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The Lost Village
The Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar in this brilliantly disturbing thriller from Camilla Sten, an electrifying new voice in suspense.
Documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt has been obsessed with the vanishing residents of the old mining town, dubbed “The Lost Village,” since she was a little girl. In 1959, her 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 stoned to death in the town center and an abandoned newborn—have plagued her. She’s gathered a small crew of friends in the remote village to make a film about what really happened.
But there will be no turning back.
Not long after they’ve set up camp, mysterious things begin to happen. Equipment is destroyed. People go missing. As doubt breeds fear and their very minds begin to crack, one thing becomes startlingly clear to Alice:
They are not alone.
They’re looking for the truth…
But what if it finds them first?
Documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt has been obsessed with the vanishing residents of the old mining town, dubbed “The Lost Village,” since she was a little girl. In 1959, her 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 stoned to death in the town center and an abandoned newborn—have plagued her. She’s gathered a small crew of friends in the remote village to make a film about what really happened.
But there will be no turning back.
Not long after they’ve set up camp, mysterious things begin to happen. Equipment is destroyed. People go missing. As doubt breeds fear and their very minds begin to crack, one thing becomes startlingly clear to Alice:
They are not alone.
They’re looking for the truth…
But what if it finds them first?
340 pages, Hardcover
First published April 4, 2019
About the author
Camilla Sten
21 books1,078 followersCamilla Sten is a writer, and her publisher made the mistake of letting her set this author page up by herself. She is best known for her internationally bestselling novel "The Lost Village", which has sold to 19 countries, and has written books ranging from YA fantasy to contemporary thrillers.
Camilla lives in Sweden with her American boyfriend and two fluffy, evil cats. She is quite enjoying talking about herself in the third person, and might keep it going after she's submitted this author bio.
Camilla lives in Sweden with her American boyfriend and two fluffy, evil cats. She is quite enjoying talking about herself in the third person, and might keep it going after she's submitted this author bio.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 4,910 reviews
June 5, 2023
Such a delicious, blood freezing, unputdownable combination: intense, gory, depressingly dark Scandinavian horror elements dances with a story reminds us of Blair Witch Project and Stand ( without apocalypse but insane leader and his batshit worshippers theme)
It is fast paced. It is outstandingly exciting, terrifying paranormal, horror novel that you don’t want to stop reading and you cannot put down even though you forget the iron plugged in and you can smell the smoke coming from your kitchen at the same time.
It was one of my fastest reading. Everything about this book intrigued me: one haunted, abandoned, deserted town named Silvertjarn. Its 877 residents had disappeared into thin air. Nothing has left behind. No corpse, no trace, no next of kin! They have just vanished by leaving so many conspiracy theories behind.
As soon as five members of documentary crew arrived the village, they realize something is wrong with this place. Somebody is watching them. They hear eerie voices including people’s screams, giggles from walkie talkies. The houses left like its occupants can come back at any second.
Alice Lindstedt is the producer and this documentary project is her obsession because it will help her learn more about her ancestors’ pasts.
She was raised by listening her grandmother’s stories about the lost village like dark Grimm fairy tales. The residents including her grandmothers’ parents and sister are still missing and she is adamant to find the truth.
At this abandoned place, only a person has been found at the school building: A little baby. Her parents has been unknown and her name has been changed after adoption but Alice already knows the baby’s identity. She already convinced miracle baby’s daughter Tone to be part of the crew.
And she also hired her old friend, once upon a time her best friend Emmy for her excellent filmmaker skills but she still has second thoughts because of her trust issues. They were estranged because of a tragic event they both have no intention to discuss about. Emmy’s boyfriend Robert and Alice’s friend Max were also other team members to support project.
With limited budget and in only five days, they plan to achieve the impossible and finalize their shots and leave the place as they scheduled but Tone accidentally hurts her leg and she disappears when Emmy leaves her alone to drive somewhere with better reception to talk to her mom call the police if she won’t hear from her.
Where did Tone go? Did somebody kidnap her or was she involved with something more sinister connected with the vanishing of the village?
Wow! Wow! Wow! We’re moving back and forth between 1959 and present to learn more about town’s history, how the village’s people lost their hopes by losing their jobs at the mine and a new pastor’s arrival gave them the false hope they needed and turned them some kind of eerie lunatics.
Ending twist was surprising, pace is heart throbbingly fast and riveting. I’m giving my well deserved 4 stars as a die hard fan of Scandinavian literature!
Get ready to surprise, jump from your seats and enjoy each of your screams! This book was absolutely my favorite cup of chilled Chardonnay!
Soooo much thanks to NetGalley and St. Patrick’s Press / Minatour Books for sharing this incredible Arc with me in exchange my honest opinions.
It is fast paced. It is outstandingly exciting, terrifying paranormal, horror novel that you don’t want to stop reading and you cannot put down even though you forget the iron plugged in and you can smell the smoke coming from your kitchen at the same time.
It was one of my fastest reading. Everything about this book intrigued me: one haunted, abandoned, deserted town named Silvertjarn. Its 877 residents had disappeared into thin air. Nothing has left behind. No corpse, no trace, no next of kin! They have just vanished by leaving so many conspiracy theories behind.
As soon as five members of documentary crew arrived the village, they realize something is wrong with this place. Somebody is watching them. They hear eerie voices including people’s screams, giggles from walkie talkies. The houses left like its occupants can come back at any second.
Alice Lindstedt is the producer and this documentary project is her obsession because it will help her learn more about her ancestors’ pasts.
She was raised by listening her grandmother’s stories about the lost village like dark Grimm fairy tales. The residents including her grandmothers’ parents and sister are still missing and she is adamant to find the truth.
At this abandoned place, only a person has been found at the school building: A little baby. Her parents has been unknown and her name has been changed after adoption but Alice already knows the baby’s identity. She already convinced miracle baby’s daughter Tone to be part of the crew.
And she also hired her old friend, once upon a time her best friend Emmy for her excellent filmmaker skills but she still has second thoughts because of her trust issues. They were estranged because of a tragic event they both have no intention to discuss about. Emmy’s boyfriend Robert and Alice’s friend Max were also other team members to support project.
With limited budget and in only five days, they plan to achieve the impossible and finalize their shots and leave the place as they scheduled but Tone accidentally hurts her leg and she disappears when Emmy leaves her alone to drive somewhere with better reception to talk to her mom call the police if she won’t hear from her.
Where did Tone go? Did somebody kidnap her or was she involved with something more sinister connected with the vanishing of the village?
Wow! Wow! Wow! We’re moving back and forth between 1959 and present to learn more about town’s history, how the village’s people lost their hopes by losing their jobs at the mine and a new pastor’s arrival gave them the false hope they needed and turned them some kind of eerie lunatics.
Ending twist was surprising, pace is heart throbbingly fast and riveting. I’m giving my well deserved 4 stars as a die hard fan of Scandinavian literature!
Get ready to surprise, jump from your seats and enjoy each of your screams! This book was absolutely my favorite cup of chilled Chardonnay!
Soooo much thanks to NetGalley and St. Patrick’s Press / Minatour Books for sharing this incredible Arc with me in exchange my honest opinions.
May 4, 2024
**3.5-stars**
In 1959, all the residents of the defunct mining town of Silvertjarn, Sweden, mysteriously disappeared.
Everyone except for the woman found hanging, stoned to death in the town square, and the squalling infant located in the local school.
For decades, the mystery has remained unsolved.
Aspiring Documentary Filmmaker, Alice Lindstedt, has become obsessed with The Lost Village, as her Grandmother's entire family were among the disappeared. She decides to tackle the mystery as her first solo documentary project.
She plans to travel to the remote village, along with a small crew, to search for the truth of what happened to the residents. She does have some information on the town based on letters from her Grandmother's little sister, Aina.
Together with her friend, Tone, who also has a connection to the village, her ex-best friend, Emmy, an experienced production manager, Emmy's technician and significant other, Robert, and the financial backer of the film, Max, Alice is finally able to reach her destination: Silvertjarn.
The plan is to shoot on location for six days, given that's all the time they have with their rented equipment. The project is low budget to say the least, but could be life-changing for Alice if the documentary is well-received.
