The Adventurer's Son

November 11, 2019
A father’s outdoor adventures lead his son into danger in this gripping memoir. Dial, a biology professor at Alaska Pacific University, recounts the disappearance of his 27-year-old son, Cody Roman Dial, during a solo jungle trek in Costa Rica’s Corcovado National Park. Flying down to lead the search, the author found a primeval forest full of perils—deadly snakes, falling trees, prowling drug smugglers—and bewildering mysteries: government bureaucrats blocked his searches; purported sightings of Cody accompanied by a local criminal surfaced; and Dial got enmeshed with a reality-TV show spinning a murder theory about the disappearance. Backgrounding the narrative are Dial’s recollections of his own dangerous adventures—in one heart-stopping mountain-climbing incident, he leaped into a precipice to counterbalance a roped partner’s plunge off the opposite side of a ridge—and of taking Cody, from the age of six, on risky wilderness excursions and white-water rafting trips. Dial conveys both his guilt at setting his son on that fateful path and the allure of that path—“y grief painted the jungle black, but the heart of the Osa’s wilderness still left me awed.... I couldn’t shut out forever the joy in seeing a kingfisher’s blue flash or a spider monkey’s graceful swing.” Dial paints a riveting, richly conflicted portrait of family legacies and the call of the wild.

December 15, 2019
A brisk account of a father's search for his 27-year-old son, who vanished on a solo trek through Costa Rica's Corcovado jungle. Alaskan adventurer and ecologist Dial (Mathematics and Biology/Alaska Pacific Univ.; Packrafting! An Introduction and How-To Guide, 2008) chronicles his quest to figure out what happened to his son, Cody. Fusing personal history with elegy and adventure, this arresting narrative of every parent's worst fear begins with the author's background and then recounts the Dial family's many exciting excursions. Meticulous memories of father and son exploring places like Alaska and Borneo establish Cody as a person who grew into a capable adventurer and biologist. In the second section, the author pieces together Cody's volcano climbs and resourceful forays in Central America before contact with his parents ceased. His last email was written in Costa Rica in 2014, and its haunting last line--"...it should be difficult to get lost forever"--reverberates throughout the text. When he realized that his son may have disappeared, Dial left for Costa Rica to unearth the truth. With the assistance of his friends, wife, and an intriguing mixture of officials and locals (who weren't always forthcoming with information), Dial confronted rumors of foul play and continued to sift through his own knowledge of his son's character for clues. The author's guilt at having sparked Cody's interest in the wild mingles with the veteran adventurer's tactical calm in the face of numerous obstacles. His descriptions of Costa Rica's jungles echo with mystery, and, despite his grief, Dial's writing remains measured and cleareyed. When he recounts how a TV crew took a sensational angle for the sake of drama, the author's dismay is palpable. Two years later, Cody's remains were found, and it was determined that his death was an accident, which brought his family some sense of closure. In its emotional restraint and careful descriptions of the wild, this is a slow-burning tribute. A poignant, highly moving memoir of tragic circumstances and a lifelong love of exploring.

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March 6, 2020

Rarely does a parent share with such candid emotion their experience of losing a child as Dial (Packrafting: An Introduction & How-To Guide) does in his memoir, which begins with the author's early life and passion for the outdoors, then explores how he shared that passion with his children. Dial tells stories of sheltering in tents during storms, traversing rivers, and trekking remote paths with his young son, also named Roman, by his side. In the second half of the book, the author describes his search for his son, who went missing while on a solo trek in Central America. Navigating cultural, geographical, and linguistic barriers, the challenge seemed overwhelming, and Dial leaves no emotion unaddressed, sharing his grief, panic, guilt, fear, hope, confusion, and frustration throughout his long search for answers. While heartbreaking to read, Dial's story is also a powerful testament to the bond between parent and child and the need to do the things we love, even when fear seeks to stop us. VERDICT Dial's memoir is a beautiful book that will speak most ardently to parents, but also to adventurers, travelers, scientists, and all those who find joy in exploring the world.--Sarah Schroeder, Univ. of Washington Bothell

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2020
His son's solo trek into the Costa Rican jungle was only supposed to last a handful of days. But when 27-year-old Cody Roman Dial's father realizes it has been 10 days since he was supposed to return, and there has been no word from him, he travels to Costa Rica to search for his son himself. It would be two years before he would learn what happened to his son, and in this powerful memoir of a father's love of adventure and of his child, Dial reflects on whether he should have shielded Cody Roman from the wild journeys they took together. For a boy whose first name was inspired by an Alaskan mountain pass, Cody Roman grew up sharing his father's love for the outdoors. But the puzzle pieces that greet Dial in Costa Rica paint a much different picture, of a young man involved with a notorious drug dealer. Through the twists and turns of his search, Dial must follow his own compass to stay true to the son he knew. A complex and moving memoir.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)