has created something amazing.

In 1959 two men arrive in the Swedish village of Silvertjärn to find it abandoned except for a woman who had been stoned to death in the town square and a baby crying in the school.
All 900 residents vanished without a trace and they’ve never been found.

Alice has a personal connection to the place, she’s grown up hearing the stories from her grandmother who had left the village earlier. Alice plans to make a documentary on the village and she needs to shoot a teaser trailer to entice someone to fund her project. Alice and her small team head into Silvertjärn to explore and hoping to discover some clues about what happened to the residents. With no phone reception and completely isolated in the village that has sat abandoned for 60 years, they soon discover they may not be alone.

Set in the “now” and “then” the descriptive imagery in this book was so good, I could clearly see the abandoned village in my mind and Camilla Sten absolutely nailed creating a spooky atmosphere.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exhange for an honest review.
I found "The Lost Village" by Camilla Sten to be a well written, original, nicely paced, addictive and creepy book.
I loved the author's writing style how she used both the "now" and the "then" timelines to tell the reader the whole story.
I look forward to this author's next book.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for a free copy.
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I can honestly say that this one had the chance to be really good. The prologue drew me in with the account of two people finding the town. The atmosphere was set. The eeriness factor was up.

However... the execution was not so well done. For 2/3 of the book we go back and forth between present day and the past. The amount of characters to track and how dodgy the time jumps were made me struggle a bit. I kept going because the tension was building. Yet the end was a jumbled mess. It was all over the place and the time jumps became more frequent.
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While I wanted to enjoy this book more, it just didn’t work for me.

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

I thought this was enjoyable for the most part! It's pretty well paced, though I did want more at times (specifically, more creepy things). I did think it took a little bit to really get going. This underlying mystery of what happened to the people in this town was super interesting, and I did like getting flashbacks to the past to learn about what happened. However, I do think I preferred the present day timeline overall. I liked the creepy things that we did get since it had me questioning if there was a supernatural reason behind everything. I didn't entirely expect the true reasons for what happened. While I'm a little disappointed since I wanted something else, it was still somewhat interesting.

Alice was a good main character overall! I liked her drive to investigate this disappearance, and I found her relationships with the other characters to be interesting. We learn that Alice and Emmy have met before, and we get to see how their relationship evolves over the course of the book (which I liked).

There are some characters with mental disabilities who are not treated well at all, so this could be triggering. There are also content warnings for suicidal thoughts, psychosis, depression, and rape.

Overall, even though I would have preferred a different ending, I still had a good time with this book as a whole.

I received a copy of this for review from the publisher via NetGalley - thank you! All opinions are my own.

My video review can be seen on my channel (around minutes 4:02-6:33 of this video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6garXLWD6M

Thank you to NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten is marketed as "The Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar", but I'd argue it's much more Blair Witch 2 with a sprinkle of the The Wicker Man. And for this reader, that is not a bad thing.

Unfortunately, with the allusion to those movies, this book does read a little like a screenplay. I am not saying it's not good, because it is. But I also found it pretty easy to put down until the last quarter, where I consumed it with minimal break.
The main character, Alice Lindstedt, is a selfish, self-centered, fill-in-the-blank and I wanted to shake or slap her multiple times. However, the spite, jealousy, and religious fervor driven qualities of the other characters more than made up for Alice's deficits.

Overall a very good book, but does need a small CW for implied rape. I honestly didn't 100% see the ending coming. Another great book from a Swedish author but Sten hasn't quite captured the suspense expected in Swedish fiction like John Ajvide Lindqvist or Stieg Larsson.

Slight spoiler – This reader would have enjoyed a little more explanation of the “religion” in the village in place of some of the repetitive thoughts inside Alice’s dead, but I see how that would be difficult without either timeline’s main character being directly involved in the religion.

The lost village in this novel is definitely not a place I would ever want to visit, but the book The Lost Village is definitely worth your time. The author succeeds at turning what would be a found footage movie into a skillful, suspenseful tale. One device that builds the tension is the use of alternating timelines between now when the small film crew coming to an abandoned Swedish village to investigate why the entire population disappeared many decades ago, and the past when we slowly discover what happened in the village. The five characters are all clearly fleshed out and full of layers and conflict. You feel the anxiety building as they start realizing something is definitely off in this town. But is the danger coming from within their own ranks or from someone or someTHING outside? The denouement is quite satisfying and I highly recommend this one.

I stayed up into the wee hours towards the end of this book unwilling and unable to put it down, I just had to know what was happening in this village. The ambiance was perfect; I love old, overgrown abandoned houses and here we had a whole town of them. She describes every creaky step perfectly without overdoing it; letting your mind fill in the shadows and whispering breezes. I found myself wishing the documentary the characters were making wasn't fictional so that I could somehow watch it. There was definitely a need to suspend disbelief in how it all wrapped up, though. I figured out the "where" pretty quickly here but did not see the "why" or the "how" until it was upon me. I would recommend this to any reader, lover of horror, thrillers or otherwise. If Sten writes another book, I will read it!

I really enjoyed the aesthetic and vibe of this novel -- eerie, yet elegant; poised, yet unpredictable in its twists and turns. I felt engaged through the whole story and would recommend this novel to anyone who loves a good suspenseful thriller.

This sounded exactly like the sort of book I would enjoy. Unfortunately it was only the last fifty pages out of 300 that I found gripping and full of suspense. The first 250 pages just did not draw me in as I felt no atmosphere or tension. I can't say I even felt empathy for any of the characters. Of the two settings, past and present, I preferred the characters and storyline of the past.

I received this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

The summary itself piqued my interest when it mentioned this book was a "Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar" novel set in a village where all inhabitants disappeared without a trace in 1959. I was also intrigued because my grandmother and her parents lived in Sweden and I thought it would be a great read that was also a little "close to home", even as scary as the story becomes!

