The Lost Village: A Novel

Camilla Sten is the daughter of the popular Swedish crime author Viveca Sten who is known for her Sandhamn murder mysteries set in the picturesque little island of the Stockholm's archipelago. The Lost Village is Camilla's internationally bestselling novel that is heavily reminiscent of the works by other Nordic crime writers such as Yrsa Sigurdardottir and Johan Theorin, while its plotline is similar to that of the infamous American horror b-movie, Blair Witch Project. In her brief foreword note the author stresses the importance of the accurate portrayal of women battling with mental illness in the book as there are three main female characters fighting with their inner demons. Sten makes a point about how people used to perceive and treat mentally ill women throughout history and she writes that she is grateful that her own struggle with depression took place at an era when she could have access to a healthcare system that recognized her condition as a treatable one. In the past times those women were demonized and scapegoated as societies tended to view them as the source of all kinds of evil. The representation of mental illness in The Lost Village is sensitive and humane, while it raises some crucial questions regarding our tendency to consider mentally ill people as abnormal. This is one of the main themes of the novel and it pervades the whole of the story.The book's setting is the old mining town of Silvertjarn, a remote, desolate place that got abandoned by its inhabitants sixty years earlier and their disappearance is considered to be one of the biggest mysteries ever for the Swedish people. The book is a fine blend of horror and mystery fiction and the suspense level is kept high as the story evolves and reaches its climax in the concluding part where all the disturbing occurrences that take place throughout the novel are explained and every piece of the puzzle falls into place. The author hints at the possibility of supernatural intervention and the reader gets mesmerized by the enthralling descriptions of an ominous, hostile place that seems to repel any visitors who wish to explore and learn more about its unsettling history. Sten's writing style is captivating and her masterful use of the double timeline narrative technique is exemplary as the story jumps back and forth in time between 1959 and the present day. The two timelines share a complimentary relationship and major plot points are revealed in the right time, thus keeping the reader betrothed and on edge.Alice Lindstedt is an aspiring documentary filmmaker who embarks on a risky journey to shoot a documentary, dubbed "The Lost Village", that will shed light to the mysterious circumstances surrounding the vanishing of a whole town six decades earlier. Alice is personally connected to the bizarre story as her great-grandmother, Elsa, was one of Silvertjarn's more than 900 residents to disappear from the face of the earth. Alice's grandmother sparked her passion for the town's history as she used to narrate to her daughter old family stories that shared a common denominator: the tragic fate of the residents of Silvertjarn that marked her life forever. In the present timeline we follow Alice and her crew of four people than consists of Emmy, Robert, Max, and Tone arriving in Silvertjarn in order to shoot a teaser for the upcoming documentary. Being on a tight budget, they only have five days to scout the place and shoot some scenes that are meant to attract the attention of potential producers. But as they settle in the place, inexplicable things begin to happen. Mysterious figures seem to stalk the crew, the radio receives some disturbing signals, and soon one of the members disappears without a trace leaving the rest in shock.In the past timeline we read about Alice's great-grandmother, Elsa, who lives in Silvertjarn along with her husband, Staffan, and daughter, Aina. The town is in decay as the mine is closed and most of the residents are out of a job. Staffan hits the bottle and Elsa's family life upends when a new vicar, Mattias, arrives in town and seems to be able to enchant his flock due to his charisma and charm. Aina becomes bewitched with Mattias and soon her behavior towards Elsa begins to change in a way that is both unpleasant and alarming. Mattias becomes a kind of occult leader who claims that he holds the keys to the people's salvation and his preaching ripples the surface of Silvertjarn's quiet waters. Deeply troubled by Aina's conversion, Elsa will attempt to save both her family and a troubled woman, Birgitte, who lives alone and isolated because of her crippling mental state that doesn't allow her to function as the rest of the town's residents do. As the situation unravels, things will get more and more wild in town and Birgitte will be persecuted and victimized by the mass of folk that follow Mattias's word.I found The Lost Village to be one of the most entnthralling Nordic thrillers that I've read in the last few months and it brought to my mind another classic of the genre, I Remember You by the Icelandic "Queen of Crime Fiction", Yrsa Sigurdardottir. Both novels are based on a analogous plot premise and use the double timeline narrative expertly. The relationship dynamics between the documentary crew are complicated and we learn more about the relationships between the members as the story unfolds. The strained liaison between Alice and Emmy is the most interesting one as it is linked to the main theme of the novel that is the perception of mental illness by the majority of the people. The dialogue is plausible and the final explanation is more than gratifying. To sum up, this book was a pleasant surprise and a great introduction to Camila Sten's body of work that is comprised of novels of various genres such as YA, thriller, and horror. It seems that she inherited the talent from her successful mother, Viveca, and I believe that the readers will have the chance to read more of her intriguing books in the near future.

