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Back from the Deep: How Gene and Sandy Ralston Serve the Living by Finding the Dead
The dramatic story of an unlikely search and recovery duo who help law enforcement and grieving families with their uncanny knack for locating bodies underwater
A powerful debut for fans of deeply reported stories that follow real people with obsessional passions, and of authors like Tracy Kidder, Sebastian Junger, and Patrick Radden Keefe
When the police and FBI exhaust their abilities and options, and when grieving families run out of resources, their last best hope has been an Idaho couple who have spent their retirement years pursuing lost causes — and have located 130 victims from lakes and rivers across the United States and Canada.
Gene and Sandy Ralston, a married Idaho couple in their mid 70s, are self-taught underwater search-and-recovery specialists who volunteer their time and equipment. And yet the Ralstons are counted among the best in the world. The Ralstons have an uncanny knack for finding bodies in deep water and can regularly find a missing person within hours, sometimes even minutes, of launching their boat.
Law enforcement and emergency response agencies seek out their peculiar expertise, but when the Ralstons' home phone rings it's usually a family member of a missing person. Someone reaching out after the local police and volunteer groups have called off the official search. Someone who heard from a friend of a friend about a couple from Idaho who will travel thousands of miles at the drop of a hat — charging only their travel costs — to help complete strangers.
A powerful debut for fans of deeply reported stories that follow real people with obsessional passions, and of authors like Tracy Kidder, Sebastian Junger, and Patrick Radden Keefe
When the police and FBI exhaust their abilities and options, and when grieving families run out of resources, their last best hope has been an Idaho couple who have spent their retirement years pursuing lost causes — and have located 130 victims from lakes and rivers across the United States and Canada.
Gene and Sandy Ralston, a married Idaho couple in their mid 70s, are self-taught underwater search-and-recovery specialists who volunteer their time and equipment. And yet the Ralstons are counted among the best in the world. The Ralstons have an uncanny knack for finding bodies in deep water and can regularly find a missing person within hours, sometimes even minutes, of launching their boat.
Law enforcement and emergency response agencies seek out their peculiar expertise, but when the Ralstons' home phone rings it's usually a family member of a missing person. Someone reaching out after the local police and volunteer groups have called off the official search. Someone who heard from a friend of a friend about a couple from Idaho who will travel thousands of miles at the drop of a hat — charging only their travel costs — to help complete strangers.
- GenresNonfictionTrue Crime
313 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 12, 2024
8 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
December 19, 2024
The couple Gene and Sandy Ralston are really admirable, what they do and how they live. I would have loved to have known them personally. The cases they helped were fascinating. However, I'm not sure I'm a big fan of the writing style of the book. Still an enjoyable book.
Thanks to Netgalley and Steerforth Press for access to this arc in exchange for my honest review.
Thanks to Netgalley and Steerforth Press for access to this arc in exchange for my honest review.
February 10, 2024
An amazing story about an elderly couple who have spent a long time doing sonar searches and recovery for the bodies of people who have drowned. A moving book about how talented and empathetic they have become at doing something many others have tried and failed at. Sadly, they haven’t been able to find anyone to take over as they age out of being able to continue this endeavor.
May 9, 2024
A decent book ruined by an all too frequent "amateur hour" move by this novice author to interject his irrelevant and irritating personal politics throughout the tale. I got the book to read about Gene and Sandy's incredible contributions...not to discover what Horner thinks about covid vaccination and black lives matter issues.
May 12, 2024
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/...
I would have rated this five stars had it not been for Doug Horner’s lack of accuracy and trustworthiness as explained below.
We recovered a drowning victim from the Boise River in 1983, and had volunteered for other searches using our whitewater jet boats. At that time, we could only search for victims that had surfaced. After acquiring our side scan sonar in 2000, which was customized for deep water searching, it revolutionized our search efforts and greatly increased chances of recovering victims. Beginning in 2004, we began receiving inquiries from film producers to do documentaries or film series on the drowning victim search and recovery. For reasons I will not get into, we declined more than two dozen film inquiries.
