The Cold Vanish
Seeking the Missing in North America's Wildlands
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The Cold Vanish
Buy Now for $26.99
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Narrated by:
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Stephen Graybill
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By:
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Jon Billman
About this listen
Perfect for listeners of Jon Krakauer and Douglas Preston, this "authentic and encyclopedic" book examines real-life cases of those who vanish in the wilderness without a trace (Roman Dial) — and those eccentric, determined characters who try to find them.
These are the stories that defy conventional logic. The proverbial vanished without a trace incidences, which happen a lot more (and a lot closer to your backyard) than almost anyone thinks. These are the missing whose situations are the hardest on loved ones left behind. The cases that are an embarrassment for park superintendents, rangers, and law enforcement charged with Search & Rescue. The ones that baffle the volunteers who comb the mountains, woods, and badlands. The stories that should give you pause every time you venture outdoors.
Through Jacob Gray's disappearance in Olympic National Park, and his father Randy Gray who left his life to search for him, we will learn about what happens when someone goes missing. Braided around the core will be the stories of the characters who fill the vacuum created by a vanished human being. We'll meet eccentric bloodhound-handler Duff and R.C., his flagship purebred, who began trailing with the family dog after his brother vanished in the San Gabriel Mountains. And there's Michael Neiger, North America's foremost backcountry Search & Rescue expert and self-described "bushman" obsessed with missing persons. And top researcher of persons missing on public wildlands Ex-San Jose, California detective David Paulides who is also one of the world's foremost Bigfoot researchers.
It's a tricky thing to write about missing persons because the story is the absence of someone. A void. The person at the heart of the story is thinner than a smoke ring, invisible as someone else's memory. The bones you dig up are most often metaphorical. While much of the book will embrace memory and faulty memory — history — The Cold Vanish is at its core a story of now and tomorrow. Someone will vanish in the wild tomorrow. These are the people who will go looking.
©2020 Jon Billman (P)2020 Hachette AudioCritic Reviews
"Colorful side characters, like psychics and Bigfoot hunters, provide some light moments, but what makes a lasting impression is the story of Randy and his ultimately dashed hopes of finding his son alive. The author's personal involvement makes this tale all the more affecting." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)
"Required reading for anyone concerned about the missing, Billman's authentic and encyclopedic book leads us across the landscapes of the vanished with a journalist's acumen and a searcher's sympathy. It's both true and useful, a storytelling textbook I wish I'd read before my own son went missing." (Roman Dial, author of The Adventurer's Son)
"The Cold Vanish is part mystery, part glance into a world of heroes and charlatans, death, and loss that most of us, fortunately, do not know, and don't want to know, but perhaps should. The Cold Vanish is informative, and in a sad way, captivating and well worth a read." (National Parks Traveler)
A disjointed tale.
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Based on deciphering the why, where and heart ache of when people go missing into the wilderness. It follows one specific case and a father on a search. I learnt that most searches in the USA (at least) will close at 5 days, and after that it is often left to family and friends to continue if they have the time and/or resources.
Lots of interwoven examples, stats and theories. From hyperthermia to big foot to Jerusalem syndrome, everything is examined. Do these people want to be found or have they met a foul end? Bleak notes of mental illness and the significantly higher rate of indigenous disappearances. Bigger questions are asked such as: if this is the amount of missing in the wilderness, what about the rest of the populous in general; or, why are most people found in areas close to where they went missing that have been scoured numerous times?
Interesting listen, but I don't think it's for a lot of people. I'm not sure if it took so long to complete as potentially I didn't want to know what other theory or outcome was around the corner. Maybe it's listening to a story about a people we don't know except from the memories of others.
Rating: 3.5-4/10 - I'm still not sure how to rate it.
Good, but not for everyone
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Loved it
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The families of the missing all endure a living nightmare.
But the story of Jacob Gray, and the friendship that developed between the author and his father Randy Gray, was a hauntingly beautiful thread between the chapters.
I found myself doing internet searches for most of the missing persons cases listed in the book. Some are very recent. Some are very perplexing. Some are downright freaky. As if the person was plucked from the planet.
It would be interesting to do some sort of comparison of place of disappearance, area covered in search and then final discovery/or resting place. Because a lot of these people are discovered far from their last known place. And that’s what had me scratching my head many times.
The horrifying fact is that the US National Parks deliberately do not keep a register of the people that go missing within their boundaries. That is more than negligent. That is wilful deniability. The American public deserves much more for their taxpayer dollars.
The Cold Vanish
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Horrible narrator
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