Staff Pick: The Lost Village by Camilla Sten

TitleThe Lost Village

AuthorCamilla Sten

NarratorAngela Dawe

Scary movies are pretty much all I watch these days from paranormal to slasher and everything in between, they offer a much-needed escape from reality. Watching these freaky flicks while sitting safe and cozy inside really makes you thankful that you’re not dealing with a murderous man in a mask or an angry spirit looking for its revenge.

So, with that in mind, it’s not surprising that when The Lost Village by Camilla Sten popped up in my recommended listens and I saw that it was touted as Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar, hello?? I didn’t even hesitate to pick this one up! These comparisons really do hold up too! The Lost Village had the same uneasy found footage style of The Blair Witch Project while inserting the story of a mysterious secluded Scandinavian village a la Midsommar.

This unputdownable listen follows Alice Lindstedt and her group of friends as they travel to a remote village where almost 900 of its residents vanished back in 1959 leaving nothing in their wake but an abandoned newborn and woman stoned to death in the town square. Alice and her friends are determined to make a documentary and find out what truly happened in this “lost village,” but production is halted as unexplainable things begin to happen, equipment goes missing or is wrecked, and the crew starts seeing things that shouldn’t be there.

The narration by Angela Dawe is really what brought this story to life and allowed me to paint a better picture of each character in my mind. Her narration gave me a feeling of actually peeking behind the curtain of Alice’s internal monologue. There were points of this book that the description of the scene really gave me the creeps, so if you’re a horror/thriller novice, get ready for some nightmare fuel.

The Lost Village was a wild ride with all the suspense, and twists and turns that you could want and it left me guessing until the end. If you’re a fan of a good horror flick or anything from Riley Sager, you’ll definitely want to jump into this audiobook next.

Publisher Summary:

The Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar in this brilliantly disturbing thriller from Camilla Sten, an electrifying new voice in suspense.

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. In 1959, her grandmother’s entire family disappeared in this mysterious tragedy, and ever since, the unanswered questions surrounding the only two people who were left—a woman stoned to death in the town center and an abandoned newborn—have plagued her. She’s gathered a small crew of friends in the remote village to make a film about what really happened.

But there will be no turning back.

Not long after they’ve set up camp, mysterious things begin to happen. Equipment is destroyed. People go missing. As doubt breeds fear and their very minds begin to crack, one thing becomes startlingly clear to Alice:

They are not alone.

They’re looking for the truth…
But what if it finds them first?

Come find out.

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Related Articles:

• Staff Pick: The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

• Book Clubbin’: 9 Discussion Questions for The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

• Staff Pick: Theme Music by T. Marie Vandelly


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STAFF PICK: Theme Music by T. Marie Vandelly

Title: Theme Music
Author: T. Marie Vandelly
Narrator: Sarah Mollo-Christensen

Dixie, when I let you go
Thought you’d realize that I would know
I would show
The special love I have for you
My baby blue

Upon first reading the synopsis for Theme Music I immediately thought of The Amityville Horror and it definitely had a similar feeling to it with a mysterious family murder and a ghostly presence in the place where it all began. What set Theme Music apart for me was the unique twists and turns that the story took. From horror to psychological thriller to family drama – this fast-paced listen kept me hooked all the way through.

When Dixie Wheeler was just a baby her father murdered her entire family on Thanksgiving day. A neighbor found her, the only survivor, in her high chair while Baby Blue by Badfinger echoed through the empty house. Thus, Dixie’s nickname Baby Blue was born and the Wheeler murders became something of a local legend.

After being raised by her aunt and uncle, 25 years later Dixie wants answers about what happened that day. Dixie moves into her family home where her life was forever changed and now, she must come face to face with the ghosts of her past…which seem a little too real. Once people start to turn up dead around her, she wonders how real those ghosts actually are.

I must warn you, if you do plan to embark on this twisty tale, there is a fair bit of gore – especially right off the bat. But the way that T. Marie Vandelly describes the macabre really sets the scene and allows you to immerse yourself in the story. Since Dixie was only a baby when the murders took place, she can only recount that day from what she’s read in newspapers and heard from rumors and gossip from people around town. In a way, the reader is in the same position as Dixie – we see everything through Dixie’s eyes and we learn everything she learns about what happened that day. This makes every twist that much more suspenseful! I’m telling you, I couldn’t listen to this audiobook fast enough – I had to know what would happen next!

Theme Music was narrated by Sarah Mollo-Christensen, an Audie-nominated narrator who has lent her voice to over 70 audiobooks on Audiobooks.com. Sarah’s portrayal of Dixie expertly mixed Dixie’s dark humor and uneasiness, which allowed me to connect with her character that much more.

Ghost story? Check. Psychological thriller? Check. Crime fiction? Check. If you’re looking for a new listen that’s packed with all of the goodness listed above, then you’ll definitely want to give T. Marie Vandelly‘s debut novel, Theme Music a listen.

Publisher Summary:

She didn’t run from her dark past. She moved in. 

