In the tradition of Into Thin Air and The Perfect Storm comes the riveting account of a deadly plane crash in northern Canada and its aftermath. Written by an award-winning journalist who is the daughter of one of the survivors, Into the Abyss is a dramatic true story of survival, and a compassionate account of 4 men's journey from the depths of tragedy to the riches of lives begun anew.
On an icy night in October 1984, a Piper Navajo commuter plane carrying 9 passengers crashed in the remote wilderness of northern Alberta, killing 6 people. 4 survived: the rookie pilot, a prominent politician, a cop and the criminal he was escorting to face charges. As they fought through the night to stay alive, the dividing lines of power, wealth and status were erased and each man was forced to confront the precious and limited nature of his existence. The survivors forged unlikely friendships and through them found strength and courage to rebuild their lives. Into the Abyss is a powerful narrative that combines in-depth reporting with sympathy and grace to explore how a single, tragic event can upset our assumptions and become a catalyst for transformation.

Carol Shaben's profile page

CAROL SHABEN is an award-winning author and journalist. She is the author of Into the Abyss, winner of the Edna Stabler National Award for Creative Nonfiction and finalist for the BC Book Prize Herbert Evans Non-Fiction Award, and the co-author of The Marriott Cell, longlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize, a Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year, a national bestseller, and recipient of the Ontario Historical Society Huguenot Award. She is the recipient of two National Magazine Awards. She was a longtime Faculty Editor at the Banff Centre's journalism program and has taught at the University of British Columbia's School of Creative Writing.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
WINNER of the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction
FINALIST for the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize

"Absorbing. . . . Shaben's gripping narrative seizes the reader from the first chapter. . . . Shaben, an award-winning investigative reporter, paints a compelling picture of the lax regulations and pressure-cooker atmosphere surrounding commuter aircrafts."
—Toronto Star
"Riveting."
—Chatelaine
"Impressive."
—Calgary Herald

“With Into the Abyss Carol Shaben gives us an astonishing true story of catastrophe and redemption. Shaben writes from the inside out, as in the best non-fiction, creating a nuanced and tightly braided portrait of four men and their shared trauma that is by turns terrifying and deeply humane. Every line in this uniquely Canadian story rings true.”
—John Vaillant, author of The Tiger

“Into the Abyss is a shot of storytelling adrenalin, taut and riveting and poised beautifully between pure action and thought. An extraordinary reading experience.”
—Charles Foran, author of Mordecai: The Life & Times

“Carol Shaben is a meticulous reporter and, most importantly, a remarkably empathetic one. In Into the Abyss, she combines these skills masterfully to explore the full emotional impact of a horrific accident. The drifter she never met is as alive and complex in this story as her beloved father, and together with the other two survivors they weave a powerful tale about the limits of human resilience in the face of tragedy.”
—Chris Turner, author of The Leap and The Geography of Hope

“When a plane crashes in the mountains of northern Alberta, six people die, and four men of wildly different backgrounds survive—including a criminal on his way to court, who ends up rescuing his fellow passengers. But what makes this tale so remarkable is the meticulous way in which the author maps the human consequences of the tragedy: how it forged deep bonds among the survivors, and transformed their lives. This book leads us into classic, nail-biting Jon Krakauer territory—and then breaks new ground.”
—Marni Jackson, co-director of the Banff Centre Mountain and Wilderness Writing Program

“In her page-turning reconstruction of a small plane crash and its large aftermath, Carol Shaben vividly charts the emotional flight paths of four survivors, each an archetypal character entangled in a fateful web of incompetence and heroism, dumb luck and deliverance, guilt and salvation, trauma and transformation. Why, for some, does a deep shock act like a wake-up call; for others, nothing but an inexorable spiral into the abyss? In the end, the strangeness of true stories continues to rival fiction.”
—James FitzGerald, author of What Disturbs Our Blood: A Son’s Quest to Redeem the Past