Alice Lindstedt, a documentary filmmaker has been obsessed with the missing/vanished residents of the town dubbed "The Lost Village" since childhood. Her grandmother's entire family disappeared and what remained was a dead woman tied to a tree and an infant found crying in a building.

With curiosity on hand, Alice has gather a team to help her go and film a documentary about "the lost village" and to perhaps uncover what made a whole town disappear and leave behind a dead woman and a newborn.

What they find is abandoned homes, and that tingling feeling that something was not quite right. A sense that they were being watched. That they were not alone. Was someone watching them? Was the abandoned town getting to them? Was the unease they were feeling real or imagined?

This had so much potential for me. The synopsis piqued my curiosity. This book sounded like it would be right up my alley. I love a good creepy, tension filled, tale. For the most part, this feel flat for me. The entire book I felt as if something was missing, but what? Things did pick up towards the end. There was more action and an underlying feeling of dread and the anticipation of a big reveal. When the ending did come, I had some answers but was left wishing this book had been scarier,

Overall, good not great for me. Others are enjoying this more than I did so give their reviews a read.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press - Minotaur Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Amateur filmmaker, Alice Lindstedt, has her dreams set on making the next big documentary centered around the old mining town of Silvertjarn, also known as The Lost Village. The entire town disappeared without a trace back in 1959, except for a woman stoned to death in the town square and an abandoned new born found in the school. Alice only has old letters from her grandmother’s younger sister to help her solve the mystery.

Alice and four of her friends set out to Silvertjarn to find out to what happened to the small town but when things start to go missing, along with one of her friends, they realize they’re not alone. Told between present day and the days leading up to the mysterious disappearance of the town back in 1959, we find out what really happened and who’s after Alice and her friends.

I haven’t read a horror book in quite some time so I was excited to read this. The story get’s right into it as Alice and her crew arrive to Silvertjarn to start filming. You quickly realize the different dynamics Alice has with everyone else that ads an extra layer to the story. During the first day of exploring the village, one of them gets hurt which starts a snowball effect of things just getting progressively worse for the group. After that event, it’s hard to stop reading because you just need to know what happens next.

Even though I would never venture to an old abandoned town to spend the week there in a tent, I didn’t find the story to be particularly scary. Definitely a little creepy and eerie at times, It felt more like a mystery to me than anything else.

The author did do a really good job of setting the scene and making it really easy to imagine yourself there with the characters, whether it was back in 1959 when the Swedish town was bustling or the present day emptiness of the decaying buildings. I loved that about her writing style.

I enjoyed this story and it was a nice re-introduction to the horror genre. I give this book a 3/5.

*Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

As an urban explorer and lover of abandoned buildings, this book hooked me with the synopsis alone. I've always dreamed of finding something as pristine and haunting as an abandoned village with a mysterious past.

Alice Lindstedt, whose grandmother grew up in the Swedish mining village of Silvertjarn, has assembled a team to travel to the village where she plans to film a documentary and possibly solve the mystery of the missing residents who disappeared in 1959. Her grandmother, who moved away to Stockholm with her husband, is one of the few survivors from Silvertjarn but all Alice has left of her now is a collection of letters from her great aunt Aina, written to Alice's grandmother Margareta but none of the letters shed any light on the disappearance.

The crew arrives in Silvertjarn to find that they may not be alone-- footsteps in the schoolhouse, strange noises coming across their walkies. What's more, Alice isn't the only one in her group with ties to Silvertjarn and she begins to wonder if perhaps their presence there has triggered something in the village, something that's following the team as they investigate the long-abandoned houses, school, and church. As the strangeness of their experience mounts, the group begins to fall apart and it becomes clear that they need get out of Silvertjarn before they're counted among the missing.