For the lucky among us, life is what you make of it; but for Dixie Wheeler, the theme music for her story was chosen by another long ago, on the day her father butchered her mother and brothers and then slashed a knife across his own throat. Only one-year-old Dixie was spared, becoming infamously known as Baby Blue for the song left playing in the aftermath of the slaughter.
 

Twenty-five years later, Dixie is still desperate for a connection to the family she can’t remember. So when her childhood home goes up for sale, Dixie sets aside all reason and moves in. But as the ghosts of her family seemingly begin to take up residence in the house that was once theirs, Dixie starts to question her own sanity and wonders if the evil force menacing her is that of her father or a demon of her own making. 

In order to make sense of her present, Dixie becomes determined to unravel the truth of her past and seeks out the detective who originally investigated the murders. But the more she learns, the more she opens up the uncomfortable possibility that the sins of her father may belong to another. As bodies begin to pile up around her, Dixie must find a way to expose the lunacy behind her family’s massacre to save her few loved ones that are still alive—and whatever scrap of sanity she has left...

Read more and sample the audio →


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June is Audiobook Month Staff Picks

The Audiobooks.com team is sharing our top listening recommendations in celebration of June is Audiobook Month! Check out this post (as well as our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages) every weekday to find out which audiobooks we can’t stop talking about.

 

Steph’s pick: The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell, narrated by Greg Sestero

Disaster Artist.

As a struggling actor with a lack of confidence and funds, Greg Sestero’s luck seems to change when he meets Tommy Wiseau at a San Francisco acting school. Wiseau’s mysterious, and seemingly endless, supply of cash allows him to pour $6 million of his own money on a cinematic disaster called The Room. The hilarious, inspiring, and true story of their struggles, triumphs, and unique relationship makes this story a must-see and read.
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Lauren’s pick: Find Your Extraordinary: Dream Bigger, Live Happier, and Achieve Success on Your Own Terms by Jessica Herrin, narrated by Jessica Herrin

Find Your Extraordinary.

It is possible to take your life from ordinary to extraordinary. The secret? Cultivating the entrepreneurial spirit inside you – the spirit that allows you to embrace your individuality, to look not just at what is but at what could be, to believe in yourself beyond reason and to step up to creating your own definition of happiness and success – a version of success in which work and family life happily co-exist – instead of chasing a cookie-cutter version.
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Shamir’s pick: Iron Gold by Pierce Brown, narrated by John CurlessTim Gerard ReynoldsJulian Elfer, and Aedin Moloney

Iron Gold.

Honor and betrayal fuel a caste-shattering revolution. Ten years after the events of Morning Star, Darrow and the Rising are battling the remaining Gold loyalist forces and are closer than ever to abolishing the color-coded caste system of Society for good. But new foes will emerge from the shadows to threaten the imperfect victory Darrow and his friends have earned.
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Nick’s pick: Emergency by Neil Strauss, narrated by Neil Strauss

Emergency.

Emergency traces Neil‘s white-knuckled journey through today’s heart of darkness, as he sets out to move his life offshore, test his skills in the wild, and remake himself as a gun-toting, plane-flying, government-defying survivor. It’s one man’s story of a dangerous world and how to stay alive in it.
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Graeme’s pick: The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey, narrated by Finty Williams

The Girl With All The Gifts.

Melanie is a very special girl. Dr Caldwell calls her “our little genius.” Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointed at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. She jokes that she won’t bite, but they don’t laugh.
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Daniel’s pick: The Girl With Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee, narrated by Josie Dunn

The Girl With Seven Names.

As a child growing up in North Korea, Hyeonseo Lee was one of millions trapped by North Korea’s secretive and brutal communist regime. Her home on the border with China gave her some exposure to the world beyond. As the famine of the 1990s struck, she began to realize she had been brainwashed her entire life. This is her story of struggling to avoid capture/repatriation and guiding her family to freedom.
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Candice’s pick: Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self by Manoush Zomorodi, narrated by Manoush Zomorodi

Bored and Brilliant.

Has your smartphone become your BFF? Do you feel bored when you’re not checking Facebook or Instagram? Bored and Brilliant: Rediscovering the Lost Art of Spacing Out explains the connection between boredom and original thinking, and explores how we can harness boredom’s hidden benefits to become our most productive selves.
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Pam’s pick: My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward by Mark Lukach, narrated by Josh Bloomberg

My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward.

A heart-wrenching yet hopeful memoir of a young marriage redefined by mental illness. Mark and Giulia fell in love at 18, married at 24, and were living their dream life. When Giulia was 27, she suffered a psychotic break that landed her in the psych ward. Eventually, she recovered, but a second and third breakdown ensued. Pushed to the edge of the abyss, everything they once took for granted was upended.
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Andrew’s pick: Red Rising by Pierce Brown, narrated by Tim Reynolds

Red Rising.

Darrow spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children. But he and his kind have been betrayed. 
Darrow will be forced to compete for his life and the future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’ s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies… even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.
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Michelle’s pick: You All Grow Up And Leave Me by Piper Weiss, narrated by Brittany Pressley

You All Grow Up And Leave Me.

