Sunday, March 28, 2021

The Lost Village (Camilla Sten)

It's so rare for authors to write horror novels anymore whose name is not Stephen King. There are always countless mysteries on the shelf, but the amount of true horror books is quite small. Camilla Sten's The Lost Village is done really well and keeps the reader guessing until the last few pages.

In 1959, the residents of an entire Swedish village simply vanished. All that was left was a single body stoned in the town square and a newborn baby crying in a school. In present day, Alice Lindstedt travels to this village for two reasons: to make a documentary and to try to discover what happened to the villagers, some of whom were her grandmother's family. Almost immediately, Alice and her crew become the victims of sinister happenings as they look for the truth.

The Lost Village is extremely creepy, with some truly frightening moments. Sten's choice of parallel narrations between "then" and "now" is also very effective. I really liked this one! But take my advice -- read it with the lights on.

MY RATING - 4