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

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The “wild” here is not necessarily wilderness because some of the people in the book vanish on the outskirts of cities, in the “urban-wildland interface” where runners disappear on their daily workout and day-hikers go missing on what should be easy terrain. While some inexplicably vanish in what might be called deep wilderness, most of the cases Billman describes are not of that sort. People are lost where they shouldn’t be lost and where intense searches should easily find them, but do not. Billman writes: My intrigue only grew. I tend toward insomnia and the analog, and each night in bed I listen with earbuds to Coast to Coast AM on a tiny radio. The program, which explores all sorts of mysteries of the paranormal, airs from one to five a.m. in my time zone. It's syndicated on more than six hundred stations and boasts nearly three million listeners each week. Most of the time, the white noise talk of space aliens and ghosts lulls me to sleep, but not when my favorite guest, David Paulides, is at the mic. That said, I would love to read the original magazine article that this book was based on. I think that in smaller doses, this type of reporting would be absolutely fascinating. The author's personal involvement makes this tale all the more affecting. Billman shows himself to be just as adept at nonfiction as at fiction." - Publishers Weekly (starred review) I enjoyed this book and learned a lot about the number of people who go missing without explanation or resolution. Which was surprising to me and sad. I recommend this for non fiction fans, but especially those who have enjoyed Jon Krakauer and other similar writers.

The Guardian Top 10 books about missing persons | Fiction | The Guardian

Hachette Book Group is a leading book publisher based in New York and a division of Hachette Livre, the third-largest publisher in the world. Social Media In early April 2017, a young touring cyclist named Jacob Gray stepped off his bike and disappeared in the northern district of Olympic National Park in northwestern Washington. What ensued was a mystery that echoed other cases I'd researched. What was different for me is that Randy Gray, Jacob's father, allowed me unlimited access into the courageous search to find his son. The feature I wrote on Jacob Gray for Bicycling magazine was the catalyst for meeting Jacob's family, but it soon became apparent that their generosity, and the huge, strange purgatorial underworld of the vanished, deserved a book. The Cold Vanish is a false depiction of who Jacob Gray was as a person. Jon Billman completely defamed who Jacob was as a person and member of my family. I'd like to enlighten you to who Jacob Gray truly was. I happen to have the facts since I am related. I am related to Jacob and this book is a sham. The author did not get permission to use names from any of the family members. He also made up quotes and facts. He didn’t even get the family relationships right. The mystery of these lost souls is compelling and often very strange indeed. You wouldn't think in this technological world that it would be possible to disappear without a trace, sometimes in plain sight but the in depth research Jon Billman undertook in this book shows that it happens more often than its comfortable to think about. He himself is deeply affected by these random tragedies and that comes across with every passing chapter.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 You know the drill. You pay the entrance fee, grab a map, register for any special permits. Nobody hands you a missing persons flyer for the elderly man who vanished off a heavily traveled trail yesterday. The park rangers don't ask you to look out for the twenty-something redhead who went for a run two weeks ago and never returned. That would be bad for tourism, of course. He wouldn't tell me the place or even the year "for fear the Park Service will try to put the pieces together and ID them." I wonder how actual those park rangers might be—it's curious that park employees would say, let's go tell the bigfoot guy we have a missing persons problem, but it makes good lore. As a relative, I am greatly devastated by what was written about Jacob. I cried after reading some of the book since it didn't reflect the love, compassion, humor, personal discipline, and protectiveness that was Jacob Gray. He was not only my cousin, but he was also my best friend growing up. Searchers use the acronym POS and sometimes joke that it stands for "piece of shit." It stands for probability of success, finding the missing. At this point the POS still remains high—the bike's owner will come walking out of the bush and greet them with a hello.

