This book was engrossing. I think it was really evident it was written by a reporter--for the most part, the author kept to observations and noted when he was more driven by emotion than fact. I don't know if I would necessarily recommend it if you don't already have an interest in missing persons, as it is a rather depressing read. But it does shine a light on a problem that many people either don't know about or would rather not think about. It feels a bit voyeuristic, like you've walked into other people's tragedies for sport. I'm still mulling over how I feel about this book, but it's definitely well-written, and it provokes thought about how we treat the missing.

The Cold Vanish was an interesting look at the many stories of people who have vanished in national parks and trails, but it didn’t quite hold my attention despite the topic. I am very interested in cold cases and found the premise of the book to be fascinating. The story of Jacob and his father Randy’s search for him was told with a great deal of sensitivity and I appreciated the author’s dedication to it. I really felt for Randy and the obvious pain that he was going through. I loved the chapter about the dog handlers- hilarious Best in Show-esque competitive edge between handlers and disagreements on the skills of bloodhounds and shepherds. However, I felt that the book jumped around too much from Randy’s story to more examples of missing people and back again. I just felt like I was in a bit of a repetitive loop and I got to the point where I either wanted to hear a lot more about some of the other missing cases or just focus on Jacob’s case. I think the book could have actually been longer and chosen to maybe dig into a few of the highlighted cases rather than doing so many short examples that start blur together a bit. I do think it’s a really fascinating look at searches and the people involved with them, but something just didn’t click for me overall.

This is an intriguing, yet heartwrenching account of all the people who vanish in our national forest, and the writer wrote from a first person point of view, following a grieving father Randy 1,000s of miles as he attempts to figure out what happened to his missing 22 year old son, Jacob. The author also followed a man with bloodhounds as he trained one of his pups to hunt for cadavers and followed yet another man into the Canadian bush as they tried to track down where a missing person may have been camping and/or hiding out. He learned plenty of survivalist tips and tricks along the way, and made several great friends, including a group at what they called Bigfoot Barn, Bigfoot hunters who tried helping Randy find Jacob and let them stay when they were in the area. This book also provides a vast history of missing people, some going back into the 1800's, so if you are into the Investigation Discovery show "Disappeared" or the movie "Into the Wild", then this book is definitely a must read.

What can I say about Randy? He seemed like a kooky, part hippie, part surfer type who was desperate to find his son, hurting himself several times as he tested his physical and mental limits. He always seemed upbeat and happy through it all. I frowned as they followed the bigfoot feeding woman who told Randy the bigfoot would tell him what happened to Jacob, but when you are a desperate parent, I guess a lead is a lead.

Now I won't lie, I did end up googling if Jacob was found or not, and where I will not ruin this book, it is exactly what the reader expects. All of these midadventures of the author and Randy lead up to the inevitable. I was glad for the family for finally gaining closure, and I hope this book is an eye opener for those rescue personnel who did not let search teams or dogs into the forest until it was too late. Thanks for another great read NetGalley.

This book was brilliant reading. Incredibly interesting and so well researched. I enjoyed this book so much more than I thought I might.

Jon Billman tells us real stories of people who have gone missing in areas of the USA like state forests and the like. Many of these missing people are never found and the sheer numbers that vanish is astounding. Jon describes a good number of cases and follows the case of Jacob Gray, a young man who went missing and the incredible search that ensued from it. The book weaves in the journey that the author took with Jacob's father who never gave up looking for him, searching far and wide. I had to know the outcome!

In his research the book talks about the lack of resources and delays and red tape that happens with people missing in these areas versus going missing in suburbia. A lot of families do things like Crowd Funding to get the money to keep searching when officials have given up. It's heartbreaking reading the efforts loved ones go to and their frustrations at authorities in many cases.

Expert trackers, bloodhounds, cadaver dogs, river divers, hunters, volunteers - great insight into how all of these get involved in these searches for missing people. Most of the people who vanish are experienced hikers, familiar with the terrain and conditions. Out of the woodwork of course pops your theories on alien abduction, portals to another realm and I found it fascinating reading of Jon's time with a group of Bigfoot watchers with a fair bit of evidence on their existence.

Jon covers lots of different locations all around the USA, many of them "hot spots" known for people going missing. Sometimes found are bits of equipment, a tent, signs of life at some point. Sometimes bodies are found, many times not. The people that Jon meets on his journalistic exploration is truly fascinating reading. He writes so well that I felt I was there on the trails and the hunt with people.

