Camilla Sten

"Come for the mounting horror and scares, but stay for a devastating examination of the nature of family secrets." - New York Times book review A Most Anticipated Book Goodreads * Publishers Weekly * Crime Reads * Popsugar * Bookish * #1 Loanstar Pick in Canada An Indie Next pick! A Library Reads Pick! 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? Come find out. "RELENTLESSLY CREEPY." —Alma Katsu, author of The Hunger (An NPR Best Horror Novel) "IMPOSSIBLE TO STOP READING." —Ragnar Jonasson, author of The Island "Readers will revel in the chills." - Booklist

A Novel

The Lost Village

One day in 1959, an entire village of people disappeared — leaving behind only the broken body of a woman in the town square, and an abandoned newborn in a schoolroom. No one knows why they vanished. No one’s been there since. Until now.

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. Her grandmother’s entire family disappeared in this mysterious tragedy, and ever since, the unanswered questions surrounding the dead woman and abandoned baby have plagued her.

She’s gathered a small crew of filmmaking friends to spend a few days in the quiet village and make a film about what really happened. There will be no turning back for them. Not long after they’ve set up camp, mysterious things begin to happen. Equipment is destroyed. People begin to go missing. As doubt breeds fear and their very minds begin to crack, one thing becomes startlingly clear to Alice: they are not alone.

Ryan Mateyk

blair witch meets midsommar this was... kind of, but it was tense and a good thriller nonetheless.

"Come for the mounting horror and scares, but stay for a devastating examination of the nature of family secrets." - New York Times book review "[A] scary, highly entertaining debut...that pays homage to Shirley Jackson." - South Florida Sun Sentinel A Most Anticipated Book Goodreads * Publishers Weekly * Crime Reads * Popsugar * Bookish * #1 Loanstar Pick in Canada An Indie Next pick! A Library Reads Pick! 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? Come find out. "RELENTLESSLY CREEPY." —Alma Katsu, author of The Hunger (An NPR Best Horror Novel) "IMPOSSIBLE TO STOP READING." —Ragnar Jonasson, author of The Island "Readers will revel in the chills." - Booklist

Nessa Luna

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for a review copy of this book.

"The Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar", that was the sentence that kind of sold me for this book. I had seen both movies, and while I can't say I loved either of them - I did think they were both horrifying stories. (view spoiler)[Let's not talk about the fact that 12-year-old me thought The Blair Witch Project was a legit documentary. (hide spoiler)]

Let me start off by saying that I think this book would have been even better if it had been a mixed-media format. Not in the way the Illuminae Files were, but I would have loved to see newspaper articles and the files Alice had in her possession, and maybe even some photographs. Still, this book was great even without that addition. 

The book was divided into two parts, the 'Now' section where Alice, Tone, Max, Emmy and Robert are in the village to see what it's like, and the 'Then' parts where we see the village in its 'prime time'. I have to say that while I liked both parts, the 'Then' section made the eventual reveal a bit predictable to me. (view spoiler)[Though I think the initial 'Midsommar' comparison was the main 'culprit' here. (hide spoiler)] Still, that didn't stop me from wholly enjoying this book and wanting to read more books like this (any recs?)

I can't say I really liked any of the characters, as they all had their flaws, but I think they were greatly written and I honestly felt bad for them. 

In the end, I really enjoyed this book, and I think I will definitely recommend it to people who loved the above-mentioned movies, and even if you didn't love them (like me) but love stories about eerie abandoned places (Is that a thing? Books about abandoned places?). I actually think this book would make a great movie, or maybe even a (mini) series!

Crystal L

Alice Lindstedt is a documentary filmmaker and on the scouting trip of her dreams. In the 1950s, her grandmother's family disappeared from an old mining town and Alice grew up hearing the stories. The setting is perfectly creepy as Alice and her crew travel to this still abandoned village with the goal of filming a trailer to help them find more backers. Even though the village is abandoned they feel like they're not really alone. This was absolutely the book I've been waiting for! I wanted to curl up with a cozy blanket and a few feet of snow outside and devour The Lost Village (unfortunately I read at the beginning of spring but it was still just as good!). 

