When I saw the tagline of "The Blair Witch" meets "Midsommar" I knew I had to read this. I'm so glad I was approved for the ARC. Wow, this was such a great read, I could not put this down. Alice is wants to film a documentary about a village that went missing -- not the village itself but the villagers -- many years ago. This is because her ancestors were inhabitants. Her grandmother's family -- parents and siblings -- were among the missing. All she had to go on was her Grandmother's stories and letters her Grandmother had from her family before they disappeared. The story goes back in forth between the present day with Alice and her small crew and back to the 50s leading up to the disappearance of the villagers. The story didn't take much time to pick up and I was on the edge of my seat needing to know what was happening pretty quickly. I'm pretty sure this is one I will buy the physical copy of to read again, I've already been recommending it to people for when it is released. It's also one of those stories you kind of wish could be adapted exactly as is to a film - just to see some of it play out.

Highly recommend this one.

The Lost Village surpassed my expectations! This is the first time I truly felt that the summary actually summed up a book PERFECTLY! This in an intense and creepy read and I wish I could experience it all over again. WOW! Highly recommended!

I love a creepy Scandinavian horror story and this book fits the bill. I appreciated the way Camilla Sten created the eerie, unsettling atmosphere of a mysteriously abandoned village.
The story itself moves between the last days of an old mining village in 1959 and the present day, when filmmaker Alice Lindstedt, granddaughter of a village resident, returns to shoot a documentary about what may have happened to the village and its residents. The plot was interesting enough to keep me invested in discovering what happened in 1959, but the ending was a bit ridiculous and disappointing. Overall, it was an enjoyable read.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the digital ARC.

This book is about an aspiring film maker named Alice, who wants to create a documentary about the people of "The Lost Village" in a small mining town in Sweden. 900 people there one day, and then just gone the next. Alice's obsession with this town comes from her grandmother's stories about her family, and through letters from her great-aunt, before they all vanished. Now, Alice hopes to travel to Silvertjarn with her small crew, and uncover some clue left behind as to what happened in this town. But over the course of five days, as creepy and terrifying things begin to happen, Alice sees her chance at making this movie, and possibly ever leaving this village alive, dwindling every day.

When I saw this book was a mix between Midsommar and Blair witch, I couldn't wait to read it. It definitely had a creepy factor to it, and at times I quit reading because I was freaked out.

The ending was not as expected, and the I wish there had been more supernatural occurrences at play, but I did like that you got answers at the end and were not just left empty handed. I would definitely recommend this book!

"The Lost Village" by Camilla Sten is a brilliant and astoundingly dark, Scandinavian horror/mystery novel. Unsettling, eerie, and completely bizarre, Sten leads readers down a dark and twisted path to a village that was unexplainably abandoned sixty years prior. What happened to the residents? Where did they go? Why did they leave? And where are they now?

The events of what happened in this village have haunted Alice's Grandmother (who used to live in the now-abandoned village Silvertjarn) for years and fueled the fire of Alice's desire to get to the bottom of what truly happened to the people who fled their homes with no explanation. As a novice videographer, Alice brings a group of people along with her to create a documentary that will uncover the events of what truly happened to the people who lived in this village and bring about a breakthrough in her career. Except, there's shocking and terrifying evidence that Alice and her ragtag team are not alone. If this village has truly been abandoned years ago and no one has returned, then who else is haunting Silvertjarn?

A brilliant novel that is absolutely mystifying and unsettling right from the very first pages. Sten's writing is stunning, evocative, and hauntingly chilling as she guides readers right into the heart of terror. Split into two different perspectives, "The Lost Village," takes on a gothic-mystery spin that fights to uncover Silvertjarn's secrets that leads characters down a dangerous and life-threatening path. A genuine thrilling novel and Scandinavian noir at its finest.

I thought this novel was incredibly well written and enjoyed the complexity of the characters that brought a whole other level of realism to their stories, evoking a wide range of feelings from this reader, mainly sympathy. These characters are all struggling with ugly, violent, and sorrowful issues that have all, in one way or another, driven them to this isolated and abandoned village with terrifying secrets. Somehow, Sten has brilliantly reflected those emotional struggles in the atmosphere of this lost village and its decaying, desolate state of existence. Horror has an entirely new and fresh feel in this tale that is immensely enjoyable. "The Lost Village" by Camilla Sten is expected to be published on March 23, 2021, and I highly recommend taking note of the date and giving it a read!

A huge thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten has been described as an amalgamation of the Blair Witch Project and my favorite movie of 2019, Midsommar. Sten uses elements of horror, mystery, and the history of a fictional isolated town in Sweden which is somewhat reminiscent of the town in Midsommar. I was intrigued.