The team carries with them just enough supplies to last through the six days. The location is quite remote; they won't be bothered by anyone and should be able to focus and hopefully get enough good footage to kick the project off.
From the very start, the town has an ominous feel. It's creepy being in an abandoned town. The houses and buildings still hold all of the belongings in place like time capsules. It seems the residents got up one day, walked out and never returned.
What could have happened here? All of the crew feel uneasy about the location, but decide to put their heads down and just work through it.
Tension is running high and some bickering ensues. The team seems to be coming apart before they've even started, but Alice is willing to do anything to salvage what time they have left.
Everything begins to spiral rather quickly and soon some of the crew suspect they are not alone in the village.
Together with the present day timeline, we get a past timeline as well, told from the perspective of Alice's Great-Grandmother, Elsa, in the days leading up to the mass disappearance.
This past timeline ultimately concludes with the truth about the town and its dark secrets being revealed.
The Lost Village is an interesting story. While it started out slow for me, it did pick up quite a bit after the halfway point.
I enjoyed the overall mystery of the village and the alternating timelines; although I actually enjoyed the past timeline more.
In the present timeline, the characters and some of their choices were aggravating to me. I found the petty bickering annoying and some of the relationships didn't make sense.
With this being said, it didn't overshadow the other content too much. I was still able to enjoy the journey to the conclusion.
The ending definitely toed the line of eye roll territory for me. I was shaking my head a bit, if I'm being honest.
Overall, though, this story has a lot of strong points. The atmosphere and overarching mystery were both very good; as well as the idea of a documentary film crew trying to unravel the mystery on location. I loved that.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Minotaur Books, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review. I appreciate the opportunity to provide my opinions!
In 1959, all the residents of the defunct mining town of Silvertjarn, Sweden, mysteriously disappeared.
Everyone except for the woman found hanging, stoned to death in the town square, and the squalling infant located in the local school.
For decades, the mystery has remained unsolved.
Aspiring Documentary Filmmaker, Alice Lindstedt, has become obsessed with The Lost Village, as her Grandmother's entire family were among the disappeared. She decides to tackle the mystery as her first solo documentary project.
She plans to travel to the remote village, along with a small crew, to search for the truth of what happened to the residents. She does have some information on the town based on letters from her Grandmother's little sister, Aina.
Together with her friend, Tone, who also has a connection to the village, her ex-best friend, Emmy, an experienced production manager, Emmy's technician and significant other, Robert, and the financial backer of the film, Max, Alice is finally able to reach her destination: Silvertjarn.
The plan is to shoot on location for six days, given that's all the time they have with their rented equipment. The project is low budget to say the least, but could be life-changing for Alice if the documentary is well-received.
The team carries with them just enough supplies to last through the six days. The location is quite remote; they won't be bothered by anyone and should be able to focus and hopefully get enough good footage to kick the project off.
From the very start, the town has an ominous feel. It's creepy being in an abandoned town. The houses and buildings still hold all of the belongings in place like time capsules. It seems the residents got up one day, walked out and never returned.
What could have happened here? All of the crew feel uneasy about the location, but decide to put their heads down and just work through it.
Tension is running high and some bickering ensues. The team seems to be coming apart before they've even started, but Alice is willing to do anything to salvage what time they have left.
Everything begins to spiral rather quickly and soon some of the crew suspect they are not alone in the village.
Together with the present day timeline, we get a past timeline as well, told from the perspective of Alice's Great-Grandmother, Elsa, in the days leading up to the mass disappearance.
This past timeline ultimately concludes with the truth about the town and its dark secrets being revealed.
The Lost Village is an interesting story. While it started out slow for me, it did pick up quite a bit after the halfway point.
I enjoyed the overall mystery of the village and the alternating timelines; although I actually enjoyed the past timeline more.
In the present timeline, the characters and some of their choices were aggravating to me. I found the petty bickering annoying and some of the relationships didn't make sense.
With this being said, it didn't overshadow the other content too much. I was still able to enjoy the journey to the conclusion.
The ending definitely toed the line of eye roll territory for me. I was shaking my head a bit, if I'm being honest.
Overall, though, this story has a lot of strong points. The atmosphere and overarching mystery were both very good; as well as the idea of a documentary film crew trying to unravel the mystery on location. I loved that.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Minotaur Books, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review. I appreciate the opportunity to provide my opinions!
Read
June 14, 2022Whoever wrote the synopsis for this knew what they were doing, marketing it mostly based on other titles, because it really is a book that mirrors so many movies/shows (maybe written with the intention of being adapted? idk but if it gets optioned I will not be shocked). There’s hints of Blair Witch and Midsommar certainly, Midnight Mass too (although I think that came out after this did?), and a plot twist straight out of .
Anyway, The Lost Village is not particularly unique, but still managed to be very enjoyable….up until that bonkers ending. I’m gonna be more generous with my stars though, because I was genuinely afraid while reading last night. Lights on, all my doorways in view, back to the wall type of shit—and who doesn’t love that?
Anyway, The Lost Village is not particularly unique, but still managed to be very enjoyable….up until that bonkers ending. I’m gonna be more generous with my stars though, because I was genuinely afraid while reading last night. Lights on, all my doorways in view, back to the wall type of shit—and who doesn’t love that?
January 18, 2021
The Lost Village claims to follow a film crew making a documentary about a village where all 900 of its inhabitants mysteriously disappeared in the 1950s so I felt a little tricked considering I was looking forward to the doc aspect yet no one ever actually did any filming in the book.
In my opinion, it's the equivalent of a B horror movie - sometimes entertaining but mostly just corny.
In my opinion, it's the equivalent of a B horror movie - sometimes entertaining but mostly just corny.
June 21, 2021
There are some good things about this book, but many other things disappointed me. The premise is amazing, but unfortunately the story just doesn't live up to the premise: In 1959, two men come to a tiny, remote town in Sweden to look for family members they hadn't heard from in a while. They find the town completely deserted, all of the residents have disappeared save one woman dead in the town square and an infant in one of the buildings. Fast forward sixty years and Alice, whose grandmother's family were some of those who disappeared, is making a documentary about the town to attempt to figure out what happened. When she and four crew members travel to "The Lost Village" strange and disturbing things begin to happen to them.
The good: the creepy, gothic atmosphere is extremely well crafted. I could feel the isolation, the cold, the eerie ambiance. The storyline from the past is intriguing and kept my interest as I wondered what had happened to the
The not-so-good: So much of this is just unbelievable. I don't want to give any spoilers, but suffice it to say that when the ultimate reveal occurs I was rolling my eyes saying "huh?"
Leading up to that, there's not much character development. I didn't like Alice at all, even in the end I thought she was unlikable at best. I never got a real sense of the group of people she had culled together to make the film, we get snippets of back story, but none of it feels authentic or fleshed out enough to create the tension between them that the author was going for. And to add to it, the portrayal of mental illness (both in the past and present) was just awful. Mental illness does not equal scary homicidal people. Ugh.
I was just overall really disappointed in the explanation for the disappearances. I felt like I had heard it all before, it didn't seem fresh or inventive and it really could have been!
All that said, there are definitely people who will love this book. If you love horror and creepy foreboding novels, this one has all of that and more. If you aren't like me and pick apart every detail of a book and you just go along for the spooky ride--this book will appeal as well. I know that this book will have many fans, unfortunately it just wasn't for me.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
The good: the creepy, gothic atmosphere is extremely well crafted. I could feel the isolation, the cold, the eerie ambiance. The storyline from the past is intriguing and kept my interest as I wondered what had happened to the
The not-so-good: So much of this is just unbelievable. I don't want to give any spoilers, but suffice it to say that when the ultimate reveal occurs I was rolling my eyes saying "huh?"
Leading up to that, there's not much character development. I didn't like Alice at all, even in the end I thought she was unlikable at best. I never got a real sense of the group of people she had culled together to make the film, we get snippets of back story, but none of it feels authentic or fleshed out enough to create the tension between them that the author was going for. And to add to it, the portrayal of mental illness (both in the past and present) was just awful. Mental illness does not equal scary homicidal people. Ugh.