Content Warnings for: self-harm, depression and anxiety, drug and alcohol use, death including suicide and murder, rape and sexual assault, religious indoctrination/cults. 

5/5 Stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Kristen Claiborn

Jasmine

“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.”

They are quick to learn that they aren’t alone.


There’s a lot of talk of this book being an awful lot like The Blair Witch Project and I can definitely see it’s influence throughout. The Midsommar comparison is a little shaky if I’m being honest. The Lost Village is, above all things, atmospheric. Camilla Sten is excellent at building a creepily immersive village through Silvertjärn. The character development is kind of secondary to this world building, but this doesn’t really detract so much from the story as it might in other novels. I did struggle a little in the beginning (though it’s hard to say sometimes if it’s me or the book. My brain likes to get all flighty, nearly always at inconvenient times.) but Village does pick up quickly and becomes nearly impossible to put down. I gave it 3.5-4ish stars. 
It also feels important to note that I did a happy dance upon being approved for this eBook 😂 

Thanks so much to Camilla Sten, St Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the eARC in return for an honest review!

Sheena

After hearing that "The Lost Village" was the love child of "The Blair Witch Project" and "Midsommar", I instantly was in the mood for some spookiness and couldn't wait to dive into this new to me author novel.

Did it live up to my expectations? No. A lot of things can go wrong with a novel such as the beginning of the story—if it’s too slow and a whole lot of nothing is happening (which was the case here), I will zone out and find myself browsing for another book to cure my boredom. The second—the characters. Those two can make or break a novel for me, especially if it’s a thriller or mystery series. The characters weren’t anything to rave about. The petty bickering and the relationships between the characters were confusing and all in all, didn’t make sense. Overall, “The Lost Village” reminded me of a B-rated horror flick that no one wants to see (or read in this case).

✨Tyler ✨

really liked the spooky vibes of this but the end fell a little flat for me

Lisa Merriam

I picked this book up thinking it would be intriguing since I'm thoroughly interested in cults. The first couple of Chapters almost lead me to give up and return the book to the library but I'm glad I stuck with it, it became fast paced and intriguing going back and forth between "now" and "then", the characters had history between each and secrets that your hoping to be revealed soon. I not only felt for multiple of the present characters but felt for the past characters and became excited to read the short chapters of "then". 
Around the halfway mark you get this false idea of everything falling into place and the pace slowing as of the stories conclusion is coming and then BAM action after action, shocks and twists for the second half of the book. I fell asleep holding my Kobo while reading it and woke up in the middle of the night and promptly continued until I finished. I highly recommend this book.

Emma Jacqueline

Lauren Attaway

In The Lost Village, aspiring filmmaker Alice is determined to solve the mystery that’s hovered over her grandmother’s life. When her grandmother was a young woman, her parents, younger sister, and their entire town disappeared. The only clues were a woman that was stoned to death and a crying unclaimed baby. Alice is crowdfunding her dream to travel to the village to find answers for this mystery, and she brings along a small crew with their own motives. As soon as they get to the village, things start to go wrong. 
The tagline for The Lost Village immediately caught my eye. I am a big lover of scary movies, so the “Midsommar meets The Blair Witch Project” mashup had me convinced I needed to read this book. Lucky me, this book was scarier than I had expected. The short chapters had me stopping frequently and making sure that all my house settling noises were just that. At one point of the book, for every noise, I had to stop and listen Not scared but spooked out. Excellent, scary, one of my favorite reads of the year. Perfect reading for a night in when you want a creepy read. I really appreciated this book’s deeper history as we flashed between the present and the town’s past. Even though I was sure I had the backstory figured out, I was still surprised by the ending. 
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC!

Elise Bowes

Somewhat predictable halfway through the book. I still enjoyed reading/listening to this but wanted more *creepy* vibes while reading/listening.



danielle bush

This book had me hooked from the beginning, and I didn't want to put it down.. When I had to put it down and go to work, I kept thinking about where I left off and what was going to happen next.. It had this super creepy atmosphere in this abandoned village.. The author did such an amazing job with the descriptions that I felt like I was there with Alice and her crew.. 

