UPDATE: It has been brought to my attention that Billman is accused of misrepresenting Jacob, family members, and events of Jacob's life and the search-and-rescue efforts in this book. Family members and friends have stated that some events and quotes have been completely made up, and that some people depicted in the book had not given permission to share personal situations, much less had any contact with Billman at all. I personally believe these statements, and my original feeling that Billman veered into wild speculation in this book is further solidified. This book is billed as true crime/non-fiction, so this is concerning to me. (Again, this is my personal opinion.) You can read further comments from Jacob's family and friends on the Finding Jacob Gray Facebook page.

This book is good, not great. It started off strong, and I was interested in learning about the different tactics that are used in search and rescue. But then little sprinklings of....Bigfoot...started popping up here and there. Excuse me? I understand that Billman interacted with a group of Bigfoot hunters, and it's a part of Randy's search for his son, Jacob, but I felt that there was way too much talk of Sasquatch, alien abductions, and psychics that the book just veered off into wild speculation. Billman addressed the veracity of psychics involving themselves in missing persons cases, but only in the last, like, fourth of the book. The writing was also not stellar. It was alright, but I was expecting a little more reflection on Randy's search for Jacob, and his own personal journey, and that just never came to fruition.

It was interesting to read about the different missing persons cases that Billman has researched and reported on, and if you're at all interested in learning more about missing persons in the wild, this could be an interesting read. Just get ready for some not-so-factual sprinklings of the paranormal.

*I received a free digital ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*