I was just overall really disappointed in the explanation for the disappearances. I felt like I had heard it all before, it didn't seem fresh or inventive and it really could have been!
All that said, there are definitely people who will love this book. If you love horror and creepy foreboding novels, this one has all of that and more. If you aren't like me and pick apart every detail of a book and you just go along for the spooky ride--this book will appeal as well. I know that this book will have many fans, unfortunately it just wasn't for me.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
September 9, 2020
This book reeled me right in until the very end. I will say I saw a lot of it coming a mile away, but it didn’t take away from the story. The actual story is sad, I mean I was angry and sad and sickened by some things. Although, things like this happen every day. Well, not the creepy lost village but the evilness of asshole people.
I enjoyed the atmosphere, the characters, the edge of your seat and even the stupidity of some things the characters did because I felt like I was watching a scary movie where I yell at everyone!!
The book is not a traditional horror book, more like horrific things happened to innocent people.
* Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for a digital copy of this book.
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
BLOG: https://melissa413readsalot.blogspot....
I enjoyed the atmosphere, the characters, the edge of your seat and even the stupidity of some things the characters did because I felt like I was watching a scary movie where I yell at everyone!!
The book is not a traditional horror book, more like horrific things happened to innocent people.
* Thank you to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for a digital copy of this book.
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
BLOG: https://melissa413readsalot.blogspot....
October 14, 2020
Sometimes you read a book and have a strong opinion and you just need someone to back you up. Is it really this good or this bad? And that is how I came to this one, after a book pal thought this was very bad and needed someone to confirm. I am a good book friend.
I am kind of mad at the Midsommar comp here. A horror novel set in Sweden does not automatically get that comp, and besides the setting and genre they have nothing else in common. So let's make that clear right from the jump. The Blair Witch comp could make sense except somehow these filmmakers never film anything? Sigh.
Usually, if a book starts off already not making sense I know that I should act accordingly. If you already don't make any sense at the very beginning when you should be trying hard to win your reader over, that is a red flag. But I kept reading (for my pal) and sure enough nothing else made any sense either. Five people and two vans full of equipment and they are going to just... stand around and take pictures? They want to make a documentary about this town where everyone disappeared but... they have no actual story and are just hoping they'll randomly stumble across some 50-year-old evidence? It is silly but forgivable, horror has had weirder premises, but nothing else made it worthwhile.
The escalation of tension never worked for me at all. There are lots of the kinds of things that belong in an old Nancy Drew book, like a chapter ending with a blood-curdling scream, only to start the next chapter with a totally boring reason for it. The book can't really decide if it wants to be supernatural or not and instead it just kind of does everything. Our narrator hears and sees strange things but discounts them, somehow both convinced there must be some other presence but never really taking it seriously. The reveals are far too convenient. And the closer you get to the end, the more ridiculous everything gets.
Horror is often about the question of whether something is or isn't supernatural. And when you finally pick one, you run the risk of disappointing readers. You have to lay the foundation for it but not be too obvious. It's a very fine line and there's a reason most horror novels take a turn for the worse at the end. This one has a very bad ending. So bad that I will spoiler tag complain about it.
To top it all off there is some very bad mental health rep here, too.
Let's just forget this happened.
I am kind of mad at the Midsommar comp here. A horror novel set in Sweden does not automatically get that comp, and besides the setting and genre they have nothing else in common. So let's make that clear right from the jump. The Blair Witch comp could make sense except somehow these filmmakers never film anything? Sigh.
Usually, if a book starts off already not making sense I know that I should act accordingly. If you already don't make any sense at the very beginning when you should be trying hard to win your reader over, that is a red flag. But I kept reading (for my pal) and sure enough nothing else made any sense either. Five people and two vans full of equipment and they are going to just... stand around and take pictures? They want to make a documentary about this town where everyone disappeared but... they have no actual story and are just hoping they'll randomly stumble across some 50-year-old evidence? It is silly but forgivable, horror has had weirder premises, but nothing else made it worthwhile.
The escalation of tension never worked for me at all. There are lots of the kinds of things that belong in an old Nancy Drew book, like a chapter ending with a blood-curdling scream, only to start the next chapter with a totally boring reason for it. The book can't really decide if it wants to be supernatural or not and instead it just kind of does everything. Our narrator hears and sees strange things but discounts them, somehow both convinced there must be some other presence but never really taking it seriously. The reveals are far too convenient. And the closer you get to the end, the more ridiculous everything gets.
Horror is often about the question of whether something is or isn't supernatural. And when you finally pick one, you run the risk of disappointing readers. You have to lay the foundation for it but not be too obvious. It's a very fine line and there's a reason most horror novels take a turn for the worse at the end. This one has a very bad ending. So bad that I will spoiler tag complain about it.
To top it all off there is some very bad mental health rep here, too.
Let's just forget this happened.
November 17, 2020
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 was not blown away.
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.
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 was not blown away.
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.
June 29, 2021
The Lost Village by Camilla Sten
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publishing Date: March 23, 2021
In 1959 the police receive an anonymous phone call to find a body of a woman brutally murdered in the center of the town and the entire village with a population of 877 missing without a trace. This town became known as Sweden's "Lost Village".
Fast Forward 60 years: A young documentary film maker (Alice Lindstadt) is taking her small crew to film Sweden's "Lost Village" which has been a lifetime dream of her's since her grandmother was one of the only surviving family members who had moved away shortly before this great mysterious event and had lost her own parents and sister in the mass disappearance. The team will film for only six days due to a slim and stretched budget but Alice is hoping to find some answers to questions that have haunted her throughout her life and hopefully be her breakthrough moment as a real film maker. Desolation is what they find and from the first day eerie sounds and shadows everywhere seem to be watching and waiting. Then one of the crew gets injured but Alice refuses to shutdown the filming and this will become a fatal mistake for one of more of the crew while they are relentlessly stalked by an unknown entity that seems determined to stop them from leaving this village of horrors!
This was a deliciously sinister and creepy story that had a haunting atmosphere and storyline. The storytelling put my nerves on edge and the spooky tension I would feel at times was just chill inducing. The author did a terrific job with intertwining the past with the present and I just yearned to know more about the history of this community and it's people. I hope Camilla Sten will continue to write more books about horror or dark thrillers because she certainly has created a winner with this one and I highly recommend to any reader who enjoys a good horror story not to miss out on this unusual, spooky and clever book.
I want to thank the author "Camilla Sten", the publisher "St. Martin's Press" and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this terrific book and any thoughts and opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!
I am looking forward to reading more of Camilla Sten's books and I have given a rating of 4 1/2 Spooky 🌟🌟🌟🌟✴ Stars!!
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publishing Date: March 23, 2021
In 1959 the police receive an anonymous phone call to find a body of a woman brutally murdered in the center of the town and the entire village with a population of 877 missing without a trace. This town became known as Sweden's "Lost Village".
Fast Forward 60 years: A young documentary film maker (Alice Lindstadt) is taking her small crew to film Sweden's "Lost Village" which has been a lifetime dream of her's since her grandmother was one of the only surviving family members who had moved away shortly before this great mysterious event and had lost her own parents and sister in the mass disappearance. The team will film for only six days due to a slim and stretched budget but Alice is hoping to find some answers to questions that have haunted her throughout her life and hopefully be her breakthrough moment as a real film maker. Desolation is what they find and from the first day eerie sounds and shadows everywhere seem to be watching and waiting. Then one of the crew gets injured but Alice refuses to shutdown the filming and this will become a fatal mistake for one of more of the crew while they are relentlessly stalked by an unknown entity that seems determined to stop them from leaving this village of horrors!
This was a deliciously sinister and creepy story that had a haunting atmosphere and storyline. The storytelling put my nerves on edge and the spooky tension I would feel at times was just chill inducing. The author did a terrific job with intertwining the past with the present and I just yearned to know more about the history of this community and it's people. I hope Camilla Sten will continue to write more books about horror or dark thrillers because she certainly has created a winner with this one and I highly recommend to any reader who enjoys a good horror story not to miss out on this unusual, spooky and clever book.
