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Justin Alexander Shetler went to India in search of adventure and authenticity and never came back. Was his disappearance the result of a crime, an accident, or a profound spiritual transformation? This mystery beats at the heart of Harley Rustad's gripping and propulsive book, which is part travelogue, part pilgrim's quest, part detective story. The result is the classic hero's journey updated for a hectic, hyperconnected world: think The Lost City of Z meets Eat Pray Love, only set in the Himalayas in the age of hashtags.--Kate Harris, author of Lands of Lost Borders Rustad does extensive research, including hundreds of interviews with those who knew Shetler, and undertakes his own journey to India, where he finds the cave in which Shetler spent his last days. The tale he tells is both a portrait of this complex, driven seeker, but also a cautionary story about the potential dangers visitors to India face on the path to spiritual enlightenment.--San Francisco Chronicle ....a nuanced and gripping account....the latest in a rich seam of travel writing that captures the curiosity and hubris of the planet's most restless souls.--Financial Times ....leaves you with a sense of wonder and a sense of unease. It's a book that is not easy to put down.--New York Journal of Books A compelling read and a fascinating story, which Harley Rustad tells with great flair and even greater compassion. The parade of parents with kids gone-missing in India's Parvati Valley moved in parallel to my own plight--each of us facing the same suite of bewildering possibilities, from natural death to foul play to a new life. --Roman Dial, author of The Adventurer's Son Haunting... a moving portrait.... Rustad draws readers into a tale of adventure and tragedy that, despite its dark outcome, is illuminated with a remarkable sense of humanity.... Equal parts tribute and travelogue, this is sure to enthrall those curious about a life lived to the extreme. --Publishers Weekly, starred review In Justin Alexander Shetler, Harley Rustad has found a character equal parts Shantaram and Into the Wild's Christopher McCandless, only with the media savvy of Anthony Bourdain and the soulful charisma of Bruce Chatwin. It is hard to imagine anyone able to illuminate this haunted, driven, marvelously complex person as richly and thoroughly as Rustad has done here. --John Vaillant, author of The Tiger and The Golden Spruce One of the most haunting books of recent times. Through spellbinding story-telling, drawn from impeccable research, Harley Rustad takes us not only into the evergreen story of a young man in search of his better self, but into the mystical pull of India, the latter-day community of global pilgrims, and the casualties found along the way. This is Somerset Maugham's classic Razor's Edge updated to the Age of Instagram.--Pico Iyer, author of The Art of Stillness and The Open Road Rustad's portrait of Shetler and the land in which his life ended is remarkably well-crafted and captivating, a powerful addition to the literature of quests and wilderness exploration. --Booklist Fascinating....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

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Harley Rustad is the author of Big Lonely Doug: The Story of One of Canada’s Last Great Trees. His writing has appeared in publications including Outside, the Guardian, the Globe and Mail, and Geographical. He is a features editor and writer at The Walrus magazine, a faculty editor at the Banff Centre's mountain and wilderness writing residency, and the founder of the Port Renfrew Writers’ Retreat. A fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Rustad is originally from Salt Spring Island, British Columbia.

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