In December, 2016, Doug Horner, an independent writer living in Calgary, AB, wrote to ask if we would allow him to write a book about our work. We told him we wanted the book to focus on the families we have helped and not on us, personally. He met us in the Boise area In January, 2017. Sandy was skeptical and had no interest in having a book written about us. I was less reluctant and eventually convinced her we should at least pursue it. After several phone interviews spanning the next 30 months, Doug had a very good article published in The Guardian, in January, 2020. Later in 2020, a literary agent contacted us about the possibility of having someone write a book about our work. I told her, as I did all the TV producers, any book should be about the families we help and not about us, personally. Then I introduced Doug to them and he eventually got a book deal through the agent. During his negotiations for the contract, Doug asked if we wanted any monetary compensation for our time as well as the story. We told him no! Nothing at all for our time, story, nor book sales.
Following hundreds of hours of telephone interviews, as well as attending a few searches with us and some of the families we helped, Doug finally submitted his work to the publisher in mid-2023. In September, he sent us a PDF review copy of the book. I assumed he sent it for us to review and suggest technical corrections. However, when I read the first few chapters and discovered he had breached my trust in him, I wrote to him about various subjects in the book that I specifically told him were not to be included in the book. He replied:
“Hey Gene, I did not mean to give you the impression this is a fact check. That's a regrettable mistake about the boom. Those kinds of changes unfortunately cannot be changed at this point. I just wanted to let you know that any spelling mistakes you read will be caught by the proof reader.”
Assuming there was no way to make any changes, we left on a search without reading more of the book. When we returned, I began reading again. Unfortunately, to our dismay, he had included EVERYTHING in the book that we told him not to! This time I came unglued, and emailed even more comments and asked that he make the changes or I would go public with our displeasure with his breach of trust as well as making several errors in parts of the book. Even though he had said, “Those kinds of changes unfortunately cannot be changed at this point.,” he did agree to make a few minor changes in the discussion of our reluctance to take the COVID 19 vaccine. He was very premature on his criticism, as our scientific and pre-med undergraduate work, told us this was not a true vaccine which had never been tested for long term effects. Guess what? Our early decision has been vindicated by recent analysis of the discovery of very harmful, long-term complications, including death, caused by the vaccine.
He spent a great deal of time letting readers know how clever he thought he was with his own words, his own feelings and in his ability to "learn the trade" of remote sensing.
The jumping back and forth from one time period or search to another was a couple of times difficult to follow. And the end of the story is abrupt with no conclusion.
He did insert his own "far left" views into the book. And, he did it in a way that made it sound as if his views were not an opinion but a fact, that anyone disagreeing was just plain inexplicably wrong.
The biggest bunch of inexplicable hypocrisy, in my opinion, was the chapter on Residential schools. And the "discovery" of thousands of abused and murdered corpses "found" using ground penetrating radar!!!
He talks a great deal about technology in the book. He gives examples of the difficulty in interpreting reflected images. He seems to understand the need for ground truthing all targets before declaring a positive identity and yet he has a chapter on thousands of unmarked graves without having evidence of a single one being excavated and verified. Textbook liberal hypocrisy.
Finally, the low-quality publication appears to have been printed on recycled toilet paper.
I would have rated this five stars had it not been for Doug Horner’s lack of accuracy and trustworthiness as explained below.
We recovered a drowning victim from the Boise River in 1983, and had volunteered for other searches using our whitewater jet boats. At that time, we could only search for victims that had surfaced. After acquiring our side scan sonar in 2000, which was customized for deep water searching, it revolutionized our search efforts and greatly increased chances of recovering victims. Beginning in 2004, we began receiving inquiries from film producers to do documentaries or film series on the drowning victim search and recovery. For reasons I will not get into, we declined more than two dozen film inquiries.