I want to thank the author "Camilla Sten", the publisher "St. Martin's Press" and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this terrific book and any thoughts and opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!
I am looking forward to reading more of Camilla Sten's books and I have given a rating of 4 1/2 Spooky 🌟🌟🌟🌟✴ Stars!!
May 26, 2024
Die Geschichte hatte vieles, das ich mochte. Die Atmosphäre war düster, unheimlich und geheimnisvoll.
Ein ganzes Grubendorf verschwand vor 60 Jahren spurlos. Alice´ Großmutter hatte den Ort kurz zuvor verlassen. Nun kehrt Alice "zurück", um einen Dokumentarfilm über das verlassene Dorf zu schreiben.
Es wird abwechselnd erzählt. Mal sind wir in der Gegenwart, mal in der Vergangenheit. So erschließt sich dem Leser nach und nach, was damals passiert ist.
Und auch Alice und ihre Filmcrew sind nicht sicher...
Ich fand es sehr spannend und unterhaltsam, wobei die Spannung eher unterschwellig war, aber für mich doch immer vorhanden.
Ein ganzes Grubendorf verschwand vor 60 Jahren spurlos. Alice´ Großmutter hatte den Ort kurz zuvor verlassen. Nun kehrt Alice "zurück", um einen Dokumentarfilm über das verlassene Dorf zu schreiben.
Es wird abwechselnd erzählt. Mal sind wir in der Gegenwart, mal in der Vergangenheit. So erschließt sich dem Leser nach und nach, was damals passiert ist.
Und auch Alice und ihre Filmcrew sind nicht sicher...
Ich fand es sehr spannend und unterhaltsam, wobei die Spannung eher unterschwellig war, aber für mich doch immer vorhanden.
November 16, 2023
Reviews claimed this one to be an intense eery horror/thriller, but it's just a mediocre "B-movie-style" story where characters die because of their own bad choices and arrogance.
The only thing that kept me reading was a question "Where everybody disappeared?". Luckily author decided not to play with reader's expectations and gave very clear ending with all the questions answered.
So, the novel is quite atmospheric and intriguing but not in a scary way.
The only thing that kept me reading was a question "Where everybody disappeared?". Luckily author decided not to play with reader's expectations and gave very clear ending with all the questions answered.
So, the novel is quite atmospheric and intriguing but not in a scary way.
January 30, 2021
3.5. I have long held a fascination for ghost towns, deserted places and haunted hotels. When we took family vacations we would search out these places. One of my favorites was a trip to Jericho, AZ, we stayed at a hotel that was once a sanitarium. It has an interesting history, and though we neither saw nor heard haunted spirits, the place itself had a spooky vibe.
Sweden 1959, an entire village goes missing. Receiving an anonymous call, the police arrive to find a dead woman in the town square and a baby crying in a deserted schoolroom. The rest of the village residents had vanished, no other clues ever found.
Fast forward to the present, and Alice, a documentary film maker sets out with a small team and limited budget to try to solve the mystery. Her grandmother lost her whole family when those in the town disappeared. Arriving in the town, they soon feel as if they are being watched. Why they find here will tax the imagination and expose them to many revealed secrets and outright horrors.
Creepy atmosphere, characters with hidden secrets and an intriguing mystery. The US edition publishes in February but this would make an excellent Halloween read. Reading it in Winters chill wasn't bad either. Just scary enough.
ARC from Edelweiss.
Sweden 1959, an entire village goes missing. Receiving an anonymous call, the police arrive to find a dead woman in the town square and a baby crying in a deserted schoolroom. The rest of the village residents had vanished, no other clues ever found.
Fast forward to the present, and Alice, a documentary film maker sets out with a small team and limited budget to try to solve the mystery. Her grandmother lost her whole family when those in the town disappeared. Arriving in the town, they soon feel as if they are being watched. Why they find here will tax the imagination and expose them to many revealed secrets and outright horrors.
Creepy atmosphere, characters with hidden secrets and an intriguing mystery. The US edition publishes in February but this would make an excellent Halloween read. Reading it in Winters chill wasn't bad either. Just scary enough.
ARC from Edelweiss.
August 26, 2020
In 1959 a small village of 900 people in Sweden completely vanished and the mystery has never been solved.
Today, Alice, a documentary filmmaker returns to the site to see if her and her crew can find any clues as to what happened all those years ago.
Once they arrive it becomes clear that while this place is deserted they are certainly not alone.
I can't even tell you all how excited I was to receive this arc so it is with disappointment to say that this didn't quite meet my expectations. This is NOT a bad book at all. I think many people are going to love this eerie story. For me, this lacked the character development needed in order for me to care about what was happening to them. The characters were all so flat and uninteresting that I just couldn't get fully invested. I was curious as to what happened to the village all those years ago and that did compel me to keep turning those pages but the final denouement was just meh. I'm not sure what I wanted from the ending but it wasn't what I got. The epilogue tried to answer the questions I had but I still found it completely unbelievable. 3 stars!
Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Today, Alice, a documentary filmmaker returns to the site to see if her and her crew can find any clues as to what happened all those years ago.
Once they arrive it becomes clear that while this place is deserted they are certainly not alone.
I can't even tell you all how excited I was to receive this arc so it is with disappointment to say that this didn't quite meet my expectations. This is NOT a bad book at all. I think many people are going to love this eerie story. For me, this lacked the character development needed in order for me to care about what was happening to them. The characters were all so flat and uninteresting that I just couldn't get fully invested. I was curious as to what happened to the village all those years ago and that did compel me to keep turning those pages but the final denouement was just meh. I'm not sure what I wanted from the ending but it wasn't what I got. The epilogue tried to answer the questions I had but I still found it completely unbelievable. 3 stars!
Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.
October 18, 2023
My thanks to St. Martin's/Minataur books, Camilla Sten and Netgalley. Believe it or not, I really loved this book! I know that a 3 star rating may not reflect that..but. I loved the setting, and the mystery. Just what I'm the heck happened here? I'm one of those people who love flashbacks, and multiple character's. So far, so good! If it weren't for the fact that I mostly read reclining in bed or on the couch, I'd have been on the edge of my seat! Unfortunately, I was expecting more. Much more! I had a few ways that I thought this story should go. I kept expecting more nail biting scenes. Heck, my imagination scared me more than what was actually happening. Not to say that I was disappointed! Like I said..I loved this. I liked it so much that I went on Amazon, kindle to see what else I could buy and read! Bummer. It seems this is her only translated "to English" book. Still, I'll be waiting for more! Sweden is oddly one of my favorite book places! I totally blame that on John Ajvide Lindqvist! 3 1/2 stars.
September 13, 2021
4.5 Stars ⭐️ Thank you NetGalley and St Patrick’s Press/ Minatour Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my opinion.
This book was a thrill to read but scared me to death. It is comparable to the Blair Witch Project, but it has more substance and plot. The suspense began at a young age for filmmaker Alice when she heard stories from her grandmother about the disappearance of her whole family in an old mining town. One family member was found stoned to death in the middle of town as if a witch hunt had occurred. A newborn baby was also found abandoned in a building. If that’s not enough, imagine the setting of The Lost Village in an old mining town with the feel of eeriness and ghosts of the past.
When Alice delves into the mystery with friends, one with a connection to it all, people begin to disappear, as well as their video equipment destroyed. Someone or thing tried to put a stop to their investigation.
Get ready for a disturbing thriller that will keep you on edge at night. Good job, Camilla Sten.
This book was a thrill to read but scared me to death. It is comparable to the Blair Witch Project, but it has more substance and plot. The suspense began at a young age for filmmaker Alice when she heard stories from her grandmother about the disappearance of her whole family in an old mining town. One family member was found stoned to death in the middle of town as if a witch hunt had occurred. A newborn baby was also found abandoned in a building. If that’s not enough, imagine the setting of The Lost Village in an old mining town with the feel of eeriness and ghosts of the past.
When Alice delves into the mystery with friends, one with a connection to it all, people begin to disappear, as well as their video equipment destroyed. Someone or thing tried to put a stop to their investigation.
Get ready for a disturbing thriller that will keep you on edge at night. Good job, Camilla Sten.