Gripping right from the start. Hard to put down and surprised by the ending.

This book had a great premise, and kept my attention all the way through. There were a number of beautifully written descriptions and metaphors. The story deals with several heavy topics, sometimes with grace and insight and other times…not so much. I had mixed feelings about how it ended. I’ll post a couple more details below, with a spoiler warning.****SPOILERS!!!*****I was very impressed with how the author portrayed the burden of caring for someone with a mental illness, as well as the stigma attached to suffering from a mental illness, but I felt like the portrayal of cults/brain washing/religious fanaticism lacked depth. A sexy man pretending to be a priest moves to town and simply charms almost everyone into committing horrendous acts…it was a very surface level portrayal of how that kind of manipulation works. Also, a woman survives in this abandoned town for sixty years? And no one manages to figure out that there are 800+ dead bodies in the mine? I guess the return of the birds means that there’s a supernatural explanation for everything, but I wish the author had given a more forthright explanation.

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten draws a lot of comparisons to The Blair Witch Project. While I understand why those comparisons are made, I think that it is misleading to people who go into the book expecting something in that vain. The novel has garnered a lot of positive attention since its initial Swedish release, which I am happy for Sten for. However, my enjoyment for the book was marred by a few issues I had with it.The plot of the novel is about a five man crew spending five days in an abandoned village to get video and photos for a promo to the documentary they are trying to earn funding to make. Sixty years ago all 900 denizens of the town disappeared without a trace, only leaving behind a woman who was stoned to death and a living newborn infant. The narrator is the granddaughter of a woman who once lived in the village, so she has a personal connection with this documentary. Upon arrival to the isolated village, things start taking a turn for the spooky.I enjoyed the read in general. I liked the character work for about half the characters, with wanting more from the others. For me the narrator was insufferably petty until about the halfway point in the book. There were a few editing errors in the book, but really only had one that caused an issue with the story, albeit a small one. Mental health is a big part of the book, and while it was handled with empathy, it felt both unrealistic and presented in a way that I do not enjoy seeing in books as a psych major. The ending/twists really asks the reader to suspense disbelief, and even in doing so it doesn't tie the story up very tightly.Some of the big plusses for the book is handling the different POVs that different people have of the same situation, and the particular scene I am referring to was done fantastically. The emotions in this book are all very raw and do feel real when it comes to our current day crew. I can't say the same when the book jumps back to the original inhabitants of the village, but the main character we follow during those jumps makes for a really great protagonist to root for. The tension and stakes are done decently, though the horror fan in me wishes there was just a little bit more of that to really sell this as a thriller/horror.Ultimately while I enjoyed the majority of the story, the cons outweighed the pros for me and so the book falls somewhere in the middle of the road for me.

Definitely did not expect the ending. Great characters, fantastic setting and a book I couldn't put down at night even when I was tired and needed to.The only thing I didn't like was the strong religious aspect of it. Just not a fan of it.

