Carol Shaben | Author. Journalist. Humanist.

Amazon.com Best Books of the Month

Amazon.com has picked Into the Abyss as one one of their Best Books of the Month: Nonfiction for May. How cool is that? Check it out here.

Into the Abyss

Into the Abyss is an astonishing true story of a deadly commuter plane crash in northern Canada and how it changed the lives of its four survivors: a rookie pilot, a prominent politician, a cop and the accused criminal he was escorting to face charges.

Peace Country

Tavern door, Grande Prairie

Much of the book takes place in the Peace Country—a soul-stirring sweep of aspen parkland in north western Alberta. Sights like the tavern entrance to Grande Prairie’s once-popular Park Hotel (left) are typical of the towns and small cities that dot the region.

Bush Flying

Bush pilot, northern Canada

Former bush pilot Erik Vogel sits atop a C-185 “tail dragger” in Ft. Liard, Northwest Territories. Bush flying has always been a hard-driving, high-risk profession ranked as one of the deadliest in North America.

Peace Country

Train tracks, Grande Prairie

A lonely stretch of railway tracks cuts through the centre of Grande Prairie. The author took this picture not far from where the Wapiti Community Dorm, a men’s homeless shelter frequented by drifter Paul Archambault, once stood.

Latest entries

Media

Into the Abyss on NPR

Carol Shaben author of ”Into the Abyss” and survivor Scott Deschamps speak with NPR Morning Edition’s Steve Inskeep about the crash that transfigured the lives of its four survivors, including Shaben’s own father, a politician named Larry Shaben. After Crashing In Canadian ‘Abyss,’ Four Men Fight To Surviven.pr/19ZHAl3

Into the Abyss

Buy Into the Abyss

Description Only four men survived the plane crash. The pilot. A politician. A cop… and the criminal he was shackled to. On an icy night in October 1984, a commuter plane carrying nine passengers crashed in the remote wilderness of northern Alberta, killing six people. Four survived: the rookie pilot, a prominent politician, a cop,...