September 14, 2020
Has a supernatural feel without actually being supernatural. Which could be considered a similar style to Riley Sager. Unfortunately it wasn't scary or suspenseful enough to pull it off like Sager does. It needs a lot more tension and dramatic moments. The writing didn't create enough of that in my opinion. It was ultimately anti-climatic.
Interesting take on the ending. I didn't see that coming, however I wasn't completely entertained by it either. But it was consistent with the tone of the whole book. I do appreciate the transparency of the story.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press via NetGalley for providing the digital review copy.
Interesting take on the ending. I didn't see that coming, however I wasn't completely entertained by it either. But it was consistent with the tone of the whole book. I do appreciate the transparency of the story.
Thank you to St. Martin's Press via NetGalley for providing the digital review copy.
May 25, 2021
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The blurb compares this to The Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar. I actually think a better pairing would be The Night Film meets American Gothic. THE LOST VILLAGE is about a documentarian named Alice who wants to create a project revolving around the abandoned mining town, Silvertjarn. But Silvertjarn is different than other ghost towns: things changed mysteriously after the arrival of a charismatic preacher and then all the townsfolk disappeared at once.
Alice goes to Silvertjarn with her crew: Emmy, Robert, Max, and Tone. The town is eerie, the perfect setting for a creepy documentary. But pretty soon, things start to get weird. Mysterious figures watching them in the rain. Equipment going missing. Vehicles blowing up. Disappearances. When one of the crew goes missing, it starts to look like the project might be more dangerous than even Alice ever thought.
THE LOST VILLAGE is a dual timeline mystery. The present tense is narrated by Alice. The past parts are narrated by Alice's great-grandmother, Elsa, who grew up in and lived in the town. This allows for the gradual dissemination of knowledge through the mediums of two unreliable narrators, neither of whom have a complete set of information at their disposal.
It took me a while to get involved in the book. It moved very slowly and at first it seemed like it might be the type of book to have a silly ending. But I stuck with it because I was curious and I'm really glad I did. Elsa's POV was the slowest but ended up being quite chilling. And Alice's POV became even more compelling as she began to question her own sanity and reality. If you enjoy slower-paced mysteries with dual timelines, I think you'll really enjoy THE LOST VILLAGE. Especially if you also like cold Scandinavian settings and the gradual unwinding of dark family secrets.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!
3.5 to 4 stars
February 8, 2021
I’m usually not a fan of horror, but the summary of this book drew me in. Alice envisions a documentary about the village where her grandmother grew up. A village where all 900 residents, save two, disappeared in 1959. One of those two had been stoned to death and the other was a baby. She and her team turn up in the present day village to film a quick trailer, hoping to raise the money necessary for the full documentary. It doesn’t take long for things to start going very wrong. There’s a definite sense that they’re not alone. I have to laugh that at times, this reminded me of the GEICO commercial (why can’t we just get in the running car?). Some of the team’s decisions seemed idiotic.
The story alternates segments between the Then and the Now. We are given the story of the lead up to the disappearance. We learn of the new minister to the community and how he drew in the congregation. The Then segments were much more interesting than the Now, because they were written more like a psychological thriller. The Now segments lacked the suspense and tension needed for a good horror story. And the ending failed to wow me.
My thanks to netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book
The story alternates segments between the Then and the Now. We are given the story of the lead up to the disappearance. We learn of the new minister to the community and how he drew in the congregation. The Then segments were much more interesting than the Now, because they were written more like a psychological thriller. The Now segments lacked the suspense and tension needed for a good horror story. And the ending failed to wow me.
My thanks to netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this book
May 13, 2021
So many wasted opportunities with this book. I started as a 3 star review, but every time I started to think about it, I dropped it another star.
The premise was really great, but the author really failed to deliver on it. The story was extremely predictable and most of the characters were idiots. The ending was completely unbelievable. I could forgive that if it were a good ending, but it wound up being boring, on top of unbelievable.
My other big problem with the book were the points of view. You switch from Now with Alice and her documentary team and Then which features Alice's great grandmother leading up to the disappearance. There were also letters from Alice's great-aunt to her grandmother that kept showing up in the Now section. The letters and the Then section get pretty redundant. There was nothing in the Then chapters that really added to the story. The few times where they were worthwhile, they easily could have been included in one of the many letters that show up.
There's going to be spoilers beyond this point.
Any time I really don't like the main character, I know I'm going to have issues with the book. Alice graduated from film school, but doesn't seem to have the slightest idea how to organize the whole scouting trip. This is a project she's been planning for most of her life, but she's still completely clueless. Emmy seems to be barely paying attention and she still has a better idea of what needs to be done than Alice.
Then there's the whole thing with Alice not being able to raise money for the documentary. First, it's pretty unbelievable that there haven't already been 50 documentaries done about this disappearance. Over 800 people went missing, that's a huge deal and would be heavily talked about. There should be multiple documentaries and a million podcasts talking about this. They attribute the lack of prior documentaries to be it "being hard to get to." Do helicopters not exist in Sweden? They camp out in the town square which would be a great place to land one. All this aside, they should have been able to easily raise the money on Kickstarter. Do a few Reddit posts to drum up interest and this thing would have been funded in no time.
The disappearance and the Then chapters take place in 1959, but it feel more like it should be 1899. I feel like the Amish have more up to date technology than what was found in this town.
There's a whole sub plot where one of the characters goes off her meds and they think she's gone full psycho and starts murdering people. I'm no doctor, but that whole sub-plot was obviously stupid. Keep in mind that the character was off their meds for somewhere around 18 hours and it gets even dumber.
The ending was what really killed the book for me. What a shocker! The 800+ people that disappeared from the mining town were in the mine. Shouldn't that have been the very first place anyone looked?? Then, Aina manages to survive on her own for 50 years despite having zero survival skills. They mention that she was scavenging from houses at the beginning but never explain where she got her food once everything ran out. Then, this undernourished senior citizen manages to overpower and kill multiple people in the prime of their life. If they were going to go the bonkers route, they could at least have had the villagers survive and living in the mine all this time and have their blind, albino cave spawn be the ones stalking and killing the group. No one should have survived either. When you have people investigating a mass disappearance and the cavalry has already been called, then there shouldn't be any survivors. It would have been a much better ending to have the police show up and find no survivors and no bodies (well, maybe one, just to keep them on their toes) and add to the mysteries of the town.
The premise was really great, but the author really failed to deliver on it. The story was extremely predictable and most of the characters were idiots. The ending was completely unbelievable. I could forgive that if it were a good ending, but it wound up being boring, on top of unbelievable.
My other big problem with the book were the points of view. You switch from Now with Alice and her documentary team and Then which features Alice's great grandmother leading up to the disappearance. There were also letters from Alice's great-aunt to her grandmother that kept showing up in the Now section. The letters and the Then section get pretty redundant. There was nothing in the Then chapters that really added to the story. The few times where they were worthwhile, they easily could have been included in one of the many letters that show up.
There's going to be spoilers beyond this point.
Any time I really don't like the main character, I know I'm going to have issues with the book. Alice graduated from film school, but doesn't seem to have the slightest idea how to organize the whole scouting trip. This is a project she's been planning for most of her life, but she's still completely clueless. Emmy seems to be barely paying attention and she still has a better idea of what needs to be done than Alice.
Then there's the whole thing with Alice not being able to raise money for the documentary. First, it's pretty unbelievable that there haven't already been 50 documentaries done about this disappearance. Over 800 people went missing, that's a huge deal and would be heavily talked about. There should be multiple documentaries and a million podcasts talking about this. They attribute the lack of prior documentaries to be it "being hard to get to." Do helicopters not exist in Sweden? They camp out in the town square which would be a great place to land one. All this aside, they should have been able to easily raise the money on Kickstarter. Do a few Reddit posts to drum up interest and this thing would have been funded in no time.
The disappearance and the Then chapters take place in 1959, but it feel more like it should be 1899. I feel like the Amish have more up to date technology than what was found in this town.