Alice has gathered a film crew to shoot some footage of a Sweedish ghost town.. She is hoping that with what they can gather they can get some investers for a full blown documentary.. Now Alice has ties through this town through her grandmother, who had moved away from the town before the dissapearances.. Both her and her grandma have been investigating on their own to see if they could find any answers.. 

This book is told in dual timelines. We get to see Alice and the crew as they are taking photos and exploring the town today, and the other timeline is from the weeks and days leading up to the whole town vanishing without a trace.. Everyone except the body of a young woman found in the townsquare, and a baby just a few days old found in the school.. 

I thoroughly enjoyed how this story was told. The differing timelines really keeps up the tension and creepy factor. We see Alice and her crew exploring this creepy little town, while at the same time hearing the story from one of the women in the town and how things were playing out back then.. When strange things start to happen in present day, we have no idea whats going on. Are one of the crew members playing tricks. or is there something else going on? 

Thankfully they are only on location for 5 days.. What could possible happen in that amount of time?.. Well as it turns out, a whole hell of alot... 

I will definitely be checking out more of this authors books and look forward to what she comes out with next.

Heather Heaton

Possibly my fave netgalley arc in my reading vlog in which I finished 4 books. check it out!
https://youtu.be/ep16N2_KGj8

Kayla Borden

A crew of five filmmakers visit an abandoned village in Sweden to dig into the region's haunted past but soon discover they might not be alone. 

Perfect for spooky season, this book delivers eerie atmosphere, an unsolved mystery and a few gruesome deaths. The book switches between present-day narration and flashbacks leading up to the town's disappearance from the MC's great-grandmother's POV, which helps build suspense as the mystery unfolds. 

There was a ton of great imagery in the book. I could envision myself in the abandoned town square, looking at the rows of abandoned homes and the sun glinting off the river, just as I could imagine the eerie quiet of the dilapidated school and church. The "evil" in the book was also well-described. I felt ill at times reading what was done to some characters.

Unfortunately, this depth doesn't reach the characters in the same way. I wanted to know more about the cast. We get a lot of background about Alice and her mental health struggles, but she seems to have one life motivation only: Make her film. The rest of the characters felt pretty flat, too. We know next to nothing about Tone and even less about Max—two people Alice supposedly has close relationships with. I just wanted more to all of them so I could actually care about their outcomes.

I was pretty satisfied with the way the story ended. As it turns out, this is less of a "ghost story" and more a story about desperate people, how mental illness is villanized and the ways we grapple with our fear of the unknown.

Jordan Robinson

Abby Hoggatt

Virginia Su

1.5* this book has some truly terrible mental illness rep. Would not recommend. Cherry on top of this crappy cake is that the horror aspects were simply unbelievable and unrealistic in not a fun way, but a how-did-no-one-question-this-in-editing way. Main character was also just the absolute worst.

Bad Girl Bex

Turned out better than I expected. I'm giving this a 3 star review, but in reality it's more of a 3.5 star read - it just doesn't do enough to warrant my rounding it up to a 4 star final review. 

These kind of stories are getting more and more popular - what with the 'true-crime' phenomenon getting huge and bringing more and more attention to unsolved mysteries. But the concept of an abandoned village or community has been around for decades. And this version doesn't exactly bring much new to the table. 

That's not to say that this wasn't a decently engaging tale, it just wasn't much to write home about. I've read tales like this before and I'll probably read a bunch more of them in future. There's only so much one can do with the scenario. Yes there was a "sort of" twist about 80% through the book, but nothing we really couldn't have considered ourselves, given the limited number of characters and the limitations of time and place imposed by the author. 

I pretty much knew where this story was going, but that didn't actually stop it from being a reasonably entertaining Sunday afternoon read. I was somewhat annoyed by the author's foreword, where she tries to make out like women are worse off in the grand scheme of things when it comes to mental health issues - because in this day and age, women are given far more leeway and treated far more sympathetically than men are. So trying to draw parallels between the women in this tale (set in the late 1950s) and women today was not only redundant, but incorrect.

