Sten keeps the terror high while evoking a realistic story with believable twists ... Believable, outright frights bolster The Lost Village. Flashbacks to the 1958 events alternate with the trials of Alice and her team—both of which show a fraying community—heighten the chilling plot. The finale is a stunning look at cruelty.
If I were looking for a one-word description of the book, I would reflexively, though still quite accurately, use the term 'creepy.' ... It will haunt your dreams as it sweeps up the cobwebs around the edges of your subconscious and drops them into the middle of your brain. Believe me, you will want to experience this when the sun is up and the room is bright. The book does a good job of being scary without being terrifying, but it gets the two jittery states just close enough that it really doesn’t make much difference.
This chilling, horror-tinged story takes place in Sweden, following a compelling female protagonist as she embarks on a (possibly misguided) mission that feels like perfect fodder for your next favorite horror movie ... I was utterly riveted by the way Camilla Sten develops her story’s setting ... a slow-burning book, but one of the key elements that made it so engrossing for me was the way the author unfurls the town’s many secrets and dark, decaying corners bit by bit ... Within Sten’s central group of compelling characters, readers will explore friendships that have soured over the years, romantic entanglements, and many hidden secrets ... In brief yet increasingly disturbing chapters, the narrator of this past timeline—a woman living in town who went on to become probably my favorite character out of this entire novel—recounts the increasingly strange and tense atmosphere in her community ... an ultra-scary read, it is absolutely a book that incorporates elements of horror and tragedy; this is a story with dark themes and events at its core.
The Lost Village will have you sleeping with the lights on, double checking your doors and windows, and jumping at every unexpected sound, and that is assuming you can actually put the book down! Camilla Sten has concocted an incredible recipe that combines mystery, thriller, horror, and ghost story, all in equal parts and has created something brilliant ... Filled with creepy imagery, happenings with no rational cause, and a constant cloud of mystery, The Lost Village will have readers glued to the page from beginning to end ... I can not recommend The Lost Village highly enough and am eagerly awaiting what Camilla Sten does next!