There's a whole sub plot where one of the characters goes off her meds and they think she's gone full psycho and starts murdering people. I'm no doctor, but that whole sub-plot was obviously stupid. Keep in mind that the character was off their meds for somewhere around 18 hours and it gets even dumber.
The ending was what really killed the book for me. What a shocker! The 800+ people that disappeared from the mining town were in the mine. Shouldn't that have been the very first place anyone looked?? Then, Aina manages to survive on her own for 50 years despite having zero survival skills. They mention that she was scavenging from houses at the beginning but never explain where she got her food once everything ran out. Then, this undernourished senior citizen manages to overpower and kill multiple people in the prime of their life. If they were going to go the bonkers route, they could at least have had the villagers survive and living in the mine all this time and have their blind, albino cave spawn be the ones stalking and killing the group. No one should have survived either. When you have people investigating a mass disappearance and the cavalry has already been called, then there shouldn't be any survivors. It would have been a much better ending to have the police show up and find no survivors and no bodies (well, maybe one, just to keep them on their toes) and add to the mysteries of the town.
May 9, 2021
I was lured by the premise of The Lost Village: Alice and a small group of documentary filmmakers gather in a remote village where 900 inhabitants, except for a woman who was stoned to death and an abandoned newborn, went missing back in 1959.
The book was split into two timelines: 1959 and present day. I thoroughly enjoyed the 1959 storyline. Elsa made for a logical and empathic heroine as she watches the vulnerable townspeople of Silvertjarn fall under the spell of their newest pastor. This timeline was gripping, and it compelled me to keep going to discover Elsa's ultimate fate.
The present day storyline, though, is what lost me. The tagline promised "The Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar". This is highly inaccurate since there was actual filmmaking in the Blair Witch and there was none here. The characters were unlikeable. Alice wallowed in passive-aggressive anger and self-pity, Emmy was mean-spirited and catty, and don't even get me started on the creepiness of gross Max. They ran around in circles in the most pointless plot I've ever read until it finally closed on a ridiculous end. There was literally nothing redeeming about this timeline.
Overall, I enjoyed half of the book and disliked the other. So 3 stars, I guess. Honestly, I'm just glad it's over.
The book was split into two timelines: 1959 and present day. I thoroughly enjoyed the 1959 storyline. Elsa made for a logical and empathic heroine as she watches the vulnerable townspeople of Silvertjarn fall under the spell of their newest pastor. This timeline was gripping, and it compelled me to keep going to discover Elsa's ultimate fate.
The present day storyline, though, is what lost me. The tagline promised "The Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar". This is highly inaccurate since there was actual filmmaking in the Blair Witch and there was none here. The characters were unlikeable. Alice wallowed in passive-aggressive anger and self-pity, Emmy was mean-spirited and catty, and don't even get me started on the creepiness of gross Max. They ran around in circles in the most pointless plot I've ever read until it finally closed on a ridiculous end. There was literally nothing redeeming about this timeline.
Overall, I enjoyed half of the book and disliked the other. So 3 stars, I guess. Honestly, I'm just glad it's over.
March 23, 2021
Alice Lindstedt had always been fascinated by her grandmother’s tales of the ghost village of Silvertjarn, a small mining town in Sweden. Her grandmother grew up there but married and moved away from her parents’ home. In 1959 the village was found to have been suddenly and inexplicably deserted by the nine hundred people who lived there. Only a dead woman found in the town square and a newborn baby girl in the schoolhouse remained behind.
Now a documentary film producer, Alice has raised some funding to make a documentary on Silvertjarn and has assembled a team for a five day scouting party to film some initial promotional material in the remote and isolated village. When they arrive in Silvertjarn everyone feels the spookiness of the deserted buildings and almost immediately, mysterious things start to happen, putting everyone on edge.
Alice is also beginning to regret hiring her old classmate Emmy to film the documentary. They were best friends at one time, but the friendship ended badly and it’s clear they’re not going to get alone well. However, Emmy is a brilliant filmmaker and Alice knows she is lucky to have hired her, even if they have trouble trusting each other now. Alice herself seems to be quite a fragile character, annoyingly naïve at times and not always making the best decisions. Another member of the crew is also behaving oddly and has secrets Alice has kept from the others that may impact their ability to carry out their original plans.
The events leading up to the desertion of the village and the current day exploration of the village by the film crew are told in intertwining threads, leading up to the discovery of what really happened in 1959. The historical narrative describing the desertion of the village was the more interesting of the threads with the closing of the mine at Silvertjarn in 1959, the arrival of a new charismatic pastor and the identity of the dead woman all vital factors in the escalation of events that sealed the fate of the village. However, the gradual development of the changes in the villagers that led to their final actions was inferred rather than shown and it would have been good to see more of how this came about.
Although the present day events were often creepy, they often seemed almost predictable with the team not following the basic rules of exploring old buildings. Incidents tended to happen suddenly before much of a build up in suspense, such that the atmospheric tension associated with a horror story was never quite achieved. Nevertheless, an original premise with the haunting setting of a decaying, isolated village makes for a dark and intriguing tale. 3.5★
Thanks to St Martin’s Press and Netgalley for a copy to read. Expected publication 23rd March. Original review posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine
Now a documentary film producer, Alice has raised some funding to make a documentary on Silvertjarn and has assembled a team for a five day scouting party to film some initial promotional material in the remote and isolated village. When they arrive in Silvertjarn everyone feels the spookiness of the deserted buildings and almost immediately, mysterious things start to happen, putting everyone on edge.
Alice is also beginning to regret hiring her old classmate Emmy to film the documentary. They were best friends at one time, but the friendship ended badly and it’s clear they’re not going to get alone well. However, Emmy is a brilliant filmmaker and Alice knows she is lucky to have hired her, even if they have trouble trusting each other now. Alice herself seems to be quite a fragile character, annoyingly naïve at times and not always making the best decisions. Another member of the crew is also behaving oddly and has secrets Alice has kept from the others that may impact their ability to carry out their original plans.
The events leading up to the desertion of the village and the current day exploration of the village by the film crew are told in intertwining threads, leading up to the discovery of what really happened in 1959. The historical narrative describing the desertion of the village was the more interesting of the threads with the closing of the mine at Silvertjarn in 1959, the arrival of a new charismatic pastor and the identity of the dead woman all vital factors in the escalation of events that sealed the fate of the village. However, the gradual development of the changes in the villagers that led to their final actions was inferred rather than shown and it would have been good to see more of how this came about.
Although the present day events were often creepy, they often seemed almost predictable with the team not following the basic rules of exploring old buildings. Incidents tended to happen suddenly before much of a build up in suspense, such that the atmospheric tension associated with a horror story was never quite achieved. Nevertheless, an original premise with the haunting setting of a decaying, isolated village makes for a dark and intriguing tale. 3.5★
Thanks to St Martin’s Press and Netgalley for a copy to read. Expected publication 23rd March. Original review posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine
May 31, 2024
Surreptitious!
Why was this book identified as a horror story? More of the mystery and suspense genre.
Alice wants to make a documentary about a real-life mystery that occurred in her grandmother’s childhood village. One day, out of the blue, nearly a thousand people disappear.
Nobody knows whatever became of them. After all, they did attempt a desultory search for the inhabitants. All they found was a mysterious baby. Wonder how it was able to survive?
The book is what I would call a time traveler. It flashes back-and-forth from the past to the future and vice versa.
The villagers problems begin when the mine closes down and most everyone is out of work.
Some of the villagers leave to find work in other towns. Others pray for a savior to come and save them. And just like in the old westerns...He arrives to replace their drunken priest, and the town will never be the same.
Three stars. ✨✨✨
Why was this book identified as a horror story? More of the mystery and suspense genre.
Alice wants to make a documentary about a real-life mystery that occurred in her grandmother’s childhood village. One day, out of the blue, nearly a thousand people disappear.
Nobody knows whatever became of them. After all, they did attempt a desultory search for the inhabitants. All they found was a mysterious baby. Wonder how it was able to survive?
The book is what I would call a time traveler. It flashes back-and-forth from the past to the future and vice versa.
The villagers problems begin when the mine closes down and most everyone is out of work.