Sure, women might have had a harder time of it in years gone by...but you have to look at these things in the context of when they were taking place. Women were regarded as the most important influence on the children, because they were the primary care-givers. Men needed to know that they could rely upon their wives to be mentally strong enough to raise happy, healthy children, because they as bread-winners and providers, were the ones going out to work every day, in hard, back-breaking jobs, to earn the money to keep that family going. All this bullshit about women being subjected to an oppressive misogynistic way of life, is just that - BULLSHIT!

Whilst the upper-middle class women were complaining about not having the vote (while not being willing to accept the draft) and having to defer to the man of the house, working class women the world over have been knuckling down and raising children, whilst also doing manual labour since the dawn of time. Whilst the man of the house may well have asserted himself as being head of the household, so too did all the responsibility for everyone under his roof, fall upon him. I'm not saying that women didn't play an equally important part in the role of the family...the exact opposite in fact: women raised children and tended to the house, whilst making sure that the man of the house could come home from a 12 hour shift, to a hot meal and comfort, so that between the two of them, they could propagate their offspring and make sure that the entire family was fed and taken care of. It was a team effort. And if a woman was mentally unfit to raise children, then she wasn't really of any use to a man who was out there working hard and earning money to provide for them. To see that as sexism is ridiculous, because mentally deficit men were certainly not deemed marriageable or even those whom their wives should stay with, should mental illness consume them. Mental illness was not something viewed favourably IN either gender BY either gender. Because mental fortitude was as important as the physiological ability to care for and provide for one's offspring, in times when the welfare state was yet to pick up the slack.

Feminist claptrap aside, this is a decent enough yarn for an autumn afternoon. It's nothing special or ground-breaking, but it'll pass the time when you're looking for something vaguely interesting and ever-so-slightly creepy for Spooktober.

Deborah Kerr

I would've given this one a 4 star, but it was too damn long. It just dragged on and on. There wasn't anything particularly mind-bending or surprising, but it was well-done and relatively enjoyable.

The audio was excellent--the narrator really nailed the voices and the terror.

Zoe Smolen

This is a solid horror/thriller, but as a fan of Limetown and someone who has read the book as well as listened to the podcast, that was pretty much all I could think of. The story was definitely unique, but there were enough similarities that I kept thinking of Limetown. 
 
The setting was great- super spooky and atmospheric and a slow burn that felt worth it. I would have, however, liked a little more wrap up at the end of the book. 

Overall, a fun, scary book, and I think those who aren't as familiar with Limetown will enjoy it a lot!

Thanks to Netgalley and the Publishers for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Amy Medeiros

Wicked thriller 

What started as a dream documentary film for the main character Alice soon transformed into a real life horror film instead. I was glued to this story for 2 days and couldn’t stop turning the pages in my need to find out what happens next. This story had the perfect amount of atmospheric suspense and head scratching mystery that had me at the edge of my seat.

Melea Mullican

10/10 recommend. I love love loved this book. It was creepy, horrifying slow burn of a thriller. I get why some people might not love it but for me, right time, perfect book.

Kristin Hamill

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to review an e-arc of this book. 

In The Lost Village, we follow Alice and her team, who have ventured to a village that has been abandoned for some time after all of the inhabitants have disappeared. The group is there to scout the location for an upcoming documentary about the mystery surrounding the village. But as they explore, they begin to feel like the village might not be abandoned after all.

I really liked the premise of this book, but the end result fell short of my expectations. Camilla Sten’s writing did a good job of creating a suspenseful atmosphere and I was drawn into the mystery at the start.

There were some unnerving parts that added to the creepy atmosphere created by the author, but the end reveal felt unrealistic to me. It would have been easier for me to accept ghosts or something else supernatural in nature than the actual explanation of the events.

I will try other books by Sten in the future because I did enjoy the writing.

The Lost Village A Novel

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