The Lost Village Review

Title: The Lost Village
Author: Camilla Sten
Style: Thriller, Mystery
Rating: 3/5

Thank you Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.  The Lost Village releases March 23rd.

Haunting, creepy and chilling are three words that I would use to describe this book.  Alice wants to create a documentary of an old mining town that became famous when every resident of the town disappeared without a trace in the late 1950's.  One of her connections is her late grandmother who once lived in this town but has moved away before everyone vanished. Alice goes to the town with a group of friends determined to find the answers to the mystery.   Once camp is set up, creepy things begin to happen. They see strange things, equipment gets destroyed and people start going missing.  Will they find the answers they are looking for before it's too late?

I felt pulled into the story right away as Alice described what her documentary would be about.  So many people these days are drawn to these types of stories on streaming services like Netflix and Hulu or in Podcasts. They've begun to make their way into books in their own unique way.  When executed correctly it really allows the reader to connect to the story.  Unfortunately, the delivery on this one fell a little short for me. I am solely speaking on the documentary part.  I am not sure any if the characters ever did any actual filming while in the village and while you did learn a bit about the history of the town most of that was done because of letters that were introduced by Alice or when you flipped to the the past. It seem liked every once in awhile the author would throw in the word documentary so readers would remember thats what the characters were there to do.  I am not sure how the author could have changed this aspect of the story though. The story overall was good and kept me pretty entertained. It's told in dual timelines, one of my favorite kinds of stories. I found myself excited to read about the past and learn what was going on in the town.  I felt certain parts of the story were unnecessary, Alice's friendship and past with Emmy, one of the characters, just didn't seem to add a ton of value to the story.  What I did love is that this kept me on the edge of my seat and certain parts were definitely spooky.  I could definitely see this playing out on the big screen and it being a huge hit.  I'd probably be found covering my eyes with a blanket. Overall it was a decent thriller that I think many would enjoy.