In December, 2016, Doug Horner, an independent writer living in Calgary, AB, wrote to ask if we would allow him to write a book about our work. We told him we wanted the book to focus on the families we have helped and not on us, personally. He met us in the Boise area In January, 2017. Sandy was skeptical and had no interest in having a book written about us. I was less reluctant and eventually convinced her we should at least pursue it. After several phone interviews spanning the next 30 months, Doug had a very good article published in The Guardian, in January, 2020. Later in 2020, a literary agent contacted us about the possibility of having someone write a book about our work. I told her, as I did all the TV producers, any book should be about the families we help and not about us, personally. Then I introduced Doug to them and he eventually got a book deal through the agent. During his negotiations for the contract, Doug asked if we wanted any monetary compensation for our time as well as the story. We told him no! Nothing at all for our time, story, nor book sales.
Following hundreds of hours of telephone interviews, as well as attending a few searches with us and some of the families we helped, Doug finally submitted his work to the publisher in mid-2023. In September, he sent us a PDF review copy of the book. I assumed he sent it for us to review and suggest technical corrections. However, when I read the first few chapters and discovered he had breached my trust in him, I wrote to him about various subjects in the book that I specifically told him were not to be included in the book. He replied:
“Hey Gene, I did not mean to give you the impression this is a fact check. That's a regrettable mistake about the boom. Those kinds of changes unfortunately cannot be changed at this point. I just wanted to let you know that any spelling mistakes you read will be caught by the proof reader.”
Assuming there was no way to make any changes, we left on a search without reading more of the book. When we returned, I began reading again. Unfortunately, to our dismay, he had included EVERYTHING in the book that we told him not to! This time I came unglued, and emailed even more comments and asked that he make the changes or I would go public with our displeasure with his breach of trust as well as making several errors in parts of the book. Even though he had said, “Those kinds of changes unfortunately cannot be changed at this point.,” he did agree to make a few minor changes in the discussion of our reluctance to take the COVID 19 vaccine. He was very premature on his criticism, as our scientific and pre-med undergraduate work, told us this was not a true vaccine which had never been tested for long term effects. Guess what? Our early decision has been vindicated by recent analysis of the discovery of very harmful, long-term complications, including death, caused by the vaccine.
He spent a great deal of time letting readers know how clever he thought he was with his own words, his own feelings and in his ability to "learn the trade" of remote sensing.
The jumping back and forth from one time period or search to another was a couple of times difficult to follow. And the end of the story is abrupt with no conclusion.
He did insert his own "far left" views into the book. And, he did it in a way that made it sound as if his views were not an opinion but a fact, that anyone disagreeing was just plain inexplicably wrong.
The biggest bunch of inexplicable hypocrisy, in my opinion, was the chapter on Residential schools. And the "discovery" of thousands of abused and murdered corpses "found" using ground penetrating radar!!!
He talks a great deal about technology in the book. He gives examples of the difficulty in interpreting reflected images. He seems to understand the need for ground truthing all targets before declaring a positive identity and yet he has a chapter on thousands of unmarked graves without having evidence of a single one being excavated and verified. Textbook liberal hypocrisy.
Finally, the low-quality publication appears to have been printed on recycled toilet paper.
May 30, 2024
The subjects of the book are doing important work that most people never consider the need for until their own desperate hour. They use their own equipment time and resources to find and recover the bodies of drowning victims who do not resurface without charging any fees other than covering their basic travel and operating expenses. Losing a loved one and not having the opportunity to care for and respectfully lay to rest their remains can halt the grieving process and prolong the trauma of loss indefinitely. This couple spends weeks on weeks on the road to help bring these families a measure of closure in helping search for and hopefully recover the bodies of the lost. True generosity of spirit. 3 stars due to unnecessary political commentary and somewhat convoluted storytelling
August 2, 2024
Thoroughly engrossing read from a distinct new voice in Canadian literature.
