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“Wear the old coat and buy the new book.” – Austin Phelps

Cold a Long Time: An Alpine Mystery by John Leake

A Disturbing Saga of Loss and a Search for the Truth – 5 stars

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Imagine a loved one disappearing from a public venue without a trace one summer afternoon. Now imagine that the very people whose job it was to help him and should be helping you find that person not only neglected to sound the alarm to begin a search for him, but are now misleading you and giving you false information when you then attempt to conduct your own search. That’s the situation a couple from Saskatoon found themselves in when their son disappeared from a popular Austrian ski slope.

This is the type of story you might hear on the news about a person who has gone missing somewhere in a Third World country, not something you would think would happen in a western country such as Austria.

The first half of the book is about the circumstances of Duncan MacPherson’s disappearance and the attempts his parents, Lynda and Bob, made to determine what actually happened to their son. When the local authorities were unwilling to pursue the case, Duncan’s parents continued on their own at great expense both emotionally and financially.

Fourteen years after he vanished, Duncan’s body melted out of a crevasse in the middle of a ski slope. Duncan’s parents could finally get the answers about his death they’ve been seeking all those years.

Or could they?

The second half of the book traces the evidence, tracks down forensic experts, and attempts to reconstruct what really happened on that August afternoon in 1989. The results are both disturbing and shocking, and showed that the Austrian officials and the ski resort employees were involved in a huge cover-up in not only Duncan’s case, but several others over the years. A conspiracy of silence, misdirection, and a disregard for the victims and their families ran rampant in those who depended on the tourist industry for their livelihood in the Stubai Glacier ski area of Austria. It was the making of a true-life nightmare with fatal consequences.

Highly recommended.

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