I read this book in two days flat, I couldn't put it down. The backstory of the town was well constructed and it connected seamlessly to Alice's project. Presented as a Kickstarter project, it's easy to forget that Silvertjarn isn't real. The descriptions of the town and its previous inhabitants are beautiful and almost lyrical. The multiple plot layers are clean and easy to follow, the flashbacks adding a great deal of substance to the story when they could just have easily been fluff pieces that didn't necessarily connect the two time periods. Overall this was a fantastic book with great atmosphere and an unexpected ending that left me wishing there was a sequel already.

4 stars! I enjoyed reading this one. I really liked how the story was told; piecing it together from THEN and NOW and how it unfolded to then collide with each other. I was pretty shocked by some things that happened, I wasn't expecting it and it felt a little forced at times.

The ending wasn't what I expected at all. I didn't feel the normal closure I do with books, a little open ended as far as some of our characters go. I typically like to see them through the trouble and come out the other end.

I would definitely recommend to a friend.

Who doesn't love a good ghost town mystery?

Alice is working on getting backers to make a documentary of the mystery around Silverjarn becoming a ghost town. One day in the 1950s all of the villagers disappeared without a trace says one baby. Alice's grandmother's parents and sister among them. Alice and her 4 crew mates visit the village in April to prepare an ad of what the documentary will be about. While there, the crew think they are being watched and hear strange noises throughout their 5 day stay. But is it a ghost?

This was a fantastic thriller! I was instantly hooked when I started reading which led to me staying up late one evening to finish the book. The mix of stories from the past and present increased the mystery. On a deeper level, the book touched upon themes of cults and showcased how easy it is (and disturbing!) for people to have the wool pulled over their eyes...following leaders who believe they are the answer.

I would love to see this book made into a film!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this e-ARC in exchange for my opinions, all of which are my own.

Wow! My blood was pumping throughout this entire book and although I didn’t read it in one sitting, as soon as I picked up from a short hiatus, I was quickly drawn back in.

If you liked Midsommer or Hereditary, this one might be perfect for you.

I struggled a bit with the ending as I was hoping for something a little…different but overall I thought it was a spine-tingling mystery with a family connection!

This was a fun horror mystery which felt like a very similar experience to watching a traditional horror film, but with an additional element of mystery. An enjoyable read, a fascinating premise and a great mystery!

Great integration of the story elements! Some of the elements were fairly predictable but it was a great story to get lost in for an evening. I finished it in one sitting!

I feel I need to preface this review with this is not a bad book, there are a lot of things about it that could make it the right read for many people. It just wasn’t the book for me.

We have Alice narrating the story in present day working on creating a documentary of the village of Silvertjärn (where her Grandma Margareta grew up) & Elsa (Alice’s great Grandma) narrating the happenings of Silvertjärn in the 1950’s and the disappearance of almost 1000 people.

The story starts out in the past (1959) with Gustaf & Albin heading to the village. That’s one of the things that I didn’t love is that they only are in the first chapter & we don’t hear from these two men again. It isn’t necessary to the book but I think revisiting that chapter of them later on (after we find out more of what went on in the village) would have been a nice addition to the story.

The description of the village was probably my favorite thing about the book, I know it made me want to go there myself or see pictures but the author did a great job of describing it & giving a visual of what they were seeing actually being in the village.

I think where this book just didn’t do it for me was the characters in general. Present tense characters Alice is a know-it-all, Emmy was bossy, Tone’s character (how do you pronounce her name anyway?!? Tone, Tony?) had potential & the guys of the story weren’t included in the right ways to be important (to me as characters), I think in the end I liked Robert best which is silly since he was one of the least important. Past tense characters I did really like Elsa’s character, but Aina & the rest of the villagers lacked any substance.

I struggled with the authors writing style of the book (it’s just not for me), and the reasonings behind ‘what happened’ aren’t my kind of storyline. Also all of the uncommon names in the book at first made it hard for me to remember who was who & hard to follow what was going on, which is also ‘my’ problem not the books.

I think the author did a good job with the ending & wrapping things up but I think there could have been a lot more to the ending with some of the characters & the story itself.

