Deep Down Dark by Hector Tobar

In 2010, in a northern desert area of Chile, the San Jose mine collapsed. There were 33 miners trapped deep underground and the massive explosion blocked their escape. For a long time no one knew if there were survivors. Then a drill bore a narrow hole into a chamber and when the bit was hoisted back a note was attached. It read "We are well" and signed "The 33." There was a global audience as attempts were made to rescue the men over a 69 day period.

While there is no secret to the story's conclusion, Hector Tobar's account is suspenseful and riveting.  He weaves together a tale of endurance, family anguish, massive publicity, and self-serving politics.  Novelist Ann Patchett described this true story as "a masterpiece of compassion." Tobar puts the reader in the mine - deep down dark - to share the experience of entrapment with the miners. We share their danger, their fears, their hunger, and their disagreements. The cavern where they gathered was both their coffin and their church. This experience and its telling rates with the best of adventure tales, one with many moral lessons.