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 *
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 *
..fascinating... (The ) narrative cracks along at a suitably breathless pace. * Irish Mail *
Deep Down Dark is an eloquent testament to the human spirit. * Robert Crampton, The Times *
[Tobar] builds tension and dramatizes subplots below and above ground...[he] does more than rehash the media's feel-good story. * Independent *
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 *
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 *
an astonishing tale of survival * Spectator *
His narrative cracks along at a suitably breathless pace... you're unlikely to find a more exciting account. * Daily Mail *
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 *
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 *
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 *
An account that brims with emotion and strength. * Ray Lockery, USA Today *
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 *
A superb book * Steve Weinberg, Dallas Morning News *