Doug Horner writes a fascinating account of the lives of two very significant individuals. His deceivingly straight-forward prose contains multitudes of depth; you may find yourself punched in the gut with tears in your eyes as you flip through page after page of enlightening and highly detailed true events. If reading a book is a journey, “Back From the Deep” has taken me to places I never thought I’d go and I am all the wiser for it.
Doug Horner writes a fascinating account of the lives of two very significant individuals. His deceivingly straight-forward prose contains multitudes of depth; you may find yourself punched in the gut with tears in your eyes as you flip through page after page of enlightening and highly detailed true events. If reading a book is a journey, “Back From the Deep” has taken me to places I never thought I’d go and I am all the wiser for it.
January 7, 2024
Thank you NetGalley and Steerforth Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
This is a story of a couple, Gene and Sandy Ralston, who run an underwater search and retrieval operation with their own boat and equipment including sonar devices that bought themselves. They volunteer to search lakes for those who have drowned and have not been found. They have found 130 victims – including some for the FBI. The book is interesting in the way it highlights exactly what the Ralston’s searches mean to those who are missing their loved ones.
The author does delve into the science behind the technology as well as how death is viewed in diverse cultures by using some mythology (the Ferryman) and some from other author’s works. He does reference exactly where the information comes from so if the reader is interested, they could read more on the topics discussed. Sometimes the science and other information was above my head which took me out of the story.
However, I do believe that this is worth the read. Underwater retrieval is something I have not read much about and this book has piqued my interest in this area.
This is a story of a couple, Gene and Sandy Ralston, who run an underwater search and retrieval operation with their own boat and equipment including sonar devices that bought themselves. They volunteer to search lakes for those who have drowned and have not been found. They have found 130 victims – including some for the FBI. The book is interesting in the way it highlights exactly what the Ralston’s searches mean to those who are missing their loved ones.
The author does delve into the science behind the technology as well as how death is viewed in diverse cultures by using some mythology (the Ferryman) and some from other author’s works. He does reference exactly where the information comes from so if the reader is interested, they could read more on the topics discussed. Sometimes the science and other information was above my head which took me out of the story.
However, I do believe that this is worth the read. Underwater retrieval is something I have not read much about and this book has piqued my interest in this area.
January 3, 2024
Husband and wife duo, Gene and Sandy, use sonar to find drowning victims in the US and Canada. Nearing retirement age, they've recovered over 100 bodies.
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Just OK. There's no clear timeline, as the author jumps around a lot. They also include a lot of unrelated info, like the Ralston's thoughts on COVID and vaccines. Like yes, COVID was relevant to the timeline, because it created issues with traveling across the border, but their opinions on vaccines was not. Nor was including their questionable online persona. It could be argued that it was relevant to showing them as fully developed characters in the narrative, because people are complex, but I don't care. I just wanted to hear about their work.
**I received my copy from Netgalley.
--
Just OK. There's no clear timeline, as the author jumps around a lot. They also include a lot of unrelated info, like the Ralston's thoughts on COVID and vaccines. Like yes, COVID was relevant to the timeline, because it created issues with traveling across the border, but their opinions on vaccines was not. Nor was including their questionable online persona. It could be argued that it was relevant to showing them as fully developed characters in the narrative, because people are complex, but I don't care. I just wanted to hear about their work.
**I received my copy from Netgalley.
Read
January 5, 2024Oh dear, I didn’t finish this book. It wasn’t because I didn’t like the subject of the book - it was the clumsy, messy writing that got to me. There was an awful lot of background history that wasn’t really relevant, it felt like padding . It is a true account of two wonderful older people- the Ralstons- who use sonar to recover bodies from deep water all over the USA. Now in their eighties, they have a scientific background but not in sonar technology. They taught themselves how to use the equipment to great effect.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a prepublication ebook in return for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a prepublication ebook in return for an honest review.
