'A compassionate, sympathetic, and haunting book sure to make you think twice before stepping out into the wilderness alone.'- Kirkus (starred review) The author's personal involvement makes this tale all the more affecting.'- Publishers Weekly (starred review) '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 Cold Vanish is informative, and in a sad way, captivating and well worth a read.'- National Parks Traveler ' 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. ' compassionate and riveting non-fiction dive into wilderness disappearances.'- MacLean's These are the people who will go looking. Someone will vanish in the wild tomorrow. 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. The bones you dig up are most often metaphorical. The person at the heart of the story is thinner than a smoke ring, invisible as someone else's memory. It's a tricky thing to write about missing persons because the story is the absence of someone. 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. And there's Michael Neiger North America's foremost backcountry Search & Rescue expert and self-described 'bushman' obsessed with missing persons. 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. Braided around the core will be the stories of the characters who fill the vacuum created by a vanished human being. 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. The stories that should give you pause every time you venture outdoors. The ones that baffle the volunteers who comb the mountains, woods and badlands.

The cases that are an embarrassment for park superintendents, rangers and law enforcement charged with Search & Rescue. These are the missing whose situations are the hardest on loved ones left behind. 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 stories that defy conventional logic.

Perfect for readers 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.

The cold vanish by jon billman