STADEN – THE LOST VILLAGE

By Camilla Sten

One day in 1959, an entire village of people disappeared – leaving behind only the broken body of a woman in the town square, and an abandoned newborn in a schoolroom.
No one knows why they vanished.  No one’s been there since. Until now.

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.  Her grandmother’s entire family disappeared in this mysterious tragedy, and ever since, the unanswered questions surrounding the dead woman and abandoned baby have plagued her.

She’s gathered a small crew of filmmaking friends to spend a few days in the quiet village and make a film about what really happened. There will be no turning back for them.
Not long after they’ve set up camp, mysterious things begin to happen. Equipment is destroyed.  People begin to go missing.   As doubt breeds fear and their very minds begin to crack, one thing becomes startlingly clear to Alice:  they are not alone.
Addictively gripping and brilliantly chilling, The Lost Village by Camilla Sten is a pulse-pounding, riveting thriller from beginning to end.

To be published by Norstedts, Sweden 2019 est. 320 pages

Arabic, Al Arabi Publishing
Australia, Minotaur Books/St. Martin’s
Canada, Minotaur Books/St. Martin’s

Czech Republic, Metafora
Denmark, Gads Forlag
Estonia, Eesti Raamat
Finland, Bazar
France, Editions du Seuil
Germany, HarperCollins Germany
Iceland, Ugla útgáfa
Italy, Fazi Editore
Latvia, Jumava Publishing
The Netherlands, Karakter Uitgevers
New Zealand, Minotaur Books/St. Martin’s
Poland, Zysk
Romania, Editura Rao
Russia, Eksmo
Slovakia, Ikar
Sweden, Norstedts
UK, Minotaur Books/St. Martin’s
USA, Minotaur Books/St. Martin’s

Sweden, Nordisk Film

Come for the mounting horror and scares, but stay for a devastating examination of the nature of family secrets.
Sarah Weinman, New York Times

Camilla Sten’s often scary, highly entertaining debut “The Lost Village” delivers a robust plot that pays homage to Shirley Jackson’s venerable “The Lottery” and her tense “The Haunting of Hill House” as well as Joan Lindsay’s “Picnic at Hanging Rock,” Tim Krabbé’s “The Vanishing” and just about any work by Edgar Allan Poe or H.P. Lovecraft.
– South Florida Sun Sentinel

“The Lost Village” draws you in with its spooky premise—the disappearance of an entire town—but great atmospherics and unexpected twists keep you turning the pages. For fans of haunted reality TV shows, Scandinavian thrillers, and all things relentlessly creepy.
– Alma Katsu, author of The Deep and The Hunger (An NPR Best Horror Novel)

Very atmospheric and engaging mystery from a new and exciting voice in Scandinavian crime. The reader is drawn into a unique setting from page one and it is impossible to stop reading.
– Ragnar Jonasson, author of The Island

An enthralling and claustrophobic read. Camilla Sten has written a lurid thriller that will send shivers down your spine.
– M.T. Edvardsson, author of A Nearly Normal Family

This gripping psychological thriller is sure to please fans of Shirley Jackson and cinema verité–styled horror.
Publishers Weekly

Very hard to put down…delivers maximum dread with remarkable restraint, and as the situation goes from bad to worse to terrifying, readers will revel in the chills.
Booklist

A thriller reminiscent of Stephen King that kept me gripped from the first page to the last. Camilla Sten is an author to watch.
– Camilla Grebe, author and recipient of the Glass Key, for best Scandinavian suspense 2018

Camila Sten is a real star and has already created her own unique place on the suspense map. “The Lost Village” is a real page-turner for anyone who loves a well written psychological thriller, but Camilla is also adding something new to the genre and I feel incredible happy to get to publish her book.
– Erika Degard, publisher at Norstedts. 

“The Lost Village” is an excellent suspense novel with amazing characters. I have not read a thriller  this exciting and frightening in a very long time. This is exactly what I was looking for: strong emotions, tension, a well written story with an interesting atmosphere. Camilla’s book will definitely be the highlight of 2020 when it will be published in France.
– Bénédicte Lombardo at Seuil. 

In flashbacks we get to follow a woman’s observations concerning the mine that’s closing, the crazy woman and the mysterious new minister. The past and the present is intertwined to perfection in this brilliant thriller.
– Staffan Wilsson in Femina.

“The Lost Village” is the most thrilling thing I’ve read in a long time. Wow! It’s impossible to stop reading. This book was so scary that it made want to put it down but the excitement and the mystery kept me going. Sten captures the calm and isolation of the countryside but at the same she fills every shadowy nook and cranny with unease. The storytelling is straightforward and yet very subtle and through this Sten manages to lull me into a sort of calm which results in me being unprepared every time something unexpected happens. My pulse was high and my senses sharp from start to finish.
– Veckans Boktips (Instagram)

The book has a whisper of Stephen King, Neil Spring and CJ Tudor. I was captivated throughout as the writing is sharp and compelling. Brilliantly paced and execute, I really enjoyed this.
– The Book Trail

It’s not every day that you get to witness a new international breakthrough but it’s amazing when you do. Camilla Sten has written a lot of great things previously but with her latest book, The Lost Village, she is guaranteed to reach international stardom. It’s too lazy to just describe her as a new Stephen King because she is so much more than that. “The Lost Village” establishes a kind of nordic horror that holds the reader in it’s grip but at the same time has something very important to say about threats that are all too real in today’s society. Camilla Sten has the ability to build up and highlight the possible threat in an everyday milieu, her five main characters develops into three dimensional individuals, formed by their own individual stories that result in complicated relationships in the tiny group that form around the main protagonist Alice. It’s been a while since I’ve been as hooked on a new book as I am right now. Read The Lost Village and witness a new international star being born.
Anders Kapp (Kapprakt)

I read this book in one go – it’s a wonderfully suggestiv Swedish horror novel! Sten describes the abandoned and forgotten society of Silvertjärn in a way that makes you feel as if you were actually there. The horror slowly builds up throughout the book, which is nice because it’s never too much on the nose. The interplay between the characters is also very intriguing and adds nicely to the tension and the atmosphere of the book. This is really good!! I hope that Sten continues to write more horror in the future.
Läsa & Lyssna

Welcome to the world of Swedish author Camilla Sten who has written a stark tale that is impossible to forget.
Criminalelement

The book has a whisper of Stephen King, Neil Spring and CJ Tudor. I was captivated throughout as the writing is sharp and compelling. Brilliantly paced and execute, I really enjoyed this
– The Book Trail

The Lost Village” is a surprising thriller that you should only start if you have enough time to read the book all at once, because putting it down is difficult. An atmosphere that can be compared to the work of Stephen King.
– hebban.nl

In short, Sweden has delivered another top thriller and Camilla Sten is an author to keep an eye on. She can become a very big one!
– Thrillzone.nl

 

 

 

 

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