January 4, 2024
An interesting read about a couple who almost by accident became the foremost experts on underwater body recovery. It was fascinating to hear about the Ralstons and the network that they've created that spans police, park rangers, and families of those who have gone missing on the water.
However, there were times that the book jumped back and forth between cases too much, and by the time we returned to a specific incident that was partially discussed earlier, I had completely forgotten what the story was.
However, there were times that the book jumped back and forth between cases too much, and by the time we returned to a specific incident that was partially discussed earlier, I had completely forgotten what the story was.
October 6, 2024
I felt this book should have undergone another round of editing and rewrites before it was published. The stories were very choppy and bounced around a lot. The attempt to make the book deeper by comparing the Ralstons to Charon was not well formulated, so was not a strong argument. And I felt the inclusion of Ralston's political agenda (he is a U.S. conservative) and their views on the Covid vaccine were unnecessary. Overall, the book had more of an extended magazine article feel than a cohesive book.
June 23, 2024
Fascinating subject matter, but awful writing. Very hard to follow, sloppy writing.
June 19, 2024
"Back from the Deep" is Doug Horner's examination of a unique duo in American investigations: the Ralstons, a couple who volunteers their time to search river bodies for the lost.
What's good: The stories of how the Ralstons find victims are genuinely interesting, as is how they came to specialize in this particular "business." In addition, I'm grateful for the author not ignoring the elephant in the room--how a couple who are seemingly working and living based on the dictates of science can be taken in by conspiracy thinking and anti-vax misinformation online. The book illuminates how people who can contribute so much to the folks around them can also, unfortunately, be swept up in a larger and more toxic point of view.
What's iffier: There's a lot of personal discussion about the Ralstons--hanging out with them, who they are as people, etc. As a true crime person, I wanted more about the cases, but I understand that's not the chief focus here.
With gratitude to Edelweiss and the publisher for allowing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What's good: The stories of how the Ralstons find victims are genuinely interesting, as is how they came to specialize in this particular "business." In addition, I'm grateful for the author not ignoring the elephant in the room--how a couple who are seemingly working and living based on the dictates of science can be taken in by conspiracy thinking and anti-vax misinformation online. The book illuminates how people who can contribute so much to the folks around them can also, unfortunately, be swept up in a larger and more toxic point of view.
What's iffier: There's a lot of personal discussion about the Ralstons--hanging out with them, who they are as people, etc. As a true crime person, I wanted more about the cases, but I understand that's not the chief focus here.
With gratitude to Edelweiss and the publisher for allowing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
January 18, 2024
Thank you NetGalley and Steerforth Press for sending me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book is about an extraordinary couple Gene and Sandy Ralston who are both in their 70's, and are underwater search-and-recovery specialists. This involves voluntarily using their own boat and sonar equipment to help local authorities and even the FBI, locate missing people when all other avenues have failed. They offer this service, their own personal equipment, and their time free of charge and just ask for just the cost of the gas it takes to use the apparatus. Incredibly they are self-taught, and counted among the best in the world at what they do. So far have help to locate over 130 missing people.
What an extraordinary story. I was very interested in this book when I read the synopsis as we have recently had a missing person in the town where I live and sonar services were used in the search.
This is a really interested book, not really about true crime but more about people who give their time to help families put their loved ones to rest.
This book is about an extraordinary couple Gene and Sandy Ralston who are both in their 70's, and are underwater search-and-recovery specialists. This involves voluntarily using their own boat and sonar equipment to help local authorities and even the FBI, locate missing people when all other avenues have failed. They offer this service, their own personal equipment, and their time free of charge and just ask for just the cost of the gas it takes to use the apparatus. Incredibly they are self-taught, and counted among the best in the world at what they do. So far have help to locate over 130 missing people.
What an extraordinary story. I was very interested in this book when I read the synopsis as we have recently had a missing person in the town where I live and sonar services were used in the search.
This is a really interested book, not really about true crime but more about people who give their time to help families put their loved ones to rest.
