Camilla Sten, the mastermind behind the acclaimed horror novels The Lost Village and The Resting Place, returns with The Bachelorette Party, a meticulously crafted psychological thriller that weaves together obsession, grief, and the devastating consequences of buried secrets. This latest offering demonstrates Sten’s remarkable ability to transform seemingly innocent settings into landscapes of terror, proving once again why she stands among the premier voices in contemporary Nordic noir.
Set against the deceptively serene backdrop of the Swedish archipelago, Sten constructs a narrative that feels both intimately personal and universally terrifying. The novel operates on multiple timelines, skillfully alternating between the present-day bachelorette party and the haunting disappearance of four friends a decade earlier—a technique that creates mounting tension while slowly revealing the horrifying connections between past and present.
Dual Narratives That Build Inexorable Dread
The story follows Tessa Nilsson, a disgraced true crime podcaster whose career imploded after a scandal involving fabricated evidence. When her childhood friend Anneliese invites her to a luxury bachelorette party on a remote Swedish island, Tessa sees an opportunity for redemption. The location bears an unsettling resemblance to Isle Blind, where the notorious “Nacka Four”—Matilda, Linnea, Evelina, and Anna—vanished without a trace ten years prior.
Sten’s characterization of Tessa proves particularly compelling. Rather than presenting a typical unreliable narrator, she crafts a protagonist whose desperation and moral ambiguity feel genuinely human. Tessa’s obsession with the Nacka Four case stems not just from professional interest but from a deeper psychological need to understand how lives can suddenly, violently end. This personal connection transforms what could have been a simple mystery into an exploration of how trauma shapes our relationship with violence and loss.
The dual timeline structure allows Sten to gradually unveil the truth behind the original disappearances while building tension in the present. The 2012 storyline reveals Carl von Thurn’s methodical approach to murder—his calculated decision to eliminate all witnesses after Evelina threatened to expose his affair with her. Sten’s portrayal of Carl as a superficially civilized man capable of horrific violence feels disturbingly realistic, avoiding the theatrical villain trope in favor of something more unsettling: banality of evil.
Character Development Through Trauma
Where Sten truly excels is in her exploration of how grief transforms individuals into instruments of vengeance. Irene, the yoga retreat owner and Matilda’s sister, emerges as the novel’s most complex character—a woman whose decade-long quest for justice has metastasized into something darker and more destructive. Her partnership with Adam, Linnea’s former boyfriend, creates a fascinating dynamic that explores how shared trauma can both bond and corrupt.
The revelation that Irene orchestrated the entire bachelorette party as an elaborate trap demonstrates Sten’s skill at psychological manipulation—both of her characters and readers. The author plants seeds of suspicion throughout the narrative, directing attention toward Adam as the potential threat while Irene operates in plain sight, her calm, spiritual demeanor masking a calculating mind bent on revenge.
Anneliese’s role as Carl’s former alibi provides the moral complexity that elevates this beyond a simple revenge thriller. Her youthful mistake—lying to police about Carl’s whereabouts the night of the murders—illustrates how seemingly minor decisions can have catastrophic consequences. Sten refuses to present clear victims and villains, instead crafting a moral landscape where everyone bears some responsibility for the tragedy that unfolds.
Atmospheric Mastery and Cultural Authenticity
Sten’s background as a Swedish author writing directly in English pays dividends in her atmospheric descriptions. The isolated island setting becomes a character unto itself, with the Baltic Sea serving as both beautiful backdrop and ominous threat. Her descriptions of the Swedish archipelago feel authentic without becoming tourist brochure prose, capturing the region’s austere beauty and underlying menace.
The yoga retreat setting proves particularly inspired, subverting expectations about wellness culture while providing a contained environment for escalating tension. Sten’s gentle mockery of lifestyle trends feels organic rather than forced, adding moments of dark humor that provide necessary breathing room between intense sequences.
The author’s treatment of Swedish social dynamics—the unspoken class hierarchies, the cultural pressure for emotional restraint, the way privilege shields certain individuals from consequences—adds layers of cultural authenticity that ground the thriller elements in recognizable reality.
Technical Craft and Narrative Structure
Sten demonstrates remarkable technical proficiency in managing multiple plotlines and timelines. The pacing feels deliberate yet urgent, with each chapter revealing carefully calibrated information that advances both mystery and character development. Her use of documents, phone records, and police reports as chapter breaks provides verisimilitude while offering different perspectives on the same events.
The shifting point-of-view structure allows readers intimate access to multiple characters’ psychologies without sacrificing narrative coherence. Particularly effective are the glimpses into Carl’s mindset during the original murders, which reveal his chilling rationality and self-justification. These sections avoid exploitation while providing necessary insight into the killer’s psychology.
