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The Dungeon Master: The Disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III
When James Dallas Egbert III disappeared from the Michigan State University campus in 1979, he was no ordinary college dropout. Egbert was a computer genius at sixteen, a boy with an I.Q. of 180-plus and an extravagant imagination. He was a fanatic Dungeons & Dragons player—before the game was widely known—and he and his friends played a live version in a weird labyrinth of tunnels and rooms beneath the university. These secret passages even ran within the walls of the buildings themselves. After Egbert disappeared, there were rumors of witch cults, drug rings, and homosexuality to try to explain the mystery. When the police search came to a dead end, the Egbert family called in one of the most colorful private investigators of our era, William Dear, of Dallas, who is a kind of real-life James Bond. Dear's search for the boy reads like a sensational novel—but every detail is true. Dear crawled through baking-hot tunnels, flew over the campus in a helicopter, and called into play every intuition he could muster. He realized that he must out-play and "out-psych" the brilliant, game-playing mind of Dallas Egbert. In the end, he did. The story of the tortuous search, the discovery of the boy, his return to his parents—and the final tragedy—is told here for the first time. This is the story of a generation, not just the story of Dallas Egbert alone; and anybody who has known a game-playing, computer-age adolescent will recognize some of the possibilities for genius, and for danger.
318 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 1984
48 people are currently reading
476 people want to read
About the author
William C. Dear
10 books9 followersDallas-based private investigator. He owns the firm William C. Dear & Associates.
His notable cases include the original steam tunnel incident involving James Dallas Egbert III.
In 1995, he participated as an investigator on the Alien Autopsy a Fox Television program about an autopsy supposedly carried out on an extraterrestrial being.
His notable cases include the original steam tunnel incident involving James Dallas Egbert III.
In 1995, he participated as an investigator on the Alien Autopsy a Fox Television program about an autopsy supposedly carried out on an extraterrestrial being.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
April 2, 2023
Ok this book is starting to piss me off. At this point I can’t categorize it as true crime. The investigation is new but ongoing. But it sure would be nice if the author/investigator would actually let his readers know what juicy tidbits and background information he had more often. He will be in the middle of a phone conversation and BLAH he spits out something the reader has never heard. So when was that discovered? Facts that could be important if for no other reason than oh i dont know I’m reading the book trying to follow along with what this guy is doing?
March 5, 2016
I finished this book a few months ago, and have been putting off this review. This book makes me angry. It pains me mentally and emotionally. It is a despicable book, with a cast of despicable people and a child who is being exploited and used by all of them. This is what would happen if Satan wrote David Copperfield.
Anyone who played Dungeons and Dragons as a kid in the 80's would have been, at least parenthetically, familiar with the case of James Dallas Egbert. Notorious hack, Rona Jaffe, glommed onto his story in her own novel Mazes and Monsters, which became a TV movie featuring an unknown actor by the name of Tom Hanks.
Long story short: the popular depiction in the media is that Egbert killed himself because he went berserk playing a live action version of D&D. He became the poster boy for the damaged youth of America who couldn't differentiate reality from fantasy and suffered a dire end because of it.
Dear, is a self aggrandizing dirt bag who decided to write this book to cash in on the tragic situation of a teenage child prodigy who was dealing with a lot of issues: parental pressure, being a child prodigy, drug use, and coming to terms with being gay in the 1970's.
What is most tragic about the way the events in this book are depicted is that this poor kid had absolutely no one to turn to who wasn't either putting pressure on him, getting him stoned, ignoring him, or sexually exploiting him.
Dear adds to the cast of useless characters by wanting to make a buck off of the kid.
What makes this so painful is that there is a story to be told here. Dallas' life is worthy of discussion and being remembered. he lived at the intersections of a society that hated and feared gay people; a society that is distrustful and exploitative towards child prodigies; and, the need for self destruction that has taken so many young people from us.
I hope one day someone writes that book.
Anyone who played Dungeons and Dragons as a kid in the 80's would have been, at least parenthetically, familiar with the case of James Dallas Egbert. Notorious hack, Rona Jaffe, glommed onto his story in her own novel Mazes and Monsters, which became a TV movie featuring an unknown actor by the name of Tom Hanks.
