Book Review: THE LOST VILLAGE by Camilla Sten

 

Title: THE LOST VILLAGE

Author:  Camilla Sten

Read: May 2021

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

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?

 

My musings:

 

First of all, let me say that THE LOST VILLAGE has one of the best, most intriguing premises I have ever come across. An entire village of people has disappeared overnight, leaving behind a mutilated corpse and a newborn baby. Despite an extensive police investigation, no one has ever found out what happened to them. Now a film crew has set out to explore the isolated ghost town and make a documentary about it. This sounds fantastic, doesn’t it? What a brilliant story this could make, it has so much potential to be creepy, suspenseful and mysterious. Also, Scandinavian writers have a reputation for bringing out the dark side of humanity in a thriller, so I was ready to settle in for the night and be scared out of my wits.

 

Did the book deliver? I shall start by saying that the setting here was unique and atmospheric, and it immediately got my attention. Silvertjärn is a remote mining town nestled deeply into a Swedish forest, and since the disappearance of all its residents 60 years ago no one has set foot in the town. It can only be reached by a rugged, unsealed road, and its only entry and exit point lead over a dilapidated bridge. Also, due to being surrounded by iron ore deposits, there is no cell phone reception or internet for miles around. Ta da! Isn’t that just the best stage-set for a horror story?

 

Now enter our cast: Alice, who is the granddaughter of one of Silvertjärn’s only surviving residents (on account of her having moved to the city prior to the mysterious disappearance of the townfolk) has always been intrigued by the mystery surrounding the town. She decides to gather a small trope of friends and colleagues and travel to Silvertjärn to film a documentary about the town, secretly hoping to uncover some clues that might solve the mystery. So far so good. So the group sets off in three hired vans to complete their mission. It didn’t take long for me to discover that this was one of the most clueless group of people when it comes to survival skills, with Alice, their expedition leader, being the worst decision maker of them all. But hey, I learned a few things from her mistakes:

 

1)    When trying to climb a structurally unsafe staircase in an abandoned building, it is not a great idea to let 4 people get on it all at once.

2)    When venturing out into the wild, at least one of you should remember that your phones and electronic equipment need batteries to operate, so maybe take a battery pack.

3)    If you discover something that could endanger the whole group, it’s maybe not a great idea to keep it to yourself just because you think that your friends think you’re a scaredy-cat.

4)    If your friend gets badly injured whilst on location, just feeding her a couple of ibuprofen is probably not going to fix her broken ankle.

 

And whilst I am very grateful to Alice for giving me such important life lessons should I ever have to lead an expedition into the wilderness, this did not make up for the utter frustration I felt every time she made a stupid decision.

 

However, that said, the timeline that explored the events leading up to the villagers’ disappearance intrigued me enough to keep reading. Where Alice and her companions seem to have only escaped natural selection by the skin of their teeth, here we have a more developed character, strong and enigmatic Elsa, who is driving the 1950’s timeline. Elsa’s recounting of events soon drew me in and I eagerly devoured her narrative. It may not have been creepy in the traditional sense, but an aura of despair clearly shone through as the underlying atmosphere of danger and menace grew stronger.

 

And then, at last, came the final reveal. I am not good at suspending disbelief and therefore found it less than satisfying, but readers who are more forgiving of inconsistencies and plot holes (especially in regards to the restrictions imposed on us by our own human bodies) may find it quite original and chilling. Personally, I had hoped for a bit more.

 

Summary:

 

All in all, whilst I absolutely loved the way the author set the stage and presented us with an intriguing premise and a claustrophobic backdrop, the story did not deliver the thrills and chills I had hoped for. I found this particularly frustrating as all the elements were there, but it just didn’t come together for me. Even though it kept me reading to find out the final reveal it left me wanting more in the end.