Reviews

The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America's Wildlands by Jon Billman

floyd_jpg's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative medium-paced

4.0

chaotic_bookworm's review

3.0

Kind of a chaotically organized book, but it's such a broad topic it's understandable.  Not the best nonfiction I've read but not the worst 

evalentine's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

alisarae's review

5.0

Thousands of people have gone missing in the North American wilderness, and there is currently no official reporting system in place to know exactly how many people have vanished in national parks, let alone on other federal lands. Author Jon Billman tags along with Randy Gray as he hikes around the Pacific Northwest in search of his son, Jacob, who went missing in the Olympic National Park, Washington. As different theories as to what might have happened to Jacob are put forward, Billman weighs the likelihood of the theory by recounting cases of other people who went missing under similar circumstances.

This book combines two things that are fascinating to me: missing people and wilderness adventures. There's just so much mystery involved. Recently I saw a map that overlayed missing people with cave systems in N America. It made a good point. Sometimes it seems like people are just swallowed up. Maybe they are.

mollyxgp's review

adventurous dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.0

mborkway's review against another edition

I learned about ethical issues surrounding the author's use of interviews and depictions of the missing and his family.

jvos's review

5.0

Yikes, I typically read specific reviews after I write mine and I’m seeing that he main story centered around Jacob Gray was likely not presented truthfully by the author. I will be researching further.
****
Ever since I came across the notion about missing people
in National Parks, I have been intrigued and curious to learn more. But it seems like its a slippery slope into conspiracy theories. While the unexplainable was talked about in this book, it wasn’t the focus. I found the one consistent story with other stories in other chapters to be educational in how searches are conducted depending which jurisdiction you are in. My empathy also grew for those with missing people in their lives. It’s crazy to think with how connected and populated the earth is that there is still so many opportunities to just disappear. This book gave me a lot to think about and be aware of as we travel. Thankfully it didn’t scare me from getting out there, but it definitely gave me knowledge to have a different approach.

cashleykate's review against another edition

3.5

I really enjoyed this book, but there were definitely some moments my attention drifted. Still, these are important and interesting stories covering people who have gone missing in wilderness, leaving mystery around them (for the most part). While the book is very focused on the more concrete facts, the author does mention some more unusual methods of disappearance.

unicornbread's review

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.5

mpurdy's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

4.0