Some of the villagers leave to find work in other towns. Others pray for a savior to come and save them. And just like in the old westerns...He arrives to replace their drunken priest, and the town will never be the same.
Three stars. ✨✨✨
March 21, 2021
Boy, I'm really striking out with Minotaur books this year. It pains me to say this, but this was not very good. I think the author shows promise so I wouldn't completely wipe her off my list, but I can't say I would really recommend this to anyone. I feel awful saying that, but that is the truth.
Full RTC.
Publication Date: 03/23/21
Full RTC.
Publication Date: 03/23/21
April 26, 2022
This book had a really great premise, and the first 50% was good and spooky. Loved it. Then everything went downhill.
The fact is, the author drops so many big glaring hints throughout the book that it's pretty easy to figure out what's going on. I'm talking clues so easy that readers of Slylock Fox would think it's for morons. The entire mystery hinges on the fact that nobody, not tons of police officers or the families of the missing over decades and decades, bothered to, say open a file cabinet or look on top of a desk to see the papers written there. And we're not talking secret well-hidden papers, we're literally talking the first page on a stack of papers on a desk here. Over 900 people have gone missing and they didn't read what people wrote? Dumb.
Are you seriously telling me that the police, social workers, no one else would have checked there? Also, the main heroes "investigating" all fail to notice that
I would sat about 70% of the mystery and conflict in the book is because the narrator refuses to tell people things that she has discovered for no reason. She has no reason not to trust people or to say, "I saw someone." but she keeps her mouth shut with literally no explanation given as to why.
Another problem is at the beginning of the book it's stated over and over that
Anyway, nice premise of a book that ends up being just another thriller that relies on everyone involved being really stupid to work. To top it off, the characters were so boring and underdeveloped that I really didn't care if they lived or died.
The fact is, the author drops so many big glaring hints throughout the book that it's pretty easy to figure out what's going on. I'm talking clues so easy that readers of Slylock Fox would think it's for morons. The entire mystery hinges on the fact that nobody, not tons of police officers or the families of the missing over decades and decades, bothered to, say open a file cabinet or look on top of a desk to see the papers written there. And we're not talking secret well-hidden papers, we're literally talking the first page on a stack of papers on a desk here. Over 900 people have gone missing and they didn't read what people wrote? Dumb.
Are you seriously telling me that the police, social workers, no one else would have checked there? Also, the main heroes "investigating" all fail to notice that
I would sat about 70% of the mystery and conflict in the book is because the narrator refuses to tell people things that she has discovered for no reason. She has no reason not to trust people or to say, "I saw someone." but she keeps her mouth shut with literally no explanation given as to why.
Another problem is at the beginning of the book it's stated over and over that
Anyway, nice premise of a book that ends up being just another thriller that relies on everyone involved being really stupid to work. To top it off, the characters were so boring and underdeveloped that I really didn't care if they lived or died.
April 8, 2021
5/5 stars for this haunting Swedish suspense novel! Camilla Sten's outstanding psychological suspense novel The Lost Village was my first 5/5 star read of 2021 - I absolutely loved this horror movie-worthy story! As we know, I'm a massive fan of Scandinavian suspense novels and of scary movies, and The Lost Village was a pitch-perfect combination of two of my favorite things. This book has a plot worthy of a horror movie (a documentary filmmaker and her crew travel to an abandoned village and discover it's not quite as abandoned as they thought), a masterfully-handled dual timeline, and a cast of engaging characters. This is definitely more of a subtle/slow-burning suspense story, but that style of crime novel works really well for me, and I loved this one!
Catch my full review on the CBTB blog! http://crimebythebook.com/blog/2021/3...
Catch my full review on the CBTB blog! http://crimebythebook.com/blog/2021/3...
March 24, 2021
2.5 stars
I was slightly disappointed, but this is only due to my high expectations and predictable ending. The premise was so fascinating and I ate it up. I really enjoy creepy villages with unexplained occurrences. This makes for an excellent horror. This book, however, was not straight-up horror, but the feeling of unease creeps up on you and you're left with so many questions plaguing your mind. Was it something supernatural? Was there a logical reason?
Judging from the blurb, I assumed we were going to get the documentary aspect of the mystery. We got none of that. Instead, we follow the characters running around confused.
The Lost Village was told in two timelines, "Now" and "Then". I found this to be written really well but towards the end of the novel, the time jumps got too frequent that it took me out of the story. As soon as I was getting into one timeline, the next chapter would jump back. It was disorientating.
The characters were not that likable and I found Alice to be very impulsive. I had wished the characters were more fleshed out because they were all complex and interesting. Sadly, I did not care for them throughout the whole novel.
Overall, this was a spooky read, perfect for fans who enjoy fast-paced narratives and ghost towns. Unfortunately, it wasn't for me.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I was slightly disappointed, but this is only due to my high expectations and predictable ending. The premise was so fascinating and I ate it up. I really enjoy creepy villages with unexplained occurrences. This makes for an excellent horror. This book, however, was not straight-up horror, but the feeling of unease creeps up on you and you're left with so many questions plaguing your mind. Was it something supernatural? Was there a logical reason?
Judging from the blurb, I assumed we were going to get the documentary aspect of the mystery. We got none of that. Instead, we follow the characters running around confused.
The Lost Village was told in two timelines, "Now" and "Then". I found this to be written really well but towards the end of the novel, the time jumps got too frequent that it took me out of the story. As soon as I was getting into one timeline, the next chapter would jump back. It was disorientating.
The characters were not that likable and I found Alice to be very impulsive. I had wished the characters were more fleshed out because they were all complex and interesting. Sadly, I did not care for them throughout the whole novel.
Overall, this was a spooky read, perfect for fans who enjoy fast-paced narratives and ghost towns. Unfortunately, it wasn't for me.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
March 1, 2021
Review published in: https://diagnosisbookaholic.blogspot....
When I first read the synopsis of "The lost village" the first thing that came to mind was "The Blair Witch Project". Then I learnt that the author is the daughter of one of my favorite nordic authors, Viveca Sten, so with those two pieces of info I just knew I had to read this.
In 1959 hundreds of people disappeared from a small Swedish town. Left behind were only a newborn and the body of a dead woman. Nowadays, a film documentary crew goes back to that town to try and find out what happened there 60 years ago, but soon after their arrival it comes clear they may not be all alone there.
This book grabbed me right from page one. The initial scene was quite spine-chilling and that tone was kept all throughout the story. The easy writing and that creepy atmosphere had me turning pages quite fast! At first the story unfolded in a slow burning mode, but the combo of past and present lines helped me to not lose interest at any moment. Once the strange happenings began pace picked up a lot, leading to the unveiling of what happened in 1959.
I would have liked a bit more development in the 1959 time line and its characters. Most of what we learn from that time is through letters, but we don't get to witness first hand how and why the town's people behave like they did.
The present line was filled with a foreboding feeling that something bad was about to happen at any given time. All the characters were pretty flawed, but despite their faults I could not help to feel some sympathy for them, especially Alice.
Part of the ending was a complete surprise and it never crossed my mind, in part cause I'm not sure how truly believable was the villain's choice. I like when "supernatural" things have an earthly explanation, so that part of the resolution was satisfying enough.
Really entertaining mix of nordic noir and gothic horror. I will surely keep an eye out for the author's next book.
When I first read the synopsis of "The lost village" the first thing that came to mind was "The Blair Witch Project". Then I learnt that the author is the daughter of one of my favorite nordic authors, Viveca Sten, so with those two pieces of info I just knew I had to read this.
In 1959 hundreds of people disappeared from a small Swedish town. Left behind were only a newborn and the body of a dead woman. Nowadays, a film documentary crew goes back to that town to try and find out what happened there 60 years ago, but soon after their arrival it comes clear they may not be all alone there.
This book grabbed me right from page one. The initial scene was quite spine-chilling and that tone was kept all throughout the story. The easy writing and that creepy atmosphere had me turning pages quite fast! At first the story unfolded in a slow burning mode, but the combo of past and present lines helped me to not lose interest at any moment. Once the strange happenings began pace picked up a lot, leading to the unveiling of what happened in 1959.