The story is very religion based so that’s partially why I didn’t find myself getting as absorbed into the book as I would a really great book, that along with the way it was written. I found myself re-reading many parts, which that could absolutely be ‘me’ and not the book. As I initially mentioned though this really isn’t a bad book at all & I think many people will really enjoy this story & the village of Silvertjärn☺️

Thank you so much to NetGalley & St. Martins Press for the opportunity to read this, as always very grateful!!

In the Scandinavian north a mining village’s inhabitants disappeared without warning. The mine has closed and villagers are helpless and unable to find work. A charismatic preacher arrives promising salvation. A filmmaker whose grandmother disappeared goes back to the village with a group of friends to chronicle the disappearance. The village seems uninhabited but her friends start dying. Interesting premise and ending.

Alice's lifelong dream has been to make a documentary about Silvertjarn, the small mining village her grandmother left behind not long before police found the remains of a woman stoned to death in the village square and an eerie silence. Where had all the village residents gone? Why had the young woman been stoned to death? And perhaps most puzzling of all, why can they hear the cries of a newborn baby coming from somewhere nearby? Alice wants to answer all of those questions, and it looks like her dream might finally be coming true, but Silvertjarn is holding more secrets than she prepared for...

From the very first pages of this book, I was HOOKED. Excuse me, but how could you not be? It literally starts out with police officers coming to the village only for it to be vacant except for one screaming newborn baby and one dead woman in the square. Camilla Sten sets up the story in a way that just instills that desperate and unstoppable need to know.

The descriptions of this book are definitely spot on. It is very much so The Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar. Is something supernatural at play? Is it a Jim Jones-style massacre, and if so, WHERE ARE THE BODIES??? What happened in that village sixty years ago is at the core of the story, and the need to know kept me turning the page even when I was dead tired. Alice's story of working to get the documentary made is told alongside her great-grandmother's story of watching Silvertjarn fall apart, and they're interwoven so well. I really liked Elsa, Alice's great-grandmother, and while I didn't LOVE love Alice, her part of the story is filled with real and validating conversations about and representations of mental health struggles that made me feel seen. (Also, I feel like there was a SERIOUS missed opportunity for some LGBTQ+ representation, which bummed me out but also kept me intrigued throughout the story.)

Overall, this Nordic Noir suspense was a really enjoyable read. I loved the setting, the mystery, the spook factor, and most of the characters. The ending did leave me with one rather mystifying question mark, but it definitely didn't ruin the enjoyability of the book for me. Would definitely recommend when it comes out in 2021!

A book about a small remote mining village set in the Scandinavian woods where all 900 of the villagers disappear into thin air. In 1959, Alice's grandmother’s entire family disappeared in this mysterious tragedy, and ever since, the unanswered questions surrounding the only two people who were left—a woman found stoned to death in the town center and an abandoned newborn—have plagued her. Alice gathers a small crew of friends to go to the remote village and make a documentary type film about The Lost Village and what really happened there. After they arrive, strange things begin happening and it's a race to get out of there alive. The Lost Village kept me intrigued and was a real page turner.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read the ARC in exchange for my honest review. This is a good one!

I loved this novel. It was so creepy and the feeling of dread started almost immediately. The alternating timelines just added to the suspense. The setting of the abandoned village was so atmospheric and chilling, and the characters were intriguing. There was nothing truly predictable and I was still trying to figure out the mystery as I neared the ending, which was really satisfying. This was a truly enjoyable novel.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin Press for the E-Arc! I was so excited to read this book described as "The Blair Witch meets Midsommar." The cover was very eye catching also. I loved the cloudy background with the run down old school in the front. Looks so creepy and scary.

I gave The Lost Village four stars because I was instantly hooked on the story. A documentary film student, Alice Lindstedt along with her crew of 4 people go to film at the village of Silvertjarn where her grandmother's family and the rest of the village disappeared without a trace. The only two that were found was a body of a woman stoned to death and a baby left in the school. As soon as they start filming, weird things start happening. It is very clear that they are not the only ones in the village.

