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.