Review of the series “Neverest”

This review will be a little different than others because this is about a series of books, not just one. After finding the book “Neverest” by Nick van der Leek, I of course picked up on Kindle Unlimited as I never pass up the chance at books on climbing Himalayan peaks. What I didn’t expect was to find that it was book 1 of a 4 book series on the famous 1996 expedition on Mt. Everest that killed 8 and was made famous by a best selling book (“Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakhauer) and a documentary film, “Everest.”

For the series and for each book, I gave them all 4 star ratings out of 5. Each book took a different look at the circumstances surrounding the disaster and who might have been responsible. Of course, there really would not be one single person who would be the culprit for eight deaths. That, to me, is the strength of this series - van der Leek sees and writes about how many individuals, the weather, and the two groups climbing (Mountain Madness and Adventure Consultants) all had a hand in the tragedy.

I felt book 1, on the Mountain Madness team, led by Scott Fisher (one of the eight victims) was the best one. In this one, van der Leek views Everest as a crime scene and lists “persons of interest “ much like a crime investigation. These subjects include Fisher and Krakhauer. Because it had an open ending, this shows that this is a series. 

For the remaining books, van der Leek concentrates on Adventure Consultants, the two lead guides for the groups and the Sherpas in books, 2,3, and 4 respectively. They all do a very good job of explains the circumstances, highlighting possible errors in judgement, and what could have been done better. The writing in all four books is entertaining, at times a bit snarky, and knowledgeable due to both research by van der Leek and his experience as a climber made the series enjoyable. 

For my cover picture, I am posting the cover from book 3, which was the best of the four. I will resume the regular format of posts with my next review.