Alice Lindstedt is a filmmaker who has decided to do a documentary on the residents of an old mining town known as “The Lost Village” who all vanished. In 1959, her grandmother’s family all disappeared there in a mysterious tragedy. The only people left were a woman stoned to death and an abandoned newborn baby. Alice gathers a small crew to make a film of what really happened.

Once they arrive at camp, mysterious things start to happen such as walkie-talkies malfunctioning, destroyed equipment, and people going missing. Alice really wants to get to the truth of what happened in the village back in 1959, but she begins to fear they are not alone. Something sinister is lurking around the lost village and seems to be looking for them.

The Lost Village by Camilla Sten is told from dual timelines. “Now” is from Alice’s point of view, and “then” is from her great-grandmother Elsa’s perspective. I found the “now” perspective to be a bit creepier, but preferred the storyline of “then”. I felt it brought more to the story giving us the background of what happened to the people of the village.

This book had all the makings for a great horror story. It has been compared to The Blair Witch Project, which I can see because it does have similarly eerie vibes; however, the story did fall short for me. I feel like there was not enough character development, which would have helped the story a lot. There were times the author would bring something up that would have benefited the book, but then it was never mentioned again. I’m not going to give examples to avoid spoilers. I also think the author would have benefited to include more about the creepiness of the village itself. It would have set the mood better. Overall, this book had a good premise that fell a little short.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.