The Lost Village started out strong. A scrappy documentary film crew arrives at this remote, isolated, and abandoned village; a village that was once thriving until an unknown incident caused every resident to disappear. Unfortunately, the story dragged for far too long and I ended up not caring much about the mystery halfway through the book. I think that the flashbacks to the prior town, which came about every 3 chapters, combined with the letters took the mystery out of it for me. It was too much backstory and plot points were given away too early on. I guess I'll just give Midsommar another watch.

Set in a deserted Scandinavian town, The Lost Village is steeped in anxiety and suspense from the first page. This book will freak you out, break your heart and leave you aching for everyone involved.

Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur Books/St Martin's Press, and the author for the ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed this title.

From the first chapter, I kept thinking, "The miniseries or film adaptation of this is gonna be SO good." The whole novel is incredibly cinematic, occasionally to its detriment (I got lost in some of the action), but it made for a thoroughly enjoyable read. While the twists weren't particularly surprising, the world-building is great and the scares are genuine. I liked this!

This was a fun spooky read. The set up was interesting with the missing village and the documentary film crew, but some parts felt a bit slow to me.
I did enjoy reading it, but at times felt like it took me awhile to get back into the story when I’d pick it up to start again.
Would check out more of her books in the future.

With Blair Witch and Midsommar as the comp titles and a striking cover, I slammed the request button for The Lost Village. I am a sucker for found footage/documentary type thrillers, admittedly, so I couldn't wait to dive in.

In need of funding for her first major documentary, Alice enlists a group of friends and professionals to travel to Silvertjarn, a remote Swedish community that was abandoned in the 1950s. Nobody knows what happened to the 900 villagers, but Alice is determined to not only shed light on this mysterious place, but also solve the mystery once and for all. But things don't go as planned from the beginning, and Alice begins to question whether they're really alone.

I loved this book.

Sten nailed the chaotic, creepy, isolation that was pivotal to make this book successful. Her descriptions are vivid and crisp and haunting. I devoured this book in one sitting. Alice, as a narrator, is unreliable in so much as we can't trust her motivations beyond wanting her documentary to work. I never got the feeling she was keeping extraneous secrets, but I understood there was more at play to be released over the course of the five day trip.

The discord among the group was also stellar. While some conflict worked better than others for me, I was particularly drawn to the dynamic between Tone and everyone else. Sten isn't just going for the horrific in a visceral sense. She highlights serious issues within the trauma: depression, mental illness, suicide, and othering. Birgitta's story is heartbreaking and nuanced and drew important parallels between the way society views mental illness and those who suffer from it and the decades-old treatment of a woman who was "disturbed."

And if you're here for a scary read and don't give a hoot about underlying themes, rest assured: this book is full of disturbing moments, and Sten does a wonderful job making the scenes jump off the page. I could definitely see this being made into a Netflix series, and I would 100 percent watch every minute of it.

Overall, The Lost Village is a creepy, exciting un-put-downable read perfect for fans of classic horror, haunted ruins, and real-life monsters. Out in March, this will be a must read in 2021.

Big thanks to Minotaur and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for honest review consideration.

So. Freaking. Creepy.

The chill level on the Spook-O-Meter was a 10/10 with this one.

Days later, and the thought of this book still brings goosebumps to my skin, makes the hair on my arms stand up, and causes a chill to race down my spine. I am disturbed and freaked the eff out.

Now THAT was a horror story.

The kind that will disturb you. Frighten you out of your mind. Make it so that you want to leave the lights on just a little bit longer while you’re reading into the dark of the night. A sense of unease and dread filled me as I began reading this book, and only grew stronger as I progressed through the story.

This was one of the most chilling, atmospheric stories that I have ever read. Both the back story and the current events playing out are as intriguing as they are frightening, and the village that is at the center of the story is just downright ominous to say in the least.

Anyone who is a fan of scary movies, the paranormal, urban exploration, abandoned places, horror stories, and anything that causes your blood to freeze and chills you straight down to your bones will absolutely love this book.

The abandoned village that this story was centered around was ominous, creepy, and the way in which this story was written made it so that you could easily picture this haunting, abandoned little town in the middle of nowhere, and feel just how very dead and empty it really was.

I was so eager to explore this village alongside the crew documenting it and its backstory, but also afraid at the turn of every page.

Were they truly alone in the seemingly abandoned village? And what was the truth behind the vanishing of its residents?

CREEPY CREEPY CREEPY!

Unraveling the mystery and exploring the desolate village alongside the documentary crew was a harrowing, hair raising experience. It was nearly impossible to put this book down, and I finished it in less than a day because I just couldn’t stop reading.

Intense, atmospheric, harrowing, and just downright creepy, this book will burrow its self deep into your skin and leave you horrified and haunted by everything it contains.

This is the perfect read for October or an afternoon in the dead of the winter.