A brilliant book that I really enjoyed and read quickly. I HAD to know what happened to Jacob Gray, the main missing person in the book. I didn't want to give up hope on him being found just as his dad and the author didn't in the book. Find out for yourself and grab this one!

So well written and researched.
The book starts off with and somewhat centers around the disappearance of Jacob Gray as an example of how people can just vanish in the wilderness.
I got actual chills reading through, the first being the description of the way Jacob Gray’s personal items were left. The four arrows creeped me out so badly.
The author explores every phenomenon from UFOs to Bigfoot and beyond.
But the facts remain: people disappear without a trace so often, more often than you realize, and there isn’t any closure. Just so scary.

The Cold Vanish is in equal measure a fascinating and heartbreaking account of the world of the missing and lost in the wilderness. It is an inside peek into the lives and work of family members, search and rescue professionals, and volunteers.

Author Jon Billman joins and recounts search efforts throughout the US and also Canada. He spends the most time with Randy Gray, father of Jacob Gray, who went missing while bicycling in the Olympic National Park. Through the author's interaction with Jacob's father, the reader really gets to know Randy's character. His onerous attempts to find his son are truly commendable, though Randy would probably say something like, "I am only doing what every father would do in this situation." Most parents will never find out what they would actually do if a child went missing, but they probably innately know that it would be one of the worst circumstances a parent can ever face.

As an avid reader and podcast listener who has always been fascinated by mysterious disappearances, this book highlighted a number of aspects to missing persons cases that I was previously unaware of. The fact that the US federal government does not keep track of people who are reported missing in National Parks, for example. As the author points out, the National Park Service knows how many wolves and bears are in our parks, but not how many missing people. I was also unaware of how much red tape has to be jumped through in order to get search and K9 teams from outside National Parks into the parks to help searches. The NPS has to approve each and every coordinated search effort (which takes valuable time if a missing person is sick or injured and needs help fast), and they don't have to give permission at all if they don't want to.

So many people take to nature to find themselves; only a few become lost. Many people can relate to the allure of the wilderness, but few consider how easily we can become lost in the vastness. Fewer still become lost on purpose. When a loved one goes missing, there is no closure. One cannot know how or why or even exactly where they went. The "vanish" in the title is completely apt; until that person is found, either deceased or alive and well somewhere, the what-ifs and second-guessing can never cease. This book does a excellent job of never letting the reader forget that.

I am grateful to Net Galley and the publisher for proving an ARC of this book to me. The review above is, of course, 100% my honest opinion.

Jon Billman has written an exceptional book about people who simply vanish in the wild, often without a trace (a "cold vanish"), from around the world, from Olympic National Park in Washington state to Israel. Pauline Boss, researcher and family therapist claims that "a family member missing to the unknown is the hardest thing a human being ever has to face" - she has coined the term "frozen grief." I just cannot imagine the sheer terror of never knowing what happened, or wondering if the missing person is off living their life somewhere else in TROTW (the rest of the world).

Billman introduces us to Randy Gray as he searches for his son Jacob who simply disappeared near the Sol Duc River in the Olympic National Park, leaving his bike behind. Bilman befriends Randy and travels with him as Randy searches for his son, and along the way Billman shares other stories of the missing including Amy Bechtel, who disappeared while running through the Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming. Dale Stehling missing from Colorado's Petroglyph Point Trail about 1 mile away from the gift shop, 19-year-old Joe Keller who took a run one afternoon and never returned to his aunt's dude ranch in the San Juan Mountains in SW Colorado, as well as cold vanishs in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Billman gives us the strange story of Ollie McAfee from Northern Ireland who disappeared in Israel, perhaps suffering from the Jerusalem Syndrome, as well as that of Robert Bogucki who set out to cross Australia's Great Sandy Desert. only to emerge 43 days later after an epic spiritual quest as well as near-starvation.

I loved Billman's writing style which is sparse and lean, yet touches on the emotions of the moment as well as the perserverance of the people who search for the lost. You also learn that many large parks do not have SAR (search and rescue) protocols and it's pretty much hit-or-miss depending on where you're lost as to the level of aid you'd receive from various local, state and national agencies. And you'll also learn there is no national database of the missing from national parks.

