The Village

by Krissy Webb

Perfect for fans of Shari Lapena and Ruth Ware!!

Seven college students set out to explore an abandoned 1800s mining ghost town and Native American village with their Anthropology professor, Dr. Bailey. One student does not return from the trip. His death is ruled an accident. Eighteen years later, the students are invited back to the same town to enjoy the preview opening of a new resort, The Village, that has been built from the remains of an old saloon in hopes of growing the town again. But the invitation is deceiving. The resort's owner is unknown, and the group of adults can't find any information about it online. Slowly, the guests start dying. Will the former Anthropology students find out who is behind this trip before they all end up dead?

A blizzard has arrived, trapping the former students with no contact with the outside world. As people start dying one by one, they have to figure out who has invited them back to The Village for revenge. Set in an old mining town in rural Montana, this locked room mystery will keep readers guessing until the end.

Genres: Thriller, Mystery Thriller

317 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 26, 2024

Reviews

[Jessica Carrier · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book. The plot is great and the actual story is really interesting and kept me intrigued. But oh my goodness the errors in this book. Sooooo many grammatical errors, characters mixed up, characters names misspelled then spelled correctly in the next sentence, switching from first person to third person with no explanation or reason. I can normally deal with a couple issues here and there but it honestly got distracting and frustrating.

[Sherry · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot was good and characters well developed. It kept my interest and had some twists. However, SO MANY errors. Grammatical mistakes, character mix-ups, name mispellings, missing quotations marks, run-on sentences. Towards the end it was so frequent that it was annoying and distracting. A few errors can be overlooked but not this many.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite kind of book - locked room thriller where the characters are getting picked off one by one.

Great backstory too. I thought the setting for The Village was great.

18 years ago a group of students and their professor from college did a class trip to an old Indian area called The Village. One of them died there. And now the remaining students and professor, 18 years later are getting invited back to The Village. Except it’s now a beautiful hotel and spa retreat. They’ve been invited for a soft opening by the owner. Except no one knows who the owner is…
Almost right when they get there It begins to snow and in true MT fashion there’s no end in sight. Looks like they are stuck along with the employees.

Great pace, decent action and nice revelation. I really liked this one.

[Bookworm_0413 · Rating 3 out of 5]

46% Finally starting to get into this book. Wow, was I that young in my twenties? It was years ago, but I don't remember being that dumb. I probably was though. It's taken me this long to get a flow going with the book. I wasn't too sure of the writing style. I do have some issues with books that flop back and forth on timelines, but so many books do that I think I'm just gonna have to get used to it.

72% Honey people Honey!! It's got to be better than nothing. Even try garlic.

Completed. Huh, I don't know. I never felt any connection with the characters. This was really just a book that filled time for me. It was interesting enough for me to finish it.

[Caryn Lantz · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF’d at 59%, so I’m counting it as “read” as compensation for my pain and suffering.

Great idea, horribly inconsistent writing, misspellings, usage of punctuation, etc. Usually I can let those things slide, especially with indie authors, but there were so many with this book it took me too far out of the plot. Author…please hire a copy editor!

[Kelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Krissy Webb’s The Village is a well crafted thriller packed with suspense, atmospheric dread, and shocking twists. Set in a remote Montana ghost town turned eerie resort, the story plunges readers into a high-stakes game of survival as the former Anthropology students face a deadly reckoning.

The isolated setting, combined with a blizzard and a shadowy motive for revenge, creates a claustrophobic and gripping experience. With every twist and turn, Webb keeps you hooked until the final, jaw-dropping reveal. Perfect for fans of locked-room mysteries, The Village is an unputdownable thrill ride!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I figured out the vast majority of the plot and ending but there were a couple surprises. I enjoyed the ride.

[§amantha · Rating 1 out of 5]

dnf

[Trisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are so many typos in this book! And repeating of the persons name every other sentence when we know who each chapter is referencing at the beginning.

[Keri Canada · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t need everything I read to be great literature, and knowing that (and the fact that I have a hard time not finishing things once I’ve started) helped me finish this book. I understand it was self-published and I know that takes a lot of work, but come on - proofread your book at least once. As other reviews have mentioned, the grammar is awful, words are used incorrectly, and the flow is off. One review I read indicated the book demonstrated depth of research, which is laughable - the author says Native Americans introduced the concept of the supernatural to the world and called Montana an “Arctic” location. A simple internet search would disprove either assertion right away.

I’ve taught Anthropology for nearly two decades and was excited to find a pop culture book that referenced it; it’s not one of those sexy majors that gets a lot of attention and I was really interested to see where the author went with it. Not far, as it turns out. (The author also seeks to think Anthropology and Sociology are interchangeable, confusing the two when talking about the major of one of the characters.) While field school or field experience classes are common in our discipline, the one central to the story has so many things wrong with it that I’m not even sure where to start (so I won’t; I’m not teaching a class to you all). But really - trekking through snow to examine tents around 200 years old that are supposedly still intact and standing? Looking for paper journals exposed to the elements but are still in one piece and readable? (Not to mention a student with an obvious concussion who is just . . . allowed to walk around slurring his speech? No red flags there?)