I enjoyed both timelines and loved how it all came together at the end. I was very surprised at the ending and really liked it. I actually didn't see it coming. I highly recommend this book to anyone that loves mystery/thrillers and a fear of the unknown. Looking forward to reading more books by Camilla Sten.

How does an entire village disappear? Filmmaker Alice has a personal connection to Sweden's only ghost town - her grandmother was one of its residents. Alice is determined to secure funding for a documentary about Silvertjarn, but there's a lot standing in her way: limited seed funding and crew, the cell phone "dead zone" in the town, and the creepy accidents that can't be just coincidence. What is Silvertjarn hiding, and will Alice live to tell the story?

I usually read psychological thrillers rather than horror, but the description sounded so good that I had to pick this one up. I enjoyed the dual timelines - present day and 1959 (the time of the disappearance). I was very engrossed in the story, and I liked that it was intense but not too scary (although maybe horror fans are looking for something more terrifying!) The plot took some nice twists and turns, and it was very satisfying to lose myself in the village of Silvertjarn for an afternoon. If you're a thriller fan, definitely consider picking this one up!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

887 residents of Silvertjärn had disappeared into thin air. Alice is the daughter of one of the village residents (Margaret) who left to Stockholm before the tragedy. Now, Alice and her team is back to the lost village aiming to make a documentary film. However, they are not alone in Silvertjärn. Strange noises, strange explosion, and she also lost two of her team. I love the creepy and horror atmosphere.

I absolutely loved this book! I was interested the entire time, hooked on both then and now storylines. It was so very worth the time (2 days max!) to read. I’m thinking I’ll even buy it for my bookshelf when it comes out,

I love horror. I can't get enough of it. The main problem I usually have with horror is that it's tough to really scare/surprise me because I consume it so much. The Lost Village popped, and its tagline of "Blair Witch meets Midsommar" twanged my internal horror trip wire. My internal compass pointed right at Silvertjärn.

Sten's uneasy novel gave me the creeps right from the start. It contains all of my favorite horror elements: an abandoned, remote town, a group of unlikely friends with complicated relationships, family trauma, body horror, a barely-out-of-reach mystery, an accident, found footage/documentary, murder, the feeling of being watched.... really all the classic tropes we seem to never get sick of--or perhaps that we never get over. They're always scary). One of the most enjoyable parts for me was that regardless of these familiar elements, the story felt fresh. Yes, I will agree that I felt elements of both Blair Witch and Midsommar, but it didn't feel redundant. I had inklings of what might happen, some of which were right and some of which were definitely not right, but my tension remained high the entire read. The pacing keeps you pulled in throughout the story without the lulls of specific character building or scene setting horror can fall into. You're not waiting until the last three chapters for the scare to come.

The other element I really loved was the intimacy and detail of all the characters. Horror can be hard to connect to, whether the scares start too late or the characters fall too flat as an unfortunate result of putting too much emphasis on the spook factor. Sten's characters felt real to me, and their relationship to one another continued to clarify and deepen throughout the novel. I felt like I knew Alice and her crew in the present day, and I felt like I understood Alice's family and the town of Silvertjärn in the flashback sequences. The insertion of crowdfunding and letters and other "found" elements enhanced the story and made sense without feeling overly expository.

The main reason I knocked this from 5 to 4 stars was that I did catch on to what was happening before everything was revealed, but that didn't make it any less enjoyable for me. Definitely something I'll recommend in the future, and I'll absolutely be waiting for Sten's next project.


Thanks to St. Martin's Press and Minotaur Books for allowing me to read #TheLostVillage early on #NetGalley.

Delightfully creepy, this book manages to hold my interest throughout. As a reader who is not typically a fan of horror, this was overall a good book but maybe just not a great book for me. The mental health issues left me sad and drained.