This month, I escaped real-life horrors by reading a horror story set in Sweden. Camilla Sten’s The Lost Village centers on a small mining town in Sweden whose population disappears without explanation.
The story is told in dual timelines. In one timeline, a young woman in the present leads a documentary team into the abandoned village for an investigation. In the other, the young woman’s great-grandmother narrates the events that lead to the disappearance. At times, this structure added to the tension. At times, it gave away information. In reflection, I think I would have preferred the story told in a single timeline (the modern one) and the characters work harder to get the information that the reader needs.
There were some holes in the story, too. Paranormal events early in the story are never given even a hint of explanation. A character lives for years in a town without food—again, without explanation.
Still, I found the story engaging. I did enjoy the paranormal touches and the exploration of groupthink and mental illness. Camilla Sten is an author I would read again.