A highly unsettling blend of true crime and coming-of-age memoir. Piper Weiss was 14 when her middle-aged tennis coach, one of New York City’s most prestigious instructors, killed himself after a failed attempt to kidnap one of his teenage students. Now, 20 years later, Piper examines the event as both a teenage eyewitness and investigative reporter, hoping to understand the childhood memories that haunt her to this day.
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Colin’s pick: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, narrated by Anthony Bourdain

Kitchen Confidential.

Most diners believe that their sublime food was created by a culinary artist of the highest order. More likely, writes Anthony Bourdain, that elegant concoction is the effort of a team of “wacked-out moral degenerates, dope fiends, refugees, a thuggish assortment of drunks,sneak thieves, sluts, and psychopaths.” Bourdain is obscenely eloquent, unapologetically opinionated, and a damn fine storyteller.
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Pete’s pick: City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett, narrated by Alma Cuervo

City of Stairs.

The city of Bulikov once wielded the powers of the gods to conquer the world, until its divine protectors were killed. Into this broken city steps Shara Thivani, one of her country’s most accomplished spies. But as Shara pursues the killer, she starts to suspect that the beings who ruled this terrible place may not be as dead as they seem — and that Bulikov’s cruel reign may not yet be over.
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Kaleisha’s pick: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, narrated by Dominic Hoffman

Homegoing.

Homegoing begins with the story of two half-sisters, separated by forces beyond their control: one sold into slavery, the other married to a British slaver. Written with tremendous sweep and power, Homegoing traces the generations of family who follow, as their destinies lead them through two continents and three hundred years of history, each life indeliably drawn, as the legacy of slavery is fully revealed in light of the present day.
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Zac’s pick: Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, narrated by Norbert Leo Butz

Shoe Dog.

For the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company’s early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world’s most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands. In 1962, fresh out of business school, Phil Knight borrowed $50 from his father and created a company grossing $8,000 in his first year. Today, Nike’s annual sales top $30 billion.
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Miranda’s staff pick: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, narrated by Ann Marie Lee

Sharp Objects.

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, Camille Preaker’s first assignment from the daily paper where she works brings her reluctantly back to her hometown to cover the murders of two girls. Working to uncover the truth, she finds herself identifying with the victims a bit too strongly, forcing Camille to unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past to get at the story.
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Jason’s pick: Murder on the Orient Express: A Hercule Poirot Mystery by Agatha Christie, narrated by Dan Stevens

Murder on the Orient Express.

Just after midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift. By morning, the millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. One of his fellow passengers must be the murderer. Isolated by the storm, detective Hercule Poirot must find the killer among a dozen of the dead man’s enemies, before the murderer strikes again.
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Emma’s pick: Factfulness by Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, and Anna Rosling, narrated by Richard Harries

Factfulness.

When asked simple questions about global trends, we get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess us. Factfulness reveals the instincts that distort our perspective. It turns out that the world, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than we might think.
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Dave’s pick: Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence-and How You Can, Too by Gary Vaynerchuk, narrated by Gary VaynerchukRich RollAmy Schmittauer

Crushing It.

In this lively, practical, and inspiring audiobook, Gary dissects every current major social media platform so that anyone will know exactly how to amplify their personal brand. He offers both theoretical and tactical advice on old standbys and emerging platforms. For those with more experience, Crushing It! provides innovative tips and tweaks proven to enhance more common tried-and-true strategies.
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Lena’s pick: The Sunday Lunch Club by Juliet Ashton, narrated by Karen Cass

The Sunday Lunch Club.

Every few Sundays, Anna and her extended family and friends get together for lunch. They talk, laugh, bicker, eat too much. Sometimes the important stuff is left unsaid, other times it’s said in the wrong way. Sitting between her ex-husband and her new lover, Anna is coming to terms with an unexpected pregnancy at 40. Can she reconcile her painful past with her uncertain future?
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Laura’s pick: I’ll Be Gone In The Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search For The Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara, narrated by Gabra Zackman

I'll Be Gone In The Dark.

For more than 10 years, a mysterious and violent predator committed 50 sexual assaults in California before perpetrating 10 sadistic murders. Then he disappeared. Three decades later, true crime journalist Michelle McNamara was determined to find the violent psychopath she called “the Golden State Killer” by poring over police reports and interviewing victims.
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Vitaly’s pick: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey, narrated by Stephen R. Covey

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

With sales of more than 15 million copies in 38 languages, this revolutionary guidebook focuses on timeless principles of fairness, integrity, honesty, and human dignity. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective people will show you how to achieve peace of mind within and build trust without by seeking the roots of human behavior in character and by learning principles rather than merely practices.
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Jemma’s pick: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo, narrated by Emily Woo Zeller

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

Despite constant efforts to declutter, do papers still accumulate like snowdrifts and clothes pile up like tangled noodles? Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo promises that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll never have to do it again. In fact, none of Kondo’s clients have lapsed (and she still has a three-month waiting list). With detailed guidance for determining which items in your house “spark joy” (and which don’t), you enjoy the magic of a tidy home and the calm mindset it can inspire.
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