Despite a somewhat ridiculous premise, and conclusion, I did find this book very tense and spooky. The idea of an abandoned village is a strong start, but I found the eventual reveal to be just too over the top — it didn't match the slowly rising horror of the rest of the story.

A hauntingly beautiful tale that sends chills down the spine, the pages fluttering, and the heart pounding. I loved this story much more than I expected to, and I can't wait to get lost in it again.

Fantastically creepy! I love the setting of this book, it's the perfect read as we head into the fall. The storyline is unique and somewhat reminds me of Blair Witch.

This was an ok book for me. I felt like it was very slow to get into and needed to up the creepy factor. I like the documentary aspect and felt the ending was very satisfying.

I had so much hope for this one! It started off with so much depth and atmosphere that just petered out. It wasn't a bad read and I still enjoyed it, but I wish it would have get up the intensity it had in the beginning.

This was such an interesting book. Sten sets the creepy tone perfectly and I was utterly convinced that there was a supernatural element throughout most of the title. Well done!

While I was really hyped to read this one, it sort of fell flat. Sometimes I get overexcited about a book, and then I'm super disappointed when it doesn't live up to what I want. It's not a bad book at all. But it wasn't as eerie as maybe I was hoping. It's good. Lots of titillations and moments of WTH, but for me, it wasn't what I thought it was going to be.

3/5 Stars

I kept hearing about this book and decided to go for it. I wasn't a huge fan of it jumping back and forth between past and present as I found it confusing at times.

The story itself was interesting. I really liked the idea of an abandoned town where almost everyone disappeared and no one knows why. The premise of this mystery was what caught my attention.

I was disappointed by the ending and also by how some of the events unfolded.

Rating: 2 out of 5 because it kept my interest until the very end and I didn't really like how all the events unfolded as the story progressed.

A ragtag group of filmmakers try to uncover the truth about the Lost Village, a town where every single resident mysteriously vanished without a trace in the 50s, leaving behind only a newborn baby and a woman discovered stoned to death in the town square. Told in a past/present timeline, the story goes back and forth between Alice in the present and her grandmother Elsa in the 50s with the events leading up to the disappearance.

Short chapters and a possibly haunted abandoned village made this a quick pageturner, but the big reveal (which is easy to see coming) didn't sit right with me: Gitta, a nonverbal young woman who lives alone in a hut after the passing of her mother and is cared for by Elsa and the other residents of the town (in the present day Alice posits that Gitta was autistic), was secretly raped by the new pastor in town which results in her pregnancy. Her mental illness brands her a devil, a witch, someone hellbent on destroying the town. After she gives birth, the baby is taken from her and Gitta is literally hoisted up on a pole in the center of town - scared, bleeding, and confused by what's happening - while hundreds of people throw rocks at her. As for the supernatural element, there was a remaining resident this entire time, decades later. Despite now being in her 70s (???) she's somehow still able to overpower healthy adults in their 20s/30s, easily strangling and murdering members of the group.

I really wanted more from this one than I got. This could have been such a good, creepy read for a rainy day! Instead, it relies on vilifying mental illness and perpetuating stereotypes.

I enjoyed this book! It's very atmospheric. The pacing could have been a little faster but it wasn't so bad that I stopped reading. I enjoyed the dual story lines. The present day characters needed a lot of work. They weren't very likable at all. Based on this book, I would read or listen to more by this author.

**3.5/5 Stars**

Oh goodness. I REALLY wanted to like this book. It had such a fascinating premise. A young woman trying to make it in the film industry decides to return to a village in Sweden where the entire community went missing, with the exception of the filmmaker's grandmother who survived whatever tragedy had befallen everyone else.

Suspense builds slowly in this book, aided by the creepy, chilling ambiance of the scene: an abandoned village. As soon as the crew arrives, it seems as though someone, or something, is in the village, tracking and following the crew's every move. It doesn't help that the crew appears to have come to the village completely unprepared for working in a remote place without internet or cell phone service.

As a field researcher who has worked in remote places, I was slowly losing it throughout the book. I kept yelling at the narrator why didn't you bring this? Don't cross that old, dilapidated bridge with a van! Don't go on hikes by yourself! Go HOME!

Ultimately, I think that's what did this book in for me. The narrator and her crew make so many terrible decisions, which culminates in yet another tragedy. I don't want to give away the ending, but I also do not enjoy books where mental illness is part of a thriller.

Thank you to Minotaur Books, NetGalley, and Camilla Sten for an advanced reader copy of this book.

Wow. This book was incredibly twisty!
Following Alice and friends on the journey to figure out what happened 60 years ago was super mysterious and fully enjoyable. I was craving a little more to the ending but it didn't take away from the whole story.
So good!