However, the novel occasionally struggles with exposition, particularly in scenes where characters must explain complex backstories. Some dialogue feels slightly artificial when tasked with conveying crucial plot information, though these moments are relatively infrequent and don’t significantly impact the overall narrative flow.
Thematic Depth and Social Commentary
Beyond its thriller elements, The Bachelorette Party functions as sharp social commentary on several contemporary issues. The true crime podcast phenomenon receives particularly pointed treatment, with Tessa’s fall from grace serving as critique of the ethics surrounding entertainment derived from real tragedy. Sten explores how the commodification of violence affects both consumers and creators of such content.
The novel also examines themes of justice versus vengeance, asking difficult questions about what society owes victims’ families and whether closure can ever truly be achieved through punishment. Irene’s transformation from grieving sister to calculating killer illustrates how the desire for justice can become indistinguishable from the need for revenge.
Female friendship dynamics receive nuanced treatment throughout the novel. The relationships between the bachelorette party attendees feel authentic, capturing both the genuine affection and underlying tensions that characterize long-term friendships. Sten avoids the trap of making female characters compete primarily over male attention, instead focusing on how shared history and divergent life paths can create complex emotional landscapes.
Minor Criticisms and Areas for Improvement
Despite its many strengths, the novel does suffer from occasional pacing issues in its middle section. Some scenes at the yoga retreat feel slightly repetitive, particularly those establishing the group dynamics, though these moments ultimately serve the larger narrative purpose of building false security before the final act’s revelations.
The resolution, while satisfying on an emotional level, may feel slightly convenient to some readers. The way various plot threads converge requires a certain suspension of disbelief, particularly regarding the timing of revelations and character confrontations. However, Sten earns these moments through careful character development and thematic consistency.
Additionally, some secondary characters feel underdeveloped, existing primarily to serve plot functions rather than as fully realized individuals. This is particularly noticeable with some of the bachelorette party guests who fade into the background as the thriller elements intensify.
Comparative Analysis and Genre Context
The Bachelorette Party stands favorably alongside other contemporary Scandinavian thrillers while carving out its own distinct identity. Readers of Tana French’s psychological mysteries will appreciate Sten’s attention to character psychology, while fans of Ruth Ware’s isolated-setting thrillers will find familiar pleasures in the claustrophobic island atmosphere.
The novel most closely resembles Lucy Foley’s The Guest List in its bachelorette party setting and multiple timeline structure, though Sten’s approach feels more psychologically grounded and less reliant on shocking twists. Like Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, it explores how ordinary people can harbor extraordinary capacity for manipulation and violence.
Within Sten’s own body of work, this novel represents a more intimate approach than her previous efforts. While The Lost Village dealt with cult horror and The Resting Place explored family secrets, The Bachelorette Party focuses more closely on personal relationships and individual psychology, suggesting an author continuing to evolve and experiment with different aspects of the thriller genre.
Final Verdict and Recommendations
The Bachelorette Party succeeds brilliantly as both psychological thriller and character study, offering readers a complex, morally ambiguous narrative that lingers long after the final page. Sten’s skillful manipulation of reader expectations, combined with her authentic portrayal of grief’s transformative power, creates a deeply unsettling yet ultimately satisfying reading experience.
The novel will particularly appeal to readers who enjoy:
- Psychologically complex narratives that explore moral ambiguity
- Atmospheric thrillers set in isolated locations
- Character-driven mysteries that prioritize emotional truth over plot mechanics
- Nordic noir with authentic cultural details
- Stories examining the ethics of true crime entertainment
While not without minor flaws, The Bachelorette Party confirms Camilla Sten’s position as a major voice in contemporary thriller fiction. Her ability to find horror in human psychology rather than supernatural elements, combined with her gift for atmospheric writing, makes this a standout entry in an increasingly crowded genre.
Similar Books You Might Enjoy
If The Bachelorette Party captivated you, consider these similar reads:
- Lucy Foley’s The Guest List – Another bachelorette party gone wrong with multiple timelines
- Ruth Ware’s The Woman in Cabin 10 – Isolated maritime setting with psychological thriller elements
- Tana French’s In the Woods – Atmospheric crime fiction exploring how past trauma shapes present actions
- Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects – Psychological thriller examining how family secrets destroy lives
- Alex Michaelides’s The Silent Patient – Character study of trauma and revenge with unreliable narration
- Erin Kelly’s He Said/She Said – Explores how a single violent event reverberates through multiple lives
- Jane Harper’s The Dry – Atmospheric thriller set in an isolated community with buried secrets
Camilla Sten has crafted a thriller that honors the genre’s conventions while transcending them, creating a work that functions equally well as entertainment and as serious exploration of justice, revenge, and the prices we pay for our past choices.