Major spoilers for Abandoned by Blake Crouch (which isn't worth it) and very minor spoilers for The Lost Village by Camilla Sten (which is).

Both stories are about small, abandoned mountain towns whose entire population mysteriously disappeared. One was a remote old west town while the other was a dying mine town in mid twentieth century Sweden. Both go back and forth between the present and what lead up to the disappearance.

Crouch created an imaginary treasure hidden with a historic mystery. Then he added mercenaries. Then the police were in on it. The ridiculous, implausible dramatics kept adding up. It quickly stopped being realistic before turning completely ridiculous.

I stopped being worried for the main character and started wondering what he was going to torment her with next. Turning your thriller into a discount Job takes the fun out of it.

Sten did what Crouch tried to do and did it so much better.

A fading village for a now defunct mine found empty save for a stoned corpse and abandoned newborn. A crew of intrepid filmmakers hoping to tell the village's story. Is history repeating itself with the numerous mishaps on their trip?

The charisma and power of the new pastor over a dying town full of desperate people was unsettling. The most unnerving part was how possible most of it seemed.

Look at January 6 and what bitter, desperate fools were willing to do for a man who they'd never met. A man who had given them nothing but lies and empty promises. Now make that charismatic man a smart, driven psychopath.

Sten gave you the pieces to guess most of key events but left enough hidden to keep you guessing until the end. Are they really alone in the village? If not, how many remain?

Sten paced the novel incredibly well, building tension on both sides of the story until it culminated in dramatic revelations. I found one slightly implausible but the book was otherwise so good I went with it.

I'm very glad The Lost Village was translated and available at my library. I highly recommend it.

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