“Daniel feels trapped by the daily work grind in the financial world, and the harsh Swedish winter climate. He accepts an offer to manage and develop a tourist business in Belize, and moves there with his American wife and two young daughters. Initially, they seem to have found paradise on earth, but little by little he finds himself involved in a psychological game unveiling the ultimate stake… life itself.
OFF GRID tells the true story of a family that decides to pursue their dream, and their experience when the dream transforms into the most horrific of nightmares.”

Amazon

My Review

I chose to listen to this book after receiving a free audio copy from the author. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.

Magnus and his wife did what many of us dream of doing: leaving the grind of every day and moving to Belize. Unfortunately, what was supposed to be paradise turned out to be a terrifying experience. That sounds like a good novel, but to be a true story…yikes!

This is a theatrical audiobook in which the Magnus Leijon’s family performed their roles from the experience. I thought that was great. I usually enjoy theatrical audiobooks, and I liked the different voices in this one, but the music was distracting. It also took some getting used to the author’s voice as narrator.

This is a good story, but I think I would have liked it more if I had read the book rather than listening to the audiobook.

Audio sample

About the Author

Magnus Leijon was born 1979 in Värnamo, Sweden. As a kid, he was fascinated about the rainforest and spent countless hours drawing pictures of wild nature, telling his mom that one day he would indeed live there. He even sold shampoo to his neighbors, by buying one bottle at the store and mixing it up with 3 parts water.

All the money gained from shampoo production was donated to purchase raw forest in South America, to be protected from mankind. He met his wife, a Texas native Swedish exchange-student, and on their first date, it became clear that she shared his dream of living in harmony with wild nature, specifically in the tropics. Magnus pursued a career within Finance and was appointed Global Head of Derivatives Sales at Swedbank, one of the top four largest Scandinavian banks, by the age of thirty. But the dream was still calling, from deep within, until they could no longer resist.

Off Grid, is Magnus’s first novel and depicts the true story of how his dream turned into a real nightmare.