Actual rating of 4.5Alice Lindstedt, a documentary film maker, has been obsessed with the story of The Lost Village for as long as she can remember. In 1959 her Grandmother's whole family disappeared, along with the rest of the town, leaving behind a woman who was stoned to death in the town square, and a baby crying in the school nurse's office. No one knows what befell the unfortunate townsfolk, but Alice is hoping she can find out. Together with a small group, she heads to the village to start filming for a documentary she hopes to make, while bringing to light what really happened there. Once they arrive and set up camp, however, strange things start to happen, people disappear and equipment is destroyed. It now seems that they're not entirely alone. Alice came here looking for the truth, but what if the truth finds her first?This was up there as one of my most anticipated reads. I've been dying to get my hands on it since I first came across it on Goodreads, but it proved quite difficult to find, until it wasn't!! You better believe I did a little happy dance when this was on it's way to me. I did have momentary fear that I may have ruined it for myself by being so excited (as has happened with a couple of my most anticipated reads this year), but thankfully this one didn't disappoint.I'm a sucker for a good spooky story, ones set against abandoned or strangely abandoned places are even better, so this one was right up my alley. Throw in a little isolation due to location, and I am one happy panda. This story is told through alternating chapters between present day from Alice's point of view, and 1959 told from Alice's Great Grandmother's point of view in the time leading up to the event that caused the townsfolk to disappear. I absolutely loved reading both POVs which was a nice surprise. Normally when there's dual POVs in a story, I tend to gravitate to one more than the other, this one however, I was completely engrossed in both stories, and I absolutely loved the delicious feelings of anticipation that bubbled up as the story moved towards the climax in both timelines.Sten has done a great job of really placing the reader into a chilling atmosphere, doing a fantastic job of creating the feeling of total isolation in both the past and the present timelines, both of which are caused by different things. The slow decent into madness from the townsfolk in 1959 was so subtle and well written, the horror of it all just snuck up on me. Yes, I had a strong feeling about a couple of things that were going to happen, and I was right, this still didn't take away from the story at all. I had no idea where the present story line was headed, and I will say that I was pleasantly surprised and got that reveal at the same time as the characters which was great. I also feel like the way the two timelines flowed together was brilliant. It was such a wonderfully executed story and I really feel like Sten did a fantastic job at weaving all the threads together.The characters were wonderfully written and I really felt like I was right there with them. I enjoyed Alice's character, her plights and her innate need to have this documentary be a success - even to the detriment of the others. She was a beautifully flawed character which really made her jump off the page. I also loved the backstory weaved between her and another member of her team. I was appalled at a certain revelation between Alice and yet another character, as it came out of the blue, though I feel like this was done intentionally so we could be just as thrown as Alice was in this particular scene. The characters from 1959 were so well written and I really adored them, even those that I absolutely hated. They were all so well written, especially the girl that Alice's Great Grandmother cared for while in the village. I'm trying to be as vague as possible because I feel like it's better going into this learning as you go.One thing I was highly impressed with, was the fact that this book was actually translated into English. Had I not known that, I honestly don't think I would have worked it out. It's that well done. I've read very few translations, but it's because I find them to be clunky and I feel like a certain magic is lost when the story is translated out of it's original language. This one however, was done absolutely flawlessly and I applaud the translator for their skill, for reference, the translator is Alexandra Fleming.All in all, this was such a fun romp through an abandoned village with a harrowing past. It really showed us horror in a different light, the horror of manipulation and the horror of people themselves and what they're capable of. It really did live up to my expectations, and while the story was a bit different to what I WAS expecting, it was not disappointing at all, in fact, I feel like it ended up better. If you love a good horror that's just a fun ride with creepy atmosphere and well written characters who are just trying to survive, give this one a go!

Amateur film director Alice has put together a team to investigate a sleepy, Swedish ghost town in hopes of pitching a new documentary. An obsession since childhood, Alice has ties to the town, through her grandmother whose entire family disappeared back in the 50's.The town is heavily overrun with nature, but still looks like a snapshot from the 50's - tiny houses all identical in a row, the old school house where the only living person, a tiny newborn baby, was recovered back in 1959 and the ominous church.During their visit, Alice and her team are plagued with thoughts of being watched and weird out of place things happening. Is this a result of paranoia? Or some sort of poisoning from the mine?I'd love to say that I really enjoyed the read, but it just didn't love all of it. It was flat and slow through most of the book and really veered away from where I expected it to be. The whole idea of taking video and photos trying to plug a documentary to investors was lost. There was also quite an ere of unbelievability. The ending didn't come as a shock really, since I picked up on that quite early in the read and I think that lead to it being a little less enjoyable.There were certain moments that just didn't seem to have the emotional or shock value impact I think they were meant to, and I found myself going 'welp, on we go I guess'.I'd recommend this one for anyone who finds themselves an amateur sleuth. Who wants a real ghost story, instead of a supernatural one. Fans of mystery, thrillers and the unknown will also enjoy this one. There is also some heavy dealings in parts, including mistreatment of mentally disabled women and themes of depression and other psychological disorders.

Once things start to happen it's pretty good, but (for me, at least) it took quiet a while to actually get to that point. Around the 45% mark. I'm also not fond of books written in present tense, but that's just a personal preference.Having said all that, once things kick off this is a good, disturbing read.

This had such potential and I was very much looking forward to it. I love creepy stories about abandoned areas or people who just go missing, my favourite being The Terror by Dan Simmons. This was touted as Blair Witch in style, which arguably set it up for a fall from the outset.A solid start. It drew me in and set a good scene. A couple of creepy moments early on. Those feelings of being watched, of someone in standing at the periphery. The "Then" sections were interesting, the letters, the sinister cult leader. But then it started to fall apart and by the conclusion was laughable. Daft is the best way to describe it. We needed more back story as the conclusion of "Then" was rushed. "Now" was no better, and it felt like the author had lost her way with it. A shame as it could have been an excellent piece of horror.Giving it 2/5 for a decent start.

Generally an excellent read with vivid characterisation. Some effective use of figurative language. But the ending seems far too rushed.