Book Review: The Lost Village by Camilla Sten

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten
Length: 352 Pages
Genres: Horror and Mystery
Rating: 3.5 Stars out of 5

A special thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for providing me with an ARC of this book

"The church looms large over the small buildings on the eastern side of the village, its tall, proud spire topped by a slender cross that glistens, impossibly bright, in the light of the setting sun. The houses look almost as if they've sprouted from the church like little mushrooms, falling and moldering to form walls and silhouettes along the coppery-red river running down to the small woodland lake that village its name: silvertjärn, silver tarn."

Trigger Warnings in this book for a Suicide Attempt, Gore and Violence, Abuse of a Disabled Person, Discussions of Mental Illness, and Implied Rape

Alice Lindstedt has one goal in life - to make a successful documentary about the lost village of Silvertjärn, Sweden. Her grandmother grew up in the village, and her parents and younger sister were among the 900 people who vanished without a trace in 1959. All that was left behind was a newborn baby, and the body of Birgitta Lidman, stoned and strapped to a pole in the middle of Silvertjärn.

Alice brings Tone, a troubled friend who has her own links to Silvertjärn; Max, the backer of the project, and Emmy and Robert, who have filming experience. Emmy just so happens to also be a friend of Alice's from college that she hasn't spoken to in years and their troubled past crackles through the rest of the group like electricity. Soon, they start to experience strange things - a sighting of a figure out in the rain, strange laughter over the walkie-talkies, and a explosion that leaves them trapped and without resources as they come to the horrifying conclusion that they are most definitely not alone.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021 and I have to admit I was a little let down. I absolutely loved the setting of the spooky and remote Swedish village, with all the identically colorful little houses, looming church and creepy mines. It even contained one of my favorite tropes - the evil and seductive priest. However, I feel that The Lost Village was really let down by its writing, which came across amateurish and telling, especially in the "Then" chapters, which followed Alice's great-grandmother, Elsa. It did improve over the course of the book and I wonder how much of the problem has to do with translation, as the author is Swedish herself.

 Another main issue I had was with the character of Birgitta. She is guessed at by Alice and the others as being Autistic, or having a "chromosomal problem", and is shunned by the majority of the villagers. Her storyline greatly disturbed me, and I could hardly read the chapter that details her death.

I think as a society, we need to move past using mental illnesses as a crutch in horror. It's not a "Gotcha!" moment, and for me, comes across as a cheap tactic to inspire shock. Alice, Tone, and Birgitta all have mental illnesses and the handling of them all seemed ham-fisted at best. While Alice and Emmy's relationship is one of the most interesting of the book, I couldn't quite bring myself to understand or forgive Emmy's actions, and I didn't especially like the way they were framed in the book, as if Alice was the one truly at fault.

Overall, I think of The Lost Village as a scary B movie - entertaining and light, nothing more, nothing less.