The Lost Village

A young independent documentary film maker achieves a lifelong dream of visiting what is known as the ghost village of Silvertjarn to carry out some initial filming in preparation for a much bigger project. Alice's family lived in the village and her Grandmother has told her the story of the mass disappearance of the villagers 60 years previously, and the grisly discovery made when the outside world became aware that something had happened to the people of Silvertjarn. Am not going to say anymore about the plot as you need to read and enjoy it.

The story is told through a dual narrative then and now and the tension builds as Alice and her crew of 4 begin to feel unsettled by the atmosphere in the village. The format works well as the tension builds both in the then and now at the same time, leaving you the reader feeling unnerved, especially if you are reading it late at night. This would live happily amongst horror or mystery genres and is most definitely worth reading. I look forward to Camilla Sten's next offering.

Oh this was a dark and cold and awful book that I very much enjoyed reading. I tend to be a touch leery of tag lines like "a mix of Midsommar and Blair Witch" but I can't think of a more apt description myself.

In the wilds of the Swedish wilderness, a lonely, emotionally fragile film maker takes a rag tag crew to scout a mysteriously abandoned village as a location for a chilling documentary. Almost immediately they learn that the village is not exactly abandoned after all.

The very talented Camilla Sten weaves the story of her intrepid and, lets face it, doomed film crew with a tragic and haunting tale of how the lost village became lost and then pulls all the string together in a thrilling and terrible climax.

This was excellent and well worth a read for any fan of slow burn, smart supernatural mysteries with a cast of characters you desperately root for even when you know there's no hope at all. Truly chilling and surprisingly moving, I simply couldn't put it down.

Wow! Interesting story with unexpected twists. The creepiness of the setting and desire to know what happened to the village keeps the reader engaged and wanting to know more.

Wow, wow, wow! This was one of my most anticipated reads for 2021 and it definitely didn't disappoint! I absolutely loved this book - it's just that easy to say! All I can think is that if this is the author's debut, then I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next! If you read the above summary, the premise for me was just irresistible. The comparison on the back of the book to The Blair Witch Project was spot on when it came to the atmosphere that was present throughout this book. I just knew that I needed to pick up this book, and see what in the heck was going on. Let me just say that I was not disappointed in the answers that I got! But what made this book absolutely brilliant for me was the creeping dread that the author built up in this book from the very beginning pages. This book was a slow burn in the best of ways. I am HERE for all of the creepy, slow burns like this so please give me all of your recommendations. Simply put: I need more books like this in my life! One of the things that I really enjoyed about this book was the premise. The idea of an entirely abandoned village was just delightfully creepy to think about. I also really enjoyed the fact that this book was told in two parts. One was in current day with Alice and her crew and the second part was told in the past from the viewpoint of a woman named Elsa. I really liked the way that these two storylines tied together. The feeling of dread that just kept building especially towards the end had me reading as fast as I could. And the ending was perfection in my opinion. It's a month later and I'm still thinking about this book. What a way to start off my year of reading in 2021!

Bottom Line: A standout way to start off my reading year - I would be very surprised not to see this book on my best reads list at the end of 2021!

CW: Murder, abuse, religious elements (hard to explain without spoilers so message me if you need to know more)

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher. Honest thoughts are my own.