Read this and prepare to be completely spooked, both while reading and afterwards!

The description likens to Midsommar, which I think is insulting; The Lost Village actually has depth.

Found footage and mockumentaries are the perfect medium for horror movies (I'll offer VHS, Devil's Pass and The Sacrament as some evidence to the claim.) The style offers an intimate and powerful presentation of characters and events that just sets them apart from other films in the genre, especially when the characters involved in making the 'documentary' have some sort of personal connection to the event in question. Experiencing these stories from the lens of a camera, being put in the moment by characters making eye contact and speaking directly to the camera, just makes it so much more personal for the viewer, immersing you into the story in a way that regular movies just can't do. While The Lost Village isn't really "found footage", it carries the vibe, transcribed eerily well onto the page, even with the back-and-forth shift in perspective that fills in the context in a way that's denied in found footage films. From the beginning the story is atmospheric and chilling, thrilling in the scale of the mystery: an entire town of nearly 900 people disappearing. The scope of it is nearly difficult to process, but even within the narrative there's a reference to Jonestown, and suddenly, it feels entirely too plausible of a scenario.

Alice is a strong narrator, flawed and with a sharp voice; though there's a change in tenses between then and now, it never really jerks you from the story. Typically when jumping in time in a narrative there's the unintentional revealing of information before the two points connect, but that never happens; the buildup is slow, tensely so, the descent into madness in the past a perfect mirror of the events unfolding in the 'now,' and for a moment, you wonder if it's going to delve into something supernatural; the line begins to blur, you lose yourself in the story, invested and immersed, slightly anxious about what comes next. It's heartbreaking and uncomfortable at times, though Sten handles the "darker" topics like sexual assault with a delicate care that's severely lacking in the genre.

Beneath the horror, though, there's some nuanced commentary on trauma and Christianity and hopelessness; as stated in the first line of this review, I don't think a comparison to Midsommar is apt at all. I can see the appeal in likening the stories, but where Midsommar is merely an empty movie that distracts from its shallowness with stunning visuals and fails to genuinely portray the lingering effects of trauma, the emotional journeys of Alice, Tone and Birgitta aren't there just to be sensationalized; they provide sincere commentary on mental illness and how it affects not only you but the people around you, and the disturbing way mentally ill people are demonized.

I was so excited to get this ARC it sounded like a book I would really enjoy. Unfortunately, it really fell flat for me. I really tried to finish it out but gave up at 65%. I would have liked for the characters to be more developed and a little more drama into the whole story.

In 1959 a small village of 900 people in Sweden completely vanish and the mystery is never solved.

Today, Alice, a documentary filmmaker returns to the sight 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 read 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 didn't but it for a minute. 3 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was drawn right in from the first pages.Characters that come alive A story that kept me reading late iinto the night.An author I will be recommending and following.# netgalley#st.Martinsbooks

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.

The Lost Village was a super creepy, unputdownable thriller! The description dubs this a cross between The Blair Witch Project and Midsommar, and I think that hit the nail on the head. I was totally hooked as soon as I heard that this was based in a fictional ghost town. This book followers a group of young explorers as they attempt to get enough footage to gain funding for a full documentary on an old Swedish mining town, Silvertjärn, in which every resident just up and disappeared out of nowhere one day...except one individual who was stoned to death in the town square, and a newborn baby found left behind in the local school. The filmmaker has a connection to this town because her grandmother grew up there and told her stories about it, and how her entire family vanished with the rest of the town.

The story flip flops between the storyline in the past, leading the reader up to the town's mysterious end, and the present, where the filmmaker and her crew have set up camp in the bones of the village and are taking preliminary footage. I won't say anything more about the storyline, but this book is really well done and sticks with you!! I would've liked to get to know some of the other characters a little bit better, but really liked the emotional depth the author goes into with a couple of the characters. I also loved the descriptions we got of the abandoned buildings and the feeling of the whole town...so spooky!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars
TW// mention of suicide attempt, depression, psychosis, abuse of a disabled person, implied rape, gore
Thank you, Camilla Sten, for writing such an awesome ending to this. I loved everything about this book, honestly, but the only thing keeping me from a full 5 star rating is I think I hyped this up so much in my mind that no matter the content, it wouldn't be what I imagined. Obviously, that didn't hold me back much from loving this book, though. I loved the dual perspective, following the sleepy, small town of 60 years ago and the present timeline of a small-time filmmaker looking to make a documentary. I'd say what else I loved, but then we'd get into spoiler territory so I shall keep my secrets.

This was a great novel! A little Blair Witch vibe going on. Things were a little too coincidental but it was a great read!

The Lost Village was such a lovely surprise. I feared it would be the same old, same old when it comes to ghost fiction, but this managed to be surprising and inventive.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.