[Nevada Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

New author, Krissy Webb, has provided us with an amazing tale of mystery, guiding us through a tapestry of events leaving us guessing till the end!

Told through various perspectives across two different time settings, the author throws us into the minds of the very likable cast of characters, building mysteries that leave us invested and caring for their wellbeing.

Plotted through careful consideration, we experience the story of these characters’ relationships and situations, introducing unexpected revelations along the way. While I had figured out a few things just before they were revealed, the story still delivers an exceptional tale that is a complete thrill ride through and through. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a great mystery with relatable characters.

In closing, I’m so ready for a game of Clue :)

[Lacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this novel. The author demonstrates depth of research, as well as, creative use of genre ( thriller/mystery) elements to craft a masterful tale. I'm a History Professor, and I enjoy novels with academia as an element of the plot. I also enjoy a "locked room " mystery. I read lots of thrillers and usually solve it before the end. In both of her novels thus far, Webb has kept me guessing until the last. Like her first novel, this one has a twist you don't see coming. At 255 pages, it is a quick read. It is a book that could easily be finished in a weekend. It will pull you in and leave you stunned. Bravo madam, you've done it again. I look forward to more of your work.

[Michelle Willms · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF-Clunky writing, needs editing

I made it through 40 pages of this book. The writing was filled with errors, too many unnecessary details, and misused words. The author switched tenses often, sometimes mid-paragraph, and even switched person. I really thought the premise of the book held potential, but I just couldn't continue. Perhaps with the help of a really good editor, this book can be salvaged.

[Melanie Brownrigg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story centers on several college students and their professor who took a field trip 18 years ago and were reunited at the same place all those years later. As the characters were murdered one by one, and my suspicions increased, I thought I had pegged the killer, but I was wrong. The characters were well developed, and the storyline moved along quickly. All in all, this was an enjoyable read.

[Madison Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book had a decent storyline. Okay character development. The story was just enough to keep you interested. Normally, I don't mind a few errors in a book, especially if it's self-published, but this one had many. Spelling errors, grammatical errors, character mix-up, sentences that didn't make much sense, and missing words. It really started to irk me 😂

[Mari · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m not even sure where I got the recommendation for this book but here are my thoughts. The actual storyline had so much potential but it felt like AI was used to write this. The only way I knew it wasn’t all AI written were the extreme number of grammatical errors throughout the book. I cannot ever DNF a book and I wanted to stop reading this shortly after I started it.

[Marianne McIntosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rate this one 3.5. This was a quick and entertaining read. I usually figure out the twists, and I didn't figure all of them out, so that's a plus. All of my questions were answered in the end, which is another plus. The timelines threw me off at first because I would forget if I was reading about now or the past, but overall, it's a good read.

[Alex Barnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a slow start and I wasn’t sure at first. However, once it started to speed up, I was hooked. It definitely had some shocking twists and turns. Some suspicions I had early on…some I never saw coming.

The POV changed quite a bit between people and time - this isn’t something I tend to enjoy, but I didn’t mind it in this book.

Overall, it was a good book. Super quick, easy read!

[Trisha T · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt like two different stories trying to be mashed together. Almost felt like was reading an ARC. Very frustrating because I didn’t hate the story, it just felt thrown together. Too many plot holes and repetitive lines. Would love another book based just on the past storyline.

[Tabitha Coleman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great storyline.. if you can read through the typos and grammatical errors.

Loud of grammatical errors.. definitely needed a final edit before print but the storyline was intriguing! There were several twists!

[Cayley ✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the concept but it was a hard read.
The proof read must've been lightly skimmed at best. I found myself rereading a lot of pages to make it make sense due to so many changes of perspective and grammar/punctuation errors.

[Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read about half of this and had to give up. Too many characters and jumping back and forth in time only made them more confusing. When I get to the point where I don't care what happens to anybody ... time to call it quits. This was not for me.

[Candy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing

The storyline had potential but it just really didn't live up to it. It didn't really flow the way you would expect. I got about 65 %through and wanted to DNF but I pushed on. It didn't get any better. The only term I can think of to describe it was messy.

[Keeleigh Jumper · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should’ve read the reviews first because the grammatical errors, typos, and inconsistencies drove me slightly insane. the plot was good, although I figured out the twists, but the errors seriously downgraded the experience.

[Leslie Bristow · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a ride

A twisty whodunnit with a sharp twist at the very end! Taking science and imagination to create an amazing story!!

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every time I thought I had it figured out I was proven wrong! Really enjoyed the story line and all the twists and turns!

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read. Reminded me a lot of "And Then There Were None." I loved that the twist felt obvious.... Until it wasn't.

[Dena Weber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this book 3 stars but it’s honestly only 2.5. The story was ok but the typos and grammar were off the chart distracting.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️s.

[Cara Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Krissy knocked it out of the park again! Loved this book ❤️ can't wait for her next one