Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle that Set them Free - Hardcover

A superb book * Steve Weinberg, Dallas Morning News * Tobar plunges the reader into this world of uncertainty with visceral, present-tense prose and careful pacing . . . Whether the story is completely new to you, or if you were one of the millions glued to the news reports and wondering, will they make it-physically, emotionally, spiritually-you'll be greatly rewarded to learn how they did. * Mac McClelland, The New York Times Book Review * An account that brims with emotion and strength. * Ray Lockery, USA Today * Chiseled, brooding . . . As Tobar works his way through each miner's recovery, the TV headlines recede from our memory, and a more delicate series of portraits emerges. * Noah Gallagher Shannon, The Washington Post * Weaving together the drama of the miners' harrowing ordeal below ground with the anguish of families and rescuers on the surface, Tobar delivers a masterful account of exile and human longing, of triumph in the face of all odds. Taut with suspense and moments of tenderness and replete with a cast of unforgettable characters, Deep Down Dark ranks with the best of adventure literature. * Scott Wallace, The Los Angeles Times * Hector Tobar takes us so far down into the story and lives of the Chilean miners that his reconstruction of a workplace disaster becomes a riveting meditation on universal human themes.Deep Down Dark is an extraordinary piece of work. * George Packer * His narrative cracks along at a suitably breathless pace... you're unlikely to find a more exciting account. * Daily Mail * an astonishing tale of survival * Spectator * In this masterful dissection of the 2010's dramatic sixty-nine day ordeal by thirty-three trapped Chilean miners, Hector Tobar weaves a suspenseful narrative that moves back and forth between the waking nightmares of the buried men, and those of their families on the earth's surface. In Deep Down Dark, Hector Tobar takes us deftly to the very cliff-edge of human survival. * Jon Lee Anderson * It's almost hard to believe that Hector Tobar wasn't himself one of the trapped Chilean miners, so vivid, immediate, terrifying, emotional, and convincing is his Homeric narration of this extraordinary incident. Deep Down Dark is a literary masterpiece of narrative journalism, surgical in its reconstruction, novelistic in its explorations of human personality and nuance. In a manner that feels spiritual, Tobar puts himself at the service of his story, and his fidelity to and unquenchable curiosity about every fact and detail generates unforgettable wonderment and awe. * Francisco Goldman * [Tobar] builds tension and dramatizes subplots below and above ground...[he] does more than rehash the media's feel-good story. * Independent * Deep Down Dark is an eloquent testament to the human spirit. * Robert Crampton, The Times * ..fascinating... (The ) narrative cracks along at a suitably breathless pace. * Irish Mail * A gripping narrative, taut to the point of explosion . . . An electrifying, empathetic work of journalism that makes a four-year-old story feel fresh. * Kirkus * Riveting... Tobar vividly narrates the miners' lives post-rescue as they come to terms with their life-changing experience and the media frenzy surrounding it. Rich in local color, this is a sensitive, suspenseful rendering of a legendary story. * Publishers Weekly, Most Anticipated Books of 2014 *

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ' . . . an eloquent testament to the human spirit' The Times The heart-stopping survival story of the 33 miners trapped half a mile beneath the surface for 69 days when the San Jose Mine collapsed. More 1 billion viewers worldwide watched the rescue, and it is now being made into a major film. No other writer has been granted the deep and exclusive access to the miners that Puliter Prize-winning journalist Hector Tobar has, and no one else can capture and recreate this unique drama so vividly, from the conflicts and the emotions that enveloped the men during their first fortnight below ground, when death by starvation loomed as their likely fate, to the subsequent weeks during which they established contact with the outside world. All the while, they remain trapped inside a still-thundering mountain that could collapse upon them at any moment.