Lost in the Valley of Death
A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
"A layered inquisition and a reportorial force…a technicolor mystery.... In prose that moves like a clear river....Rustad has done what the best storytellers do: tried to track the story to its last twig and then stepped aside.”— New York Times Book Review
In the vein of Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, a riveting work of narrative nonfiction centering on the unsolved disappearance of an American backpacker in India—one of at least two dozen tourists who have met a similar fate in the remote and storied Parvati Valley.
For centuries, India has enthralled westerners looking for an exotic getaway, a brief immersion in yoga and meditation, or in rare cases, a true pilgrimage to find spiritual revelation. Justin Alexander Shetler, an inveterate traveler trained in wilderness survival, was one such seeker.
In his early thirties Justin Alexander Shetler, quit his job at a tech startup and set out on a global journey: across the United States by motorcycle, then down to South America, and on to the Philippines, Thailand, and Nepal, in search of authentic experiences and meaningful encounters, while also documenting his travels on Instagram. His enigmatic character and magnetic personality gained him a devoted following who lived vicariously through his adventures. But the ever restless explorer was driven to pursue ever greater challenges, and greater risks, in what had become a personal quest—his own hero’s journey.
In 2016, he made his way to the Parvati Valley, a remote and rugged corner of the Indian Himalayas steeped in mystical tradition yet shrouded in darkness and danger. There, he spent weeks studying under the guidance of a sadhu, an Indian holy man, living and meditating in a cave. At the end of August, accompanied by the sadhu, he set off on a “spiritual journey” to a holy lake—a journey from which he would never return.
Lost in the Valley of Death is about one man’s search to find himself, in a country where for many westerners the path to spiritual enlightenment can prove fraught, even treacherous. But it is also a story about all of us and the ways, sometimes extreme, we seek fulfillment in life.
Lost in the Valley of Death includes 16 pages of color photographs.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Rustad (Big Lonely Doug) crafts a haunting narrative of the life of Justin Alexander Shetler, an American backpacker who disappeared in the Indian Himalayas in 2016. A trained survivalist who'd traveled extensively, Shetler vanished while on a trip through India's remote Parvati Valley. Though it's renowned for its natural beauty, Rustad writes that Parvati (often called India's "backpacker Bermuda Triangle") is also known for its dangerous terrain where dozens have gone missing. Pulling from hundreds of interviews and his own travels to where Shetler was last seen, Rustad draws readers into a tale of adventure and tragedy that, despite its dark outcome, is illuminated with a remarkable sense of humanity. He paints a moving portrait of Shetler, a young man in love with the wilderness who was animated by a daring spirit ("When my greater fear told me no, Justin would just go for something," one friend recalls). But even in recounting Shetler's remarkable journeys, Rustad never veers into hagiography, taking time to reflect upon Shelter's mental health struggles after having being sexually abused as a boy and teen, and how his friends were worried his disappearance may have been a suicide. Equal parts tribute and travelogue, this is sure to enthrall those curious about a life lived to the extreme.