Long story short: the popular depiction in the media is that Egbert killed himself because he went berserk playing a live action version of D&D. He became the poster boy for the damaged youth of America who couldn't differentiate reality from fantasy and suffered a dire end because of it.
Dear, is a self aggrandizing dirt bag who decided to write this book to cash in on the tragic situation of a teenage child prodigy who was dealing with a lot of issues: parental pressure, being a child prodigy, drug use, and coming to terms with being gay in the 1970's.
What is most tragic about the way the events in this book are depicted is that this poor kid had absolutely no one to turn to who wasn't either putting pressure on him, getting him stoned, ignoring him, or sexually exploiting him.
Dear adds to the cast of useless characters by wanting to make a buck off of the kid.
What makes this so painful is that there is a story to be told here. Dallas' life is worthy of discussion and being remembered. he lived at the intersections of a society that hated and feared gay people; a society that is distrustful and exploitative towards child prodigies; and, the need for self destruction that has taken so many young people from us.
I hope one day someone writes that book.
December 19, 2013
More than a true crime book, this is a true whodunit. A real life mystery, investigated by a real private detective. William Dear wrote this book (no co-author is listed) about his experiences in 1979 trying to find a troubled 16 year old genius missing from his dormitory at Michigan State University. William Dear is a hugely successful private investigator based in Dallas, whose success allows him to hire several operatives. He is an airplane owner who still can charter Lear jets as necessary. The man who wears three-piece Pierre Cardin suits and eel skin boots. He is also one of the very best private investigators in the nation.
James Dallas Egbert III, a gay 16 year old Dungeons and Dragons fanatic, was enough of a genius to get into Michigan State at his age, who found himself outside of every group he wanted to join. He was, to paraphrase an Outlaws song, “lonesome, and lonely, and far from his home”. Things weren’t great at home, either. His mother allegedly pressured him in many ways. On August 15, 1979, he left the cafeteria of his dorm and vanished. Odd clues had been left behind by Dallas…or someone else. His parents hired William Dear.
As part of the investigation, Mr. Dear recorded every conversation it was possible to record. These recordings are transcribed in detail in the text. This provides verisimilitude, but reads like just what they are: long transcripts. Since Dallas was a Dungeons and Dragons player, and clues suggested the game figured in his disappearance, Mr. Dear contacts a dungeon master and plays a complete game of D & D. The game is recorded in detail, and replayed step by step and move by move. This reads like just what it is: a long transcript of a D & D game. Remember, however, that in 1979 D & D was nowhere as huge as it would eventually become, and most readers were probably unfamiliar with the role playing game.
In fact, the first half of the book could use a nice tight edit. Then something really cool happens: at page 195 in the first Ballantine Books edition (November 1985) the suspense begins to build. The investigators search eight miles of eerie steam tunnels under the university campus. More clues are found. Earlier, a woman in a red Chevy Vega is seen “stalking” Mr. Dear. Now, threatening calls are received from an anonymous voice who demands Dear and his investigators leave the state of Michigan and then they will be told where to find Dallas. Suspense mounts and more people become involved: a gay P.I. from New York arrives to assist, as does a nineteen year old D & D expert from California. Everything rushes headlong toward an almost bizarre climax in an unexpected locale. And the book’s still not done, for there’s a nasty sting in its tail.
This case received nationwide press back in the day, and I was vaguely aware of it. Only now I picked up this book and read it for the first time. Nothing was spoiled by my fuzzy memory. I can’t say I loved this book, can’t give it four stars, but I can tell you the final 138 pages are sometimes excruciatingly suspenseful and ran me through a gamut of emotions. I say that’s pretty cool.
James Dallas Egbert III, a gay 16 year old Dungeons and Dragons fanatic, was enough of a genius to get into Michigan State at his age, who found himself outside of every group he wanted to join. He was, to paraphrase an Outlaws song, “lonesome, and lonely, and far from his home”. Things weren’t great at home, either. His mother allegedly pressured him in many ways. On August 15, 1979, he left the cafeteria of his dorm and vanished. Odd clues had been left behind by Dallas…or someone else. His parents hired William Dear.
