Hardback: In the predawn hours of 10 July 2014, twenty-seven-year-old Cody Roman Dial, the son of "adventure icon" (Outside) Roman Dial, slipped alone into Corcovado National Park, an untracked rainforest along Costa Rica’s remote Pacific Coast that shelters miners, poachers, and drug smugglers. He carried only a light backpack and machete, for he had been raised to be at home in the world's wildest places. On the eve of his departure, he emailed his father:
I am not sure how long it will take me, but I’m planning on doing 4 days in the jungle and a day to walk out. I’ll be bounded by a trail to the west and the coast everywhere else, so it should be difficult to get lost forever.
They were the last words Dial received from his son.
In the tradition of Into the Wild comes an instant classic of outdoor literature. A riveting work of uncommon depth, The Adventurer's Son is Dial's breathtaking account of his two-year quest to unravel the mystery of his son's fate - and, ultimately, the truth about their relationship.
As soon as he realized Cody Roman's return date had passed, Dial set off for Costa Rica. Trekking through the dense jungle, interviewing locals and searching for clues - the authorities suspected murder - the desperate father was forced to confront his own role in the events. Roman had raised his son to be fearless, instilling a love for the wild; they had travelled together across the globe, through rugged Alaska to remote Borneo, Bhutan, and Central America. In many ways, he had set his child on the path to Corcovado.
Was he ultimately responsible for his son’s fate? Did the young man, so full of confidence and ability, meet a dark end in this lawless wilderness that is notorious for sheltering drug smugglers, poachers, and illegal miners protective of their claims?
Or was Cody Roman, in fact, safe and using his finely honed outdoors skills on an epic solo adventure from which he would return at any moment?
Part detective story set in the most beautiful yet dangerous reaches of the planet, The Adventurer’s Son rapidly emerges as a far deeper tale of discovery - a journey to understand the truth about those we love the most.
The Adventurer’s Son (2020) includes fifty black-and-white photographs, courtesy of the author with a couple of exceptions.
About the author: Roman Dial is a pioneering American adventurer and a professor of mathematics and biology at Alaska Pacific University. "Renowned for audacious feats in mountaineering, ice climbing, rafting, and gruelling backcountry endurance races," writes National Geographic, "Roman is a mythic figure." A former National Geographic Explorer, her received his PhD from Stanford University and lives in Anchorage.
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