I would have liked a bit more development in the 1959 time line and its characters. Most of what we learn from that time is through letters, but we don't get to witness first hand how and why the town's people behave like they did.
The present line was filled with a foreboding feeling that something bad was about to happen at any given time. All the characters were pretty flawed, but despite their faults I could not help to feel some sympathy for them, especially Alice.
Part of the ending was a complete surprise and it never crossed my mind, in part cause I'm not sure how truly believable was the villain's choice. I like when "supernatural" things have an earthly explanation, so that part of the resolution was satisfying enough.
Really entertaining mix of nordic noir and gothic horror. I will surely keep an eye out for the author's next book.
April 8, 2019
Staden (The Town) is a great Swedish mystery book. I partly read and listened to the audiobook version and it was just so atmospheric, so chilling. One could really feel how eerie the dead city in the middle of nowhere was. What happened to all the people that just disappeared 60 years ago? Why was a baby left behind? Will the documentary team find out the truth? And, the most important thing of it all, will they be able to leave the Town?
I highly recommend reading this book. The book isn't that scary, but it's intense and I was really impressed with Camilla Sten's writing. I hope she will keep on writing more books like this! Fingers crossed it will get translated into English!
I highly recommend reading this book. The book isn't that scary, but it's intense and I was really impressed with Camilla Sten's writing. I hope she will keep on writing more books like this! Fingers crossed it will get translated into English!
June 9, 2021
A documentary film crew. An abandoned Swedish mining town. And dark family secrets locked away for decades. The Lost Village by Camilla Sten had all the ingredients for making a truly unsettling work of horror fiction.
Alice is revisiting the past, her grandmother’s past that is. When she was a young woman, her grandmother’s entire family and hometown vanished without a trace. Beds still made, dishes on the table, food in the cupboard—but not a soul to be found. Nobody was left, except for a single woman, found stoned to death in the village square and a crying infant in the local school. And Alice has named the return to this town The Lost Village, a documentary she’s decided to make with her fried Tone, benefactor Max and two additional crew members Emmy and Robert. But from the moment the five of them arrive in Silvertjärn, Sweden, they can sense that something there is deeply wrong.
I did enjoy this book for the most part. The setting was utterly captivating and full of a distinctly Nordic sense of grim unease. The biggest issue for me here was pacing. The first third to half is pretty slow. There’s definitely a tension buzzing through at times, but very little actually happens. By comparison, the ending is a bum rush towards a somewhat predictable, but still plenty unnerving finale.
The story is told through flashbacks from the modern day film crew back to just before the disappearances in 1959. These flashbacks mostly follow Alice’s great-grandmother Elsa, and I wish we got to see more from her. Admittedly, her point of view could only exist to a point—as anything to revealing could spoil the mystery of present day, but I think it left her portions a little starved and Alice’s occasionally verging into tedious. This narrative device had mixed results for me.
When authors write horror, they usually have to decide pretty quickly whether or not there’s going to be supernatural elements in the story, and if so to what degree. It’s not uncommon for there to be a so-called ‘rational’ explanation while also leaving the door open for a supernatural influence, but in this case I think the author should have really gone all-in on the hauntings and things that go bump in the night. That way the ‘believability’ of the story wouldn’t have even be a factor in the plotting. Instead, as readers we’re left trying to connect some pretty widely-spaced dots that don’t match up cleanly. I’m not really expecting probability here, just a baseline level of plausibility.
So yeah, don’t go into this expecting a realistic depiction of....well anything I guess. Especially those sensitive to any negative mental illness or neurodivergency portrayal may want to steer clear as well. Some victims in the book may fit into those categories and it’s going to be disturbing on some level to most people. It is horror, though, and I believe the author handles these topics with a good amount of consideration. In all, I enjoyed my time with it, and with a few modifications near the end it could have been excellent. But as is, I still think it’s a pretty good book!
*Thanks Minotaur for my review copy! And thank you Madison (@momandmadread) and Paige (@paigethroughbooks) for selecting this book as April’s PM Reads pick!!
**For more book talk & reviews, follow me on Instagram at @elle_mentbooks!
Alice is revisiting the past, her grandmother’s past that is. When she was a young woman, her grandmother’s entire family and hometown vanished without a trace. Beds still made, dishes on the table, food in the cupboard—but not a soul to be found. Nobody was left, except for a single woman, found stoned to death in the village square and a crying infant in the local school. And Alice has named the return to this town The Lost Village, a documentary she’s decided to make with her fried Tone, benefactor Max and two additional crew members Emmy and Robert. But from the moment the five of them arrive in Silvertjärn, Sweden, they can sense that something there is deeply wrong.
I did enjoy this book for the most part. The setting was utterly captivating and full of a distinctly Nordic sense of grim unease. The biggest issue for me here was pacing. The first third to half is pretty slow. There’s definitely a tension buzzing through at times, but very little actually happens. By comparison, the ending is a bum rush towards a somewhat predictable, but still plenty unnerving finale.
The story is told through flashbacks from the modern day film crew back to just before the disappearances in 1959. These flashbacks mostly follow Alice’s great-grandmother Elsa, and I wish we got to see more from her. Admittedly, her point of view could only exist to a point—as anything to revealing could spoil the mystery of present day, but I think it left her portions a little starved and Alice’s occasionally verging into tedious. This narrative device had mixed results for me.
When authors write horror, they usually have to decide pretty quickly whether or not there’s going to be supernatural elements in the story, and if so to what degree. It’s not uncommon for there to be a so-called ‘rational’ explanation while also leaving the door open for a supernatural influence, but in this case I think the author should have really gone all-in on the hauntings and things that go bump in the night. That way the ‘believability’ of the story wouldn’t have even be a factor in the plotting. Instead, as readers we’re left trying to connect some pretty widely-spaced dots that don’t match up cleanly. I’m not really expecting probability here, just a baseline level of plausibility.
So yeah, don’t go into this expecting a realistic depiction of....well anything I guess. Especially those sensitive to any negative mental illness or neurodivergency portrayal may want to steer clear as well. Some victims in the book may fit into those categories and it’s going to be disturbing on some level to most people. It is horror, though, and I believe the author handles these topics with a good amount of consideration. In all, I enjoyed my time with it, and with a few modifications near the end it could have been excellent. But as is, I still think it’s a pretty good book!
*Thanks Minotaur for my review copy! And thank you Madison (@momandmadread) and Paige (@paigethroughbooks) for selecting this book as April’s PM Reads pick!!
**For more book talk & reviews, follow me on Instagram at @elle_mentbooks!
April 13, 2021
A group of documentary filmmakers investigate what really happened to the people of “the lost village” of Silverjarn. Alice Lindstedt is interested in the disappearance of her grandmother’s entire family and is willing to make this project happen at any cost. But when equipment is destroyed and people begin to disappear, they start to believe that they are not alone in this ghost town. Will they be able to unlock the secrets of Silverjarn before it’s too late?
I can’t tell you how excited I was to read The Lost Village when I saw the Blair Witch Project comparison. Unfortunately, this book did not live up to its promises. It took me a very long time to get invested in it because the characters needed to be further developed earlier on in the story. Nothing really happens for a long time and when it does, it is extremely predictable. I figured out both of the twists rather easily and was also left with several important unanswered questions. While the author states that this book is written to showcase how society views women with mental illness, it feels like that is the focus of this book, not the documentary. Most importantly, there is a distinct lack of suspense, horror, and dread which is what made the Blair Witch Project so successful in its storytelling and left this story rather flat.
3/5 stars
I can’t tell you how excited I was to read The Lost Village when I saw the Blair Witch Project comparison. Unfortunately, this book did not live up to its promises. It took me a very long time to get invested in it because the characters needed to be further developed earlier on in the story. Nothing really happens for a long time and when it does, it is extremely predictable. I figured out both of the twists rather easily and was also left with several important unanswered questions. While the author states that this book is written to showcase how society views women with mental illness, it feels like that is the focus of this book, not the documentary. Most importantly, there is a distinct lack of suspense, horror, and dread which is what made the Blair Witch Project so successful in its storytelling and left this story rather flat.
3/5 stars
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