As part of the investigation, Mr. Dear recorded every conversation it was possible to record. These recordings are transcribed in detail in the text. This provides verisimilitude, but reads like just what they are: long transcripts. Since Dallas was a Dungeons and Dragons player, and clues suggested the game figured in his disappearance, Mr. Dear contacts a dungeon master and plays a complete game of D & D. The game is recorded in detail, and replayed step by step and move by move. This reads like just what it is: a long transcript of a D & D game. Remember, however, that in 1979 D & D was nowhere as huge as it would eventually become, and most readers were probably unfamiliar with the role playing game.
In fact, the first half of the book could use a nice tight edit. Then something really cool happens: at page 195 in the first Ballantine Books edition (November 1985) the suspense begins to build. The investigators search eight miles of eerie steam tunnels under the university campus. More clues are found. Earlier, a woman in a red Chevy Vega is seen “stalking” Mr. Dear. Now, threatening calls are received from an anonymous voice who demands Dear and his investigators leave the state of Michigan and then they will be told where to find Dallas. Suspense mounts and more people become involved: a gay P.I. from New York arrives to assist, as does a nineteen year old D & D expert from California. Everything rushes headlong toward an almost bizarre climax in an unexpected locale. And the book’s still not done, for there’s a nasty sting in its tail.
This case received nationwide press back in the day, and I was vaguely aware of it. Only now I picked up this book and read it for the first time. Nothing was spoiled by my fuzzy memory. I can’t say I loved this book, can’t give it four stars, but I can tell you the final 138 pages are sometimes excruciatingly suspenseful and ran me through a gamut of emotions. I say that’s pretty cool.
July 21, 2014
Fascinating. The back cover has what I believe is the only photo of someone who (1) describes a session of Dungeons & Dragons in painful detail and (2) is posing with a tommy gun. That pretty much sums up this oddball book.
(If you haven't heard about the incident, Dallas Egbert was a 16 year old college student whose disappearance inspired the book and movie "Mazes and monsters" wherein a D&D player loses himself so entirely in the game he believes it is real). In reality Dallas also had serious problems with depression, drugs, social isolation, and so on. He did commit suicide shortly after being found.
On the one hand the author is actually very sincere and not sensationalistic about the role of games in Dallas's disappearance, and rather quickly dismissed the idea that he was playing D&D when he disappeared, but the media loved the theory and kept it alive for years.
Anyway his account of finding a DM to run a game for him so he could understand the game, and the D&D session in a hotel room that followed, is simultaneously creepy, hilarious, and objective. The author actually admits finding the game quite gripping.
Dallas' story on the other hand is very tragic, and you can't help but feel terrible for the boy who clearly was very imaginative and intelligent but unable to find even one friend.
(If you haven't heard about the incident, Dallas Egbert was a 16 year old college student whose disappearance inspired the book and movie "Mazes and monsters" wherein a D&D player loses himself so entirely in the game he believes it is real). In reality Dallas also had serious problems with depression, drugs, social isolation, and so on. He did commit suicide shortly after being found.
On the one hand the author is actually very sincere and not sensationalistic about the role of games in Dallas's disappearance, and rather quickly dismissed the idea that he was playing D&D when he disappeared, but the media loved the theory and kept it alive for years.
Anyway his account of finding a DM to run a game for him so he could understand the game, and the D&D session in a hotel room that followed, is simultaneously creepy, hilarious, and objective. The author actually admits finding the game quite gripping.
Dallas' story on the other hand is very tragic, and you can't help but feel terrible for the boy who clearly was very imaginative and intelligent but unable to find even one friend.
December 22, 2010
Loved this crazy book, an account of a somewhat flamboyant detective who searches for a missing teenage boy genius in the tunnels beneath a university, where the kid was apparently involved in a somewhat seriously advanced version of the then-popular game called Dungeons & Dragons.
September 4, 2018
A great window into the beginnings of the Satanic Panic. William Dear, while definitely quite a bit self-aggrandizing, is surprisingly non-judgmental. By now we all know how the story ends, though the book does a good job of investing the tale with tension nonetheless.
August 9, 2019
Interesting.
Nice to see a story from the late 70's that didn't paint D&D or gayness as aberrant and evil.
Nice to see a story from the late 70's that didn't paint D&D or gayness as aberrant and evil.
August 24, 2022
There is another book where the author referred to William Dear as a "press happy dick" I can't help but agree. So much aggrandizing, self promotion, exaggerations about a case of a teenage runaway (to say this case was crazier than another case where you get into a gunfight with kidnapping cultists and escaping in a helicopter in the beginning turns off any credibility once you get to the end.)
I wouldn't take Dear to be a reliable narrator but the truth is he is the only narrator to Dallas's story.
The brightside is that Dear didn't stoop so low to blame Dungeons and Dragons on this boy's real life mental health issue despite the title would suggest. You'll just have to read constant references to him being an American James Bond to get to that point.
I wouldn't take Dear to be a reliable narrator but the truth is he is the only narrator to Dallas's story.
The brightside is that Dear didn't stoop so low to blame Dungeons and Dragons on this boy's real life mental health issue despite the title would suggest. You'll just have to read constant references to him being an American James Bond to get to that point.
March 6, 2021
I'm glad I knew little to nothing about this case going in, because it reads like a great mystery novel. Having played Dungeons and Dragons in my youth I was drawn to this title, but that game is really a very small part of the story. This is a sad cautionary tale not about the dangers of fantasy games but the pressures put on many youths to succeed at any cost.
Written by the private investigator hired by James Egbert's family after his disappearance, Dear does a great job of describing his process of cultivating informants and utilizing the media to flush out leads. And also the ways he gets into the mindset of his target, even going so far as to play Dungeons and Dragons with the locals. All the strange people he meets in town, and twists in the story kept me reading and guessing until the end.
Written by the private investigator hired by James Egbert's family after his disappearance, Dear does a great job of describing his process of cultivating informants and utilizing the media to flush out leads. And also the ways he gets into the mindset of his target, even going so far as to play Dungeons and Dragons with the locals. All the strange people he meets in town, and twists in the story kept me reading and guessing until the end.
April 19, 2025
This is less a book about a missing kid and more a brochure about William Dear’s detective services with poorly disguised bragging.
November 13, 2015
This book is old, published in 1984, four years after the story came to a sad conclusion. I decided to read the book when I saw it as I come from the same town as that of the young man who disappeared while at Michigan State in East Lansing. James Dallas Egbert, III was a young man of sixteen when he went missing. His parents from Dayton, Ohio owned a successful business. James was a very gifted child, starting college at age 13. He was a computer whiz, wrote poetry and excelled at his school work. Sadly, his mother constantly pushed him and insisted that things be done her way and his father was unable to stand up for his son. With no supervision at college, he was soon adrift, partaking of drugs some of which he manufactured himself, was involved in the gay community, and very much into actual role playing of the fantasy game, Dungeons and Dragons. It was too much, too fast and initiated a downward spiral. William Dear. a prominent detective from Texas was hired by the Egberts to find him. Mr. Dear and his investigative team did eventually find the Egbert boy and this is his accounting of the search and rescue. Interesting and profoundly heart breaking, this book is one that leaves you with a sense of sadness for a brilliant mind wasted.
September 30, 2009
William Dear relates the story of his search for James Dallas Egbert III, a young genius and avid Dungeons and Dragons player who mysteriously disappeared from the University of Michigan in 1979 in this gripping memoir. Like in any good detective novel, Dear only reveals the clues to his mystery as he came upon them, leaving the reader to form their own hypotheses as they go along. Along the way he also paints the portrait of a very troubled and misunderstood youth for whom one can only feel sympathy. This book was fascinating and it kept me on the edge of my seat as I read about Dear's various adventures, working on the clues in the hopes that I might solve the mystery before he gave me all the answers. My only complaint is that at times the book read too much like a typical detective novel with Dear painting himself as the unlikely hero with all of his "gut hunches" and gadgets. All in all it was a good read, though.
December 8, 2018
Is this a good book? I can't really say that. Is it worth reading? Maybe?! Go on a vanity-project journey into a private detective's ego as he investigates the disappearance of a young college student. Read about the adventures he has following false leads, learning about Dungeons & Dragons, exploring underground steam tunnels, and laying down on the train tracks, and vaguely learn about the darker, sad true story of the disappearance that seems to go mostly untold, and deserves better treatment than this.
June 10, 2016
Funny little book -- reads like true crime but nobody got hurt or killed. The investigators come out of the search baffled about what really goes on in the minds of role-playing gamers. Intended as a cautionary tale for parents to prevent their poor widdle children from being destroyed by Dungeons and Dragons, this sold like hotcakes for a short time and then dropped out of sight, leaving a lot of unanswered questions that probably don't even matter.
July 29, 2024
While growing up in the 80’s in a Catholic family as kid who played Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) there were three cautionary tales that came up on why I (and my parents) should be wary of my hobby. The story of James Dallas Egbert III’s disappearance and his Michigan State University steam tunnels D&D games were one of them (the other two were the mysterious death of Kurt McFall in 1984 and Daniel Kasten who was convicted of killing his parents in 1987). Despite the warning, I continued to play D&D (and other role-playing games) and my parents didn’t seem too concerned. Even after a parent/teacher conference where it was brought up, my parents acknowledged to keep a watch on it but never said anything about it. Looking back on those years now, I think my parents didn’t think it was a concern. The games were played either at my house or my friends’ and parents were nearby (if not in the immediate vicinity). There were no illicit behaviors taking place and there were no issues with my academic performance. During those days, playing D&D was not good if a teenager wanted to be considered as “cool” so I did have to learn to hide my favorite hobby. Luckily, I was good at some sports, so I basically juggled two friend crowds and hoped that one never really knew about the other, though in the latter years of school my D&D friends started winning more of my attention and I spent more time with them (I still have some of those friends decades later and none from the other crowd).
I only share those tidbits about me to show my familiarity with D&D and my experience of playing it in the 80’s during what has been called the “Satanic Panic.” It’s amazing how people at this time took such an extreme attitude towards D&D. This game was new and different, but ultimately it was about imagination, storytelling and role-playing. I feel like the live-action roleplaying (what is now called LARPing) seems to be the most fascinating aspect to the people that advocated the dangers of D&D (prevalent in the examples I mentioned) but after reading this book (as well as several articles, listening to news reports and podcasts), D&D is the thing that is latched onto, out of all the possibilities, as the cause for this behavior. What should have been looked at is the social and psychological struggle taking place in these individuals and simply blaming a role-playing game is disingenuous and lazy.
Regarding James Dallas Egbert III specifically, you have a gifted (going to university at the age of 16 in the late ‘70s) young man away from home, lacking a peer group (both in age and intelligence) and struggling with sexuality. There are pressures from parents, teachers, and fellow students and this triggers a cascade of emotions where many avenues (some illicit) are turned to for comfort. I don’t want to explain the details of the mystery in this review (you can easily find a short explanation of what happened if you want), but I want to express that I think William Dear wrote a good book. Some people have stated that he (and others) took advantage of Dallas’ tragedy, and that’s likely true, but I think that he told the story in a fair and engaging manner. The book reads like a mystery novel (which it is) and whether you like Mr. Dear or not (some believe that he comes off as cocky and grandiose, and the photo of him holding a Tommy Gun on the book’s back cover doesn’t help dissuade this) a lot of his assessments in the book during his interviews, experience, investigative techniques, and such are actually spot on from a professional investigative viewpoint. I liked how he admits that he did not know much about some of the things that James Dallas Egbert III was involved in, such as trestling and D&D, and he took it upon himself to learn, and do, these things to understand. Perhaps if more people were a bit open to learning about these things, they would have been armed with the knowledge to differentiate between a harmless game and people struggling with real-life problems that they needed help for.
I only share those tidbits about me to show my familiarity with D&D and my experience of playing it in the 80’s during what has been called the “Satanic Panic.” It’s amazing how people at this time took such an extreme attitude towards D&D. This game was new and different, but ultimately it was about imagination, storytelling and role-playing. I feel like the live-action roleplaying (what is now called LARPing) seems to be the most fascinating aspect to the people that advocated the dangers of D&D (prevalent in the examples I mentioned) but after reading this book (as well as several articles, listening to news reports and podcasts), D&D is the thing that is latched onto, out of all the possibilities, as the cause for this behavior. What should have been looked at is the social and psychological struggle taking place in these individuals and simply blaming a role-playing game is disingenuous and lazy.
Regarding James Dallas Egbert III specifically, you have a gifted (going to university at the age of 16 in the late ‘70s) young man away from home, lacking a peer group (both in age and intelligence) and struggling with sexuality. There are pressures from parents, teachers, and fellow students and this triggers a cascade of emotions where many avenues (some illicit) are turned to for comfort. I don’t want to explain the details of the mystery in this review (you can easily find a short explanation of what happened if you want), but I want to express that I think William Dear wrote a good book. Some people have stated that he (and others) took advantage of Dallas’ tragedy, and that’s likely true, but I think that he told the story in a fair and engaging manner. The book reads like a mystery novel (which it is) and whether you like Mr. Dear or not (some believe that he comes off as cocky and grandiose, and the photo of him holding a Tommy Gun on the book’s back cover doesn’t help dissuade this) a lot of his assessments in the book during his interviews, experience, investigative techniques, and such are actually spot on from a professional investigative viewpoint. I liked how he admits that he did not know much about some of the things that James Dallas Egbert III was involved in, such as trestling and D&D, and he took it upon himself to learn, and do, these things to understand. Perhaps if more people were a bit open to learning about these things, they would have been armed with the knowledge to differentiate between a harmless game and people struggling with real-life problems that they needed help for.
July 18, 2017
James Dallas Egbert disappeared from the campus of Michigan State University in August of 1979. William Dear, a private investigator was hired to find him and he is the author. The first clue was Dallas’s membership in a gay council. A 16 year-old child prodigy, the boy was a computer genius and had an obsession with the game Dungeons and Dragons. He played a real life version of the game in tunnels under the campus. Dear and his fellow investigators discovered the fact that Egbert would lie down on railroad tracks and “trestle;” that is remain on the tracks while a train passed over him. They found nothing at the tracks. In an attempt to get into Egbert’s mind, Dear played a game of D & D with a couple of students. It is a Tolkein like world of wizards, orcs, and dragons of which I know nothing about, and after a few pages, my head was spinning. Dear returned to the real world and discovered through several interviews the fact that many students played D & D in the tunnels. MSU played dumb, and so Dear headed underground and into the abyss. He quickly realized that he could only cover a small portion of the tunnels 8.5 miles. After finally receiving permission from MSU, Dear and eleven other men went into the maze of pipes and 130 degree heat. Rats thrived in the squalid atmosphere. Three days and nothing is found. More rumors of Dallas’s homosexuality and drug use. Dear was stumped and turned to an expert on D & D for advice on Egbert’s mind set. He also filtered through hundreds of calls from people claiming to have valuable information. The most bizarre was from a man telling Dear to leave town and wait for a call which would solve the case. After a few more twists and turn, the PI receives a shocking phone call. The final thirty pages will not restore your faith in humanity. Dear is a decent writer, but he has an over sized ego which is extremely annoying. He is Sherlock Holmes, Columbo, and James Bond. The man is a composite of all the great crime solvers. Get a life, gumshoe. Get me the real scoop on the JFK assassination. That would impress me. The Dungeon Master is only a passable read.
April 20, 2025
Having lived through at least some of the satanic panic, and in Michigan at that, I was pretty well prepared to discount much of what was in this book.
What I did not realize in advance was just how outlandish and silly this book about the tragic life of Dallas Egbert was going to be. William Dear seems like...quite a character. Whether its the picture of him posing with his tommy gun on