January 19, 2026
I enjoyed this read! The Ralstons, who in boiler plate true crime non-fiction might be fit into some neat archetype, are shared as the interesting and original people they are. I appreciated that this book took an almost journalistic approach to their story and the subject matter. Other writers might have focused on fitting the Ralstons, their story and cases into neat/convenient/familiar/predictable patterns, but this felt like reading something more nuanced. I felt like this book could appeal to a wide range of readers, especially those who prefer long-form pieces and are less interested in salacious crime. Somehow the author had me interested in the more scientific aspects of their work. Some of the cases mentioned do tend to jump around a bit, but I chalk that up to the fact that the Ralstons have such an extensive history. All-in-all, a fascinating story told in a refreshing way.
January 13, 2024
3 1/2 stars
If you were expecting a true crime story you will be disappointed and instead a bit humbled by the many years of service this couple have provided to the upper U.S. and Canada. Gene and Sandy Ralston have developed very precise sonar methods that help find missing bodies in large or unstable bodies of water. Where divers have given up and families still wait for closure this couple, asking only for gas money, will come in and spend hours locating missing people. Thanks to their big hearts more than 130 people have been located and laid to rest. The author also explores water related facts, myths and history of water deaths. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
If you were expecting a true crime story you will be disappointed and instead a bit humbled by the many years of service this couple have provided to the upper U.S. and Canada. Gene and Sandy Ralston have developed very precise sonar methods that help find missing bodies in large or unstable bodies of water. Where divers have given up and families still wait for closure this couple, asking only for gas money, will come in and spend hours locating missing people. Thanks to their big hearts more than 130 people have been located and laid to rest. The author also explores water related facts, myths and history of water deaths. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
January 4, 2024
When people go missing, law enforcement investigates. But when law enforcement is not able to find the victim, the Ralston's are asked to assist. During their career, in their retirement, they have found over 100 bodies of those who have gone missing in bodies of water. From those who have been missing only a short time, to many who have been missing for years, this couple uses sonar to find the bodies of loved ones for their families.
What a book! Oh my goodness. I could not read this one fast enough. I was amazed at what they have been able to accomplish. They deserve so much more recognition for their work.
Amazing and engaging, this was a fantastic book!
What a book! Oh my goodness. I could not read this one fast enough. I was amazed at what they have been able to accomplish. They deserve so much more recognition for their work.
Amazing and engaging, this was a fantastic book!
October 2, 2024
Gene and Sandy Ralston are an incredible couple giving of themselves to help others with no monetary benefit at all. Using equipment and technology acquired at their own expense they have been all over North America scanning bodies of water searching for drowned or murdered family members and very often being successful even years after the event. I had no idea about the search techniques, equipment and skill required and why local law enforcement don’t have it. Gene and Sandy’s compassionate approach has created friendships around the continent.
January 6, 2025
Super interesting book. The stories that were told, the science behind drowning and bodies in water. Brought me to tears sometimes reading about the families.
It jumped around a lot though. It felt like it could have been better edited.
Also the political /covid vaccine views were unnecessary and a weird addition.
Calgary author, which was great.
I later found a review of the book by Gene on their website, which kinda left a bad taste:
https://www.sonarreflections.com/
It jumped around a lot though. It felt like it could have been better edited.
Also the political /covid vaccine views were unnecessary and a weird addition.
Calgary author, which was great.
I later found a review of the book by Gene on their website, which kinda left a bad taste:
https://www.sonarreflections.com/
January 8, 2025
Deep water is a parallel universe right under our noses.
You will not catch me on a lake, not ever. Interesting book, though somewhat oddly written. Felt that its various components didn’t always gel together super cohesively. But a fascinating topic.
You will not catch me on a lake, not ever. Interesting book, though somewhat oddly written. Felt that its various components didn’t always gel together super cohesively. But a fascinating topic.
March 18, 2025
Parts were really interesting. A large portion felt repetitive and going off in tangents.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews