The Lost Village

by Camilla Sten, Alexandra Fleming (Translator)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Sometimes a filmmaker is a detective at heart and curiosity brings out their inner sleuth. Here, Camilla Sten’s Alice Lindstedt takes us on a dark journey. Scandinavian noir at its finest.

*BEST MYSTERY/THRILLER FOR THE YEAR* for NPR

"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

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250249258
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/23/2021
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	492,212
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

CAMILLA STEN has been writing stories since she was a young girl and is famously one of the most important sounding boards for her crime-writing mother, Viveca Sten. In 2019, she stepped out of her mother’s shadow and published the now internationally acclaimed, hair-raising novel "The Lost Village." Rights for "The Lost Village" have been sold to seventeen territories around the world including film and TV. The book was one of seven shortlisted for the best translated crime award on ThrillZone.nl and is currently on Polish Goodreads shortlist for The 2019 Best Book Award in the horror category. An ever prolific author, Camilla is already working on her next psychologically intense suspense novel, all while travelling the world and putting the finishing touches on the first part of her dark and atmospheric YA series.

Editorial Reviews

01/11/2021

Fledgling documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt, the narrator of Sten’s strong debut, grew up listening to her grandmother’s reminiscences about Silvertjärn, a former mining village in a remote region of Sweden. In 1959, Alice’s grandmother had already left Silvertjärn when mysterious circumstances led to the disappearance of nearly everyone in the community, the grandmother’s parents and younger sister included; the only people left were a woman stoned to death in the town square and an abandoned newborn. Determined to make a name for herself, Alice assembles a group of friends to shoot a documentary on location around the same time of year the disappearance took place. Using old family correspondence to guide them, Alice and her crew begin to unravel the mystery. Their suspicions that they aren’t alone grow as they become victims of strange occurrences, equipment is destroyed, and loyalties are tested when their group members fall injured or go missing. Flashbacks heighten the tension. This gripping psychological thriller is sure to please fans of Shirley Jackson and cinema verité–styled horror. 100,000 copy announced first printing. Agent: Anna Frankl, Nordin Agency (Sweden). (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Come for the mounting horror and scares, but stay for a devastating examination of the nature of family secrets." - New York Times book review

“THE LOST VILLAGE draws you in with its spooky premise—the disappearance of an entire town—but great atmospherics and unexpected twists keep you turning the pages. For fans of haunted reality TV shows, Scandinavian thrillers, and all things relentlessly creepy.” — Alma Katsu, author of The Deep and The Hunger

"Very atmospheric and engaging mystery from a new and exciting voice in Scandinavian crime. The reader is drawn into a unique setting from page one and it is impossible to stop reading." - Ragnar Jonasson, author of The Island

"An enthralling and claustrophobic read. Camilla Sten has written a lurid thriller that will send shivers down your spine.” – M.T. Edvardsson, author of A Nearly Normal Family

"This gripping psychological thriller is sure to please fans of Shirley Jackson and cinema verité–styled horror." - Publishers Weekly

"Very hard to put down...delivers maximum dread with remarkable restraint, and as the situation goes from bad to worse to terrifying, readers will revel in the chills." - Booklist

"Deliciously creepy and profoundly addictive." - The Free Lance Star

"Legitimately scary." - Air Mail

"The suspense in this book is off the charts." - Manhattan Book Review

"[A] scary, highly entertaining debut...that pays homage to Shirley Jackson." - South Florida Sun Sentinel

"Welcome to the world of Camilla Sten...impossible to forget." - Criminal Element

From the Publisher

02/19/2021

Alice Lindstedt is a documentary filmmaker chasing the story of Silvertjärn, a remote Swedish village whose residents vanished without a trace in 1959. Alice has assembled a small crew that will spend five days filming there, in the hopes of getting material that will inspire investors to fund the project. As soon as they arrive, however, a series of unexplained occurrences make it clear that Alice and company aren't alone in Silvertjärn. Someone (or something) is keeping tabs on them. Whatever it is, it's not happy they're in town. Sten's first book available in English never lets up on the tension, weaving scenes from Silvertjärn's past through Alice's story in the present. It's a satisfyingly creepy two-for-one mystery—"Who's after the filmmakers?" "What really happened in Silvertjärn?"—that opens up into horror in the breakneck final act. VERDICT While some of the interpersonal dramas fall a little flat, the unraveling of Silvertjärn's secrets (and the fate of the town's lost villagers) make for a mostly gripping ride that will satisfy mystery and horror fans alike.—Cody Daigle-Orians, Hartford, CT

Library Journal

2020-11-27
An aspiring TV producer and her skeletal crew of four head deep into the Swedish hinterland to make an underfunded documentary series about a village that vanished overnight 60 years ago. What could possibly go wrong?

One day in 1959, Silvertjärn was a mining village of 887 inhabitants. The next day, its population was down to two: Birgitta Lidman, bound to a post and stoned to death in the town square, and a baby girl left in a schoolroom. Alice Lindstedt has been haunted all her life by the mystery of the vanished citizens, whose numbers included her grandmother, retired nurse Margareta, and most of her relatives. In the years since, there have been remarkably few clues. The infant, adopted long ago by a couple who raised her as Hélène Grimelund, knew nothing about the fate of her birthplace, but now Alice, who’s fought through poverty, temp jobs, and clinical depression, is resolved that “The Lost Village is my ticket out of all that.” Things go badly from the beginning. Co-producer Tone Grimelund sprains her ankle while she’s exploring one of the deserted houses and then disappears herself. Someone sets the crew’s vans on fire, and Alice’s college friend Emmy Abrahamsson, cameraman Robert, and financial backer Max eye each other warily even as they agree that the culprit must have been someone else. All the while, debut novelist Sten is counterpointing their adventures with a series of flashbacks to 1959, bringing Silvertjärn closer and closer to the brink of annihilation.

A memorably creepy newcomer to the crowded field of Nordic noir that’s worth a miniseries itself.

Kirkus Reviews