I had eagerly anticipated the arrival of Dead Lucky, by Lincoln Hall. It was to be the first book that I would review for Blogcritics, and what a first book it would be. I mean how many people out there are able to say that they were left on Mt. Everest to die, and somehow survived not only the night, but the challenging hike down the mountain? I could tell I would already admire such an incredible feat of courage.

The opening of the book was quite intriguing, especially for someone like me, who has a very limited knowledge of hiking. I could tell that the author was trying to connect me with the reason he felt he needed to hike this mountain, and defy past failure. I continued reading the book with a great hunger to find out more in regards to whom he had climbed this mountain with, zooming in on those people who had left him there to die. I had heard past stories of people being left to die on Everest, the unethical ethics of Everest. Yet my mind could not seem to wrap itself around the idea of being, albeit vainly, left to die – how dramatically this must have altered his life. I mean those who have had a brush with death always seem to have sought to make sure they lived all that was left of life to its fullest.

I must say I was quite disappointed as I continued to read Dead Lucky. There was the fact that I learned very little about the team he climbed with, though every once in awhile there was a tidbit thrown in about someone on the team. But I didn’t really get a clear picture of what it was like to hike with that team. I tried to give the author the benefit of the doubt, especially since he spoke a lot about how the lack of air really can affect such facets as your thoughts, memories, and more. But I was left longing for something more – Mr. Hall seemed almost detached from the story he was penning, a story which I would have expected to have been life altering.

"The day I summitted Mount Everest was the day I died." Perhaps that detachment could have come from the experiences he had on his way up the mountain, as he passed countless bodies of those who had failed to survive that great mountain Everest.

At the end of Dead Lucky I was left with conflicting emotions, a feeling of: Is this really the end? It seemed like there was so much more to say that was never said. So I will wait in eager anticipation for the sequel; maybe it will be something like, Life After Everest? Because I don’t think that the story has been completed.