The title character, Alice graduated with a film-making degree and would love nothing more than to tell the story that her Grandmother and her family experienced living in this village, Silvertjärn. She recruits four others as she starts the project to make a documentary about Silvertjärn and what really happened there sixty years ago. Why was a local resident stoned to death and why was there a baby discovered in a hospital room all alone as all villagers left their homes with coffee mugs on the table or doors and windows open as though they were completely interrupted by something. Alice intends to pull those pieces together with the knowledge she has from her grandmother and her family and the letters that Aina, her grandmother's sister, used to write to her grandmother. She has the financial backing, a crew to help photograph and film, and a professional film-maker whom Alice was not too keen to enlist due to a previous past but knows she will be a great asset to the success of the film. This is all Alice has dreamed of since film school.

Once they descend on Silvertjärn with their camping supplies and filming equipment, mysterious things start to happen as they unravel the mysteries held within the community. The village is still eerie with all the village homes dilapidated, things left behind, and traces of lives lost. Then they start to hear things within the village, odd noises on their walkie-talkies, a blur of someone outside of their vans... but that can't be, right?

The book was an enthralling and blood-chillingly good tale of a long lost village and the secrets it kept. Definitely, a must to read for any fans of mysteries and thrillers!

An aspiring documentary filmmaker’s passion project: to solve the disappearance of an entire village. As the crew investigates the abandoned and overgrown town, strange things start happening and it appears that they may not be alone. Creepy atmosphere and the intertwining of two storylines - past and present - drive this story. Well written and complex characters bring depth. Thoroughly enjoyable.

An evocative and dark thriller telling the story of a group trying to unearth some old and dark secrets surrounding a mysterious disappearance, and learning that some things are better left alone...

The story is set in the deep remote backwoods of Sweden, having heard stories about the small mining town, Alice returns to the small and secluded village of Silvertjarn, where everyone in it mysteriously disappeared in 1959. The villagers are a part of her lineage on her grandmother's side of the family.

This book has eeriness and creepiness, oozing out of it, Sten provides vivid descriptions that gave me goosebumps !! Alice travels to an isolated village with a small film crew. They investigate the buildings that have been abandoned for over 60 years, but strange things begin happening and they realize that they might not be alone in the town.

Narrated in dual timelines of the 1950s before the disappearance and the present time film crew, the story unfolds rather rapidly and gets more creepy as it goes. I couldn't put it down! There are a couple of twists at the end that gives a bit of surprise to the ending.

I would like to thank Camilla Sten, St Martin's Press, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Summary:
Well written, with a unique plot. Enjoyed this book because it was different then the typical haunting or horror story.

The Lost Village is an engrossing thriller that hooked me immediately! It follows a young filmmaker and her small crew as they attempt to uncover the mysteries of a village in which all of the citizens disappeared overnight except an infant. I liked the characters and thought the story was well-paced. It does switch back and forth between “then” and “now”, but it is not confusing and enhances the story. Overall I loved the book and will look for more from this author!

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten is described as The Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar and I completely agree with this description. There’s a pervasive sense of wrongness throughout the entire book that had me on edge; an overwhelming feeling of impending doom that made me a bit anxious and feeling like I wanted to warn the character of Alice and her great-grandmother, Elsa, to warn them that they needed to get the hell out of dodge or in this case, Silvertjarn.

TLV is told in alternating timelines of Now and Then, Now being narrated by Alice, an insecure documentary filmmaker who has a whole host of issues and Then, narrated by Elsa, Alice’s great-grandmother. Alice has been obsessed with the village of Silvertjarn, the village where her great-grandmother, great-grandfather, and aunt along with the entire village of 887 residents disappeared in to thin air. Never. To. Be. Heard. From. Again. The only living thing found in the village was a newborn baby, left in the abandoned school.

Creeped out yet? While this is not a traditional horror story, it definitely gives horror story vibes. I am generally not a lover of the back and forth between timelines but I found I couldn’t wait to get back to the other timeline. Each had an appeal and an urgency that made me want to know more, drawing me in with each horrific occurrence and the suspense of wondering what would happen next. Love this!

The story is fast-paced and the characters are mostly flawed and with their own emotional baggage, a few with personal vendetta’s against members of the small documentary group. This leaves the reader guessing who or what could be behind the current terror that’s happening in the Now. Is it a supernatural entity? Is it a disgruntled ‘friend’ trying to sabotage the documentary? Or something else entirely? I would be remiss if I didn’t review the authors’ descriptive prose! Seriously, some of the best descriptive writing. There were times it was both gorgeous and so beautifully expressive, I could all but smell the clean mountain air and other times, like a poorly timed kiss, that I could imagine the taste and nastiness of unbrushed teeth and morning breath!

I thoroughly enjoyed The Lost Village and I will be reading more from this author as soon as it’s available! I want to thank St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books and Shelf Awareness for the #gifted DRC.

This book is incredibly atmospheric and pulls you in from the first chapter. I would definitely read more by this author in the future.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I devoured this story. The setting was eerie, and the plot was interesting - both attributes I love in my reading. The characters were interesting and individually and as a group they contained their own mysteries. I will definitely re-read as I’m sure there are breadcrumbs that I missed with the first pass.

Alice is a documentary film maker with not much of a following. She has ties to a lost village through her grandmother and decides to put together 4 other people to go to the village and see if they can find what happened to the inhabitants 50 years ago. Alice is ill prepared for what happens while they are there.

This book grabbed me from the first and I had to keep reading to see how it would end. It is told in first person from Alice's perspective and also from her great grandmother's words 50 years ago. I hated to stop reading before learning the fate of this village.