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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
It's so painful to read about families that have lost loved ones but this book sparked my interest because of the nature of those lost. Billman investigates and shadows the family of Jacob Gray, a hiker missing in Olympic National Park. The stats of missing people are terrifying, as is the lack of transparency or any semblance of consistency regarding - who looks for you, and how - if you go missing. Interspersed are stories of other families who have never found their loved ones (and a few survivals), as well as the "colorful" owner of cadaver sniffing dogs and their helpfulness in finding bodies. Mainly, it follows Jacob's relentlessly hopeful father and the lengths he goes to, physically and mentally, to find his son. It's an interesting read but once people go off with psychics and Sasquatch conspiracy theories, you jump the shark with me. Worth reading if you are an avid hiker, or curious about vanishings in state and national parks.
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
The author has been accused of some dubious journalistic practices, and the sections where he indulged in Sasquatch theories of the main missing boy's semi-deluded father who himself was buried in grief and unknowing really threw off the tone of seriousness that permeated throughout the rest of narrative. These sections were frequent and present enough that it sort of soured the entire experience.
It gets 3.5 stars from me for the effort it takes to stay with a living story like this for months/years, as well as shining light on missing cases and the dangers of hiking alone. -1 full star for aforementioned dubious (but not confirmed) journalistic integrity and practices
It gets 3.5 stars from me for the effort it takes to stay with a living story like this for months/years, as well as shining light on missing cases and the dangers of hiking alone. -1 full star for aforementioned dubious (but not confirmed) journalistic integrity and practices
DNF. This started out as an interesting book and then it got absolutely ridiculous. I am pretty sure it was the actual trillionth reference to Dave Paulides that I finally just gave up. I wish I had spared myself the misery and quit much sooner.
Very creepy, true accounts of people gone missing in public grounds like National Parks. Front and center is my personal favorite, Olympic National Park (ONP). Jon Billman recounts multiple stories but one continuous story follows the search for a young 22 year old biker that goes missing in ONP. Sometimes these missing people are found, sometimes alive and sometimes not. More creepily, apparently ONP is ground zero for Sasquatch/Big Foot hunters that are sometimes attributed with missing people. On the paranormal front, there are reported "thin spots" in the park that are crossovers for spirits on Earth to the other side. If you are a national park enthusiast like myself, this book may leave you unsettled but I couldn't put it down. Always go with a buddy and always plan for more than what you expect when hiking!
An interesting collection of thoughts and ideas on missing people reports in national parks. It felt as if this more of jumble of information at times and that made it hard to read. At the end of the day I liked learning about how there’s really no system for missing people, it’s baffling in this day and age.
informative
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
He might have convinved me bigfoot exists...that is 100% not the point of this book. A vit of a slow read but really interesting to learn how flawed our missing person info is and how terribly organized many searches are.
Had to DNF….I just couldn’t get with the writing or all the Bigfoot talk. I appreciated all the statistics and learning about the difficulties of trying to find missing persons. I’ll try to find a different a book for this topic.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
informative
mysterious
sad
medium-paced