Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas

"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 ReviewIn 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