THE COLD VANISH | Kirkus Reviews

The primary focus of this book is the story of Jacob Gray, who disappeared in Olympic National Park and the sheer determination of his father to find out what happened to his son. We learn about this while we follow the author as he focuses on this one specific case of a young man that has seemingly abandoned his bike and the small trailer he was hauling and just vanished and has yet to be found. The author tags along with this missing young man’s father as he tirelessly searches for his son- all the while the park service won’t commit resources to help look for him. A compassionate, sympathetic, and haunting book sure to make you think twice before stepping out into the wilderness alone."―Kirkus (starred review)Loved this book! Billman presents facts in an interesting way, and brings the stories of the vanished to life. I read my review copy, and then immediately bought the audio book. Hope to read more by this author! No one gives it much thought. Touring cyclists are legion here soon, and Jacob is just the first robin of spring. Searchers speak of "scenario"—why and how did the target come to be missing? It appears that Jacob—or someone—has been organizing gear. A tarp is partially spread out. But no logic points them in any one direction. Billman couldn’t even get the relationships correct in this book. He claimed the sister of the wife of his uncle was Jacob’s cousin. He also claimed the grandma of his uncle was his uncle’s mother-in-law. And these are just a few examples of how wrong he got the people involved. Also he didn’t live NEAR his aunt and uncle, he lived WITH them and later moved out for a while to an apartment when he had the money. How can you call this non-fiction or researched when you can’t even get the most basic information correct? In our highly-urbanized and farmed world, it is startling to realize just how much true wilderness remains. Places that are nearly impossible to search thoroughly because of dense vegetation, weather conditions, steep terrain, crevasses, lakes, rivers and even wildlife. Where wandering even a short distance off a trail can result in a nightmare you might not survive (assuming you're not Jim Bridger or Jeremiah Johnson).

The Cold Vanish (豆瓣) - 豆瓣读书 The Cold Vanish (豆瓣) - 豆瓣读书

Interspersed throughout are shorter stories of other missing persons who vanished in a wilderness location- highlighting once again the sheer volume of people who vanish, seemingly into thin air, and for those who do eventually get answers, it’s seldom a happy ending. Billman also covers the "abnormal" side of disappearances, including reported sightings of Bigfoot, strange lights in the sky, physical changes in atmospheric energy in certain remote mountain regions and hints at portals to other dimensions. People and young children seemingly vanish then reappear unhurt and thriving some time later literally metres from where they disappeared. Whilst some might scoff at these otherwordly suggestions, I suppose there are always things that science can't truly explain away. This compelling read does showcase some criminal elements, but, doesn’t fall into the true crime category, exclusively. Rational professionals I've met in my research—law enforcement and search-and-rescue personnel—tend to believe that our world is still a big, wild, and remote place, and logic and reason are at the core of missing persons cases. A very difficult puzzle laid out on a massive table, but there are rules and clues, and the puzzle can be solved. I agree with them most of the time. Scott Shane's outstanding work Flee North tells the little-known tale of an unlikely partnership ...

For Randy, the search is about his son. When Jacob is found, the search will end. But some people make it their business to search for strangers. In teams or alone. Using science or pure physical endurance. With a reward or without. It’s just what they do, and the grim truth is they will never run out of cases. Their work days are a revolving door of the vanished. Some cases get resolved. Some don’t. They live with that. First off, I listened to the audiobook. My initial dislike of The Cold Vanish had almost entirely to do with the narrator (Stephen Graybill). He’s described as an award winning voice-over actor and does have a smooth voice, but his cadence through much of the audiobook left me almost dreading listening to it. Many times what is obviously a coma in a sentence is narrated as if there are two separate sentences. The book Denali’s Howl is narrated in like fashion (bad cadence and mispronounced words). I’m amazed a publisher would allow such poor production in an audiobook format. About the Author Jon Billman is a former wildland firefighter and high school teacher. He holds an MFA in Fiction from Eastern Washington University. He's the author of the story collection When We Were Wolves (Random House, 1999). Billman is a regular contributor to Outside and his fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Esquire, The Paris Review, and Zoetrope: All-Story. He teaches fiction and journalism at Northern Michigan University in the Upper Peninsula, where he lives with his family in a log cabin along the Chocolay River. Even perhaps, in the case of the Olympic Peninsula and Jacob’s disappearance, Sasquatch. Billman doesn’t give much credence to any of this, but reveals how someone like Randy is willing to follow any lead. He goes along as Randy follows some pretty sketchy possibilities. I am horrified and quite glad that I did not finish this book for it's really closer to something like speculative non-fiction than it is a non-fiction.