This book was SO GOOD for many reasons. It's got the creep factor/horror, the mystery, great characters and the atmusphere is fantastic. It's definitely got those Blair Witch type vibes as this film crew goes to uncover the mystery of almost 900 people dissapearing from this village.

When this small film crew goes to this remote "lost village" they think they are just going to see if they can find out what happened all those years ago, but what they find is so much more and they aren't prepared for the horror that awaits them.

Out of all the missing people, only one was found, a babby. And the story is about to come out.

I could not put this book down, I read far past my bedtime needing to know what happened to all those people. (I've always wanted to be an archaelologist, so this book had ALL my attention). Finding bits a pieces of the story amongst the rubble was so fun and shocking at times. The way the story panned out was just a bunch of fun despite all the craziness happening. It might very well make my tops list for this year.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books and Netgalley for a copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

the first thing that grabbed me on this book was the cover. It is so eerie that I had to request it. It did not disappoint. This book was so atmospherique I loved it. It kept me guessing all along and was very surprising. I loved the setting and the characters, Can't recommend enough.

Hello, yes, hi. *clears throat* Isolationist stories provide the best spooky vibes. No, I will not be taking questions at this time.

For Alice, the mystery of Silvertjarn is her biggest passion. Sixty years ago, all 900 residents of the failing mining town vanished without a trace, with only one corpse left behind. Alice is close to this story because her grandmother grew up in the far-flung village, moving to Stockholm when she was old enough to leave. Her grandmother never found out what happened to her family still in Silvertjarn at the time of the disappearance, but she left behind enough source material for Alice to try and solve the mystery while filming a documentary at the same time.

This was a super quick, thrilling read. I believe it was originally published in Sweden and this translation was fabulous! I did the audiobook in two days and was sucked in from the first chapter. The story is told from three different POVs: the present with Alice and her film crew; letters from her great-aunt living in the village, and in the past with Alice's great-grandmother. I admit I did not expect it to go the way it did plot-wise in the past, but the mystery was so delightful because of it. Likewise, the present storyline was so atmospheric and had me riveted.

Nothing hits quite the same as "there are four of us who came out to this super isolated location with zero cell service, and we're all in this camper ... so who is walking outside?" Ugh, I love stories set in places like this. The scares are truly elevated because of it and the possibilities are endless as to what could be the culprit. Ghosts? Forest monsters? Crazy hermits? This book played into the isolation really well. The entire village is crumbling around them and they are completely cut off from civilization, but someone—something—is here with them.

After getting bogged down with some heavier books that required me to really pay attention, this was an excellent palate cleanser.

This book was great. The ominous feeling throughout is very effective and I cannot wait to read more by Camilla Sten. Super cool and unique horror mystery.

Thank you NetGalley for my copy of this book. My review is unbiased and my own.

I really tried to read this. I made it 25% and put it down, then to 50%, and finally quit for good about three fourths in. I just didn’t care about the characters, I didn’t buy in to the story. Not a win for me.

I actually forgot I had a NetGalley copy of this and spent my own money on the hardcover after seeing an ad on Facebook - the description was that compelling to me.

I would give this 3.5 stars if that was an option. I did overall enjoy it but it lost some steam at some point so it never got to that ‘unputdownable’ stage that other thriller and horror type novels get to. I was fairly pleased with the ending though and while I did figure it out, it was pretty late in the book.

This may sound strange but, this story has a Blair Witch meets Friday the 13th feel to it.

In a long dead town, things get weird when people there to do a documentary start dying.
Why are these people dying? How are these people dying?

Told from two different times - then and now, we learn the history of the town and discover some of the buried secrets.

This story kept me up past my bedtime and well into the wee hours as I wanted to finish and didn’t want to put it down.

Part horror and psychological thriller, The Lost Village was a RIDE. I love ghost hunting shows where they go to abandoned places and try to find the truth of what happened there, and I think that interest played into my enjoyment of The Lost Village. Alice and her crew travel to an abandoned village whose inhabitants mysteriously disappeared a half-century ago, and what they get is a lot more than they bargained for. I loved the spooky and atmospheric air this story has, and its setting in Sweden really lends itself to creating that atmosphere. I thought each of the female characters were incredibly compelling and the conflict between them and within themselves really kept me enraptured with their stories. I thought that Sten did an excellent job capturing the complex spectrum of mental illness, mainly depression, and the impact it can have on a person, their relationships and their communities, and how issues with acceptance from their loved ones and their community, as well as equitable access to resources, can really impact a person's mental health. Sten's writing style got my heart really thumping at times and I honestly felt freaked out by this book, which is a compliment as that is hard to get me to do. A story about how society views women who struggle with mental illness, The Lost Village is a fast-paced thriller that will keep you turning pages until the very end, and I really enjoyed this more than I thought I would.