I found this book deeply moving as Randy continues searching for his son, but as time goes on the search becomes more spiritual "When the clues are not literal, rather cerebral or ethereal, what remains is the spiritual." Even if you think you aren't interested in SAR and missing persons, this book will captivate you. 5 stars.

How intriguing! I had no idea so many people go missing in the wild. It really opened my eyes. It is so very detailed, it made me feel like I was there helping the search. And the way he references Erwin Schrodinger to describe how it feels to lose a loved one is on point. I really enjoyed this read and will definitely be adding it to my library when it comes out.

This book gave me chills. It was written in a way that was almost haunting. I enjoyed it, but it's definitely not one I could read while alone. It was very interesting.

This is a really great book.
Although harrowing at times this book takes you on a real emotional journey, it is very well written and the visual descriptions are outstanding.
I thoroughly enjoyed it - easily worthy of 4 stars ⭐️

This book was really awesome. It's how's the tails about people who go missing in the wilderness. We may not hear a lot of the stories but it does happen.. also what I learned from reading this book is that it happens a lot more often than we know, because we are not told about it or such situations do not make the news. I learned some interesting facts about these kind of situations which I thought was really cool. This is a cool Buck I definitely recommend it especially for readers who want to get on the other side of things that we don't really talk or think about a lot.

Wow!
What a book!
Billman weaves together numerous shorter stories of missing persons with the story of the disappearance of Jacob Gray. He focuses on its impact on Gray's family and the incredible lengths the searchers went to solve this mystery. As someone with an interest in hiking/backpacking and the Pacific Northwest, I found this topic absolutely fascinating, if not bleak. This book highlights everything we don't realize about missing-person's cases: the endless hours of planning, deliberating, and searching that goes into finding those that are lost.
I will recommend this to our readers when we reopen.
Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC!

I received an advanced copy of The Cold Vanish from Net Galley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are, of course, my own.

“Because the federal government doesn't keep track of missing persons on public land, and because there are likely missing persons that no one knows are in the park, there could be more – maybe significantly more.”

What a heartbreaking but amazing book about the stories of those who go missing in North America's wildlands. Most of which are never found, some that are [rarely] found alive, and some that are found not alive, but at least allows for some closure.

The book is set up in a unique way in which the entire book circles back to Jacob Gray's disappearance throughout. Billman becomes close friends with Randy Gray through his time spent getting to know him and his son's story and disappearance in Olympic National Park. We really get to learn about Jacob, Randy, and the rest of the Gray family and a close look at what it's like for someone who is searching for their missing family.

At the same time, Billman weaves in smaller stories and anecdotes throughout about countless missing people and the people who search for them.

We learn a bit about some of the most eccentric and far-fetched theories such as Bigfoot, aliens, and portals to other worlds. How else do you explain when someone quite literally vanishes?

We hear from psychics who contact families' of the missing all the time – some welcome this and some don't.

This was fascinating and Billman tells these stories with respect and with an obvious personal connection and care.

<b>What I Liked</b>

The stories. Of course the stories. As someone who couldn't function without the outdoors [and wouldn't stop going into them] the idea that people go missing all the time and there's no real tracking system is quite terrifying, to be honest.

The larger story of Jacob Gray intermingled with the smaller stories of others. I imagine the reasoning behind this is because Billman had more material and access to Gray's story, but it really gave the book an overall arch.

Billman touches on the Native American missing person problem. Not many people may be aware of the large disproportionate number of Native Americans that go missing, especially women, and there is no one tracking it. I really appreciated that Billman brought this up in the book as well as its importance.

<b>What I Didn’t Like</b>

I didn't really dislike anything about the book, but if I have to pick something, it would be:

More depth for some stories. Billman would mention stories along the way of missing people and I then wanted more information. I understand the way the book is written though and that wasn't necessarily the focus of the book and if you gave more details for each story, you'd have a neverending book. I'll definitely be doing some research on my own though.

Chilling, eerie and real, author John Billman delivers a powerful warning message in his book "The Cold Vanish." The work which is set to be released in July 2020 is set in the wildlands of North America and tells the story of people who mysteriously go missing. The main storyline outlines the disappearance of Jacob Gray, a 22 year old an athletic outdoorsy surfer who ventured off into the Olympic National Park never to be heard from again. After he vanishes, the author links up with his father, Randy Gray and learns about the search efforts undertaken to find Jacob. Will he be found alive? Is he already dead? The author compares Jacob's situation to Schrodinger's cat. The world may never know... unless someone opens the box to find out.

This book is well written in a respectful but intriguing way. These stories of real missing persons are extremely unique and distinctive. The author bravely shares both Jacob's story along with countless others weaving together the commonalities found within all of the cases. He does an expert job of comparing and contrasting the different vanishing accounts while taking care not to spread misinformation, rumors or legends. He uses clear but descriptive terminology which will engage readers and give them the lingering sense of natural danger found within these wildlands along with strong hints of true crime. "The Cold Vanish" is not to be missed as it illuminates the subject of missing people that often hides precariously along the periphery of everyday life.

THE COLD VANISH: Seeking the Missing in North America’s Wildlands by Jon Billman is an informative book mainly focused around Randy Gray and his search for his son Jacob Gray who went missing in Olympic National Park. It was really interesting to learn about all the different aspects of a search and rescue mission (who’s in charge, volunteer teams and dog trackers just to name a few) but it was especially interesting that the author was actively a part of the search effort with Randy.
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There were a few parts in the book where the timeline was confusing and a few jokes and asides that seemed unnecessary and out of place but overall this was a good read in a new to me topic.

An interesting look at the people who have disappeared from wild places in North America and the loved ones they leave behind. The author follows several cases, joins on Search and Rescue missions, and befriends family members left behind to give a glimpse into the world of the missing.

Twenty-two-year-old Jacob Gray packs up a bunch of gear and sets out on his bike. His abandoned bike, 10 yards off the side of the road, is found inside Olympic National Park with no sign of Jacob. Rangers assume he has headed off for a hike and figure the hiker and his bike will be gone by the next morning. Rangers return to find the abandoned bike but still no sign of the bike rider. Three days after his bike ride began, Jacob has disappeared into thin air.
The book follows Jacob’s father, Randy, on his journey to look for Jacob. Randy is an open minded free spirit who follows the advice of psychics, Bigfoot aficionados, cults, spiritual strangers, random hunches, and dreams in trying to find his missing son.
The pages are full of details about national parks, people who go missing out doors, tracking dogs, search and rescue protocols, and it’s also full of ghosts, unknowable loss and love. If I ever go missing, Randy Gray is the man that I want searching for me.

As someone who works in Search and Rescue, I was really expecting to like this book. Unfortunately, I was super disappointed. It feels horribly biased against the national park system, and the SAR folks the author talked to are, quite frankly, mostly Bigfoot-chasing quacks. The narrative also feels quite disjointed and is lacking good transitions. Not impressed at all. I think Billman should stick to writing magazine articles. It feels like this book just got away from him.

What Jon Billman does so well in The Cold Vanish is remind us of a fundamental truth that's occasionally forgotten: the people who go missing are real people. In the distance between us and the cases we read about in the news or on forums or consume in (slightly) sensationalized media like missing411, it's easy to forget that; it's easy to get lost in conspiracy theories and talk of the paranormal, and to forget that there are people who are gone, and that they've left people behind. Billman handles the case of Jacob Gray (and the cases that intersect the narrative) with a professional grace. He humanizes rather than mythologizes, reminding us again and again of the people at the heart of these stories, and each story he recounts is heartbreaking. Sharp writing paired with the fact he never exploits the people he writes about makes for an amazing account of a phenomenon that's terrifying to think about; there's one passage in the book where a woman he'd spoken to points out that we lean into conspiracy theories because it helps our fear of the missing, and that really stuck with me. The book is well-researched and well-organized, flowing seamlessly between accounts of the missing, and always tying back to the central narrative of the search for Jacob incredibly well. There's a lot of nods towards other media on the topics that are now on my radar to consume further, as this is a topic that's recently become of incredible interest to me.

One thing that really got to me was Billman acknowledging how many indigenous women go missing, and how little resources are dedicated to searching for them, and though it was only briefly discussed, I'm glad it was brought into the spotlight at all.

This is emotional, raw yet expertly written, and I'm really grateful to netgalley for providing me with an ARC.

This was so compelling. I recommend it to anyone who, like me, is obsessed with stories of those who vanish seemingly without a trace or clues. Its so easy to forget the families behind the stories and this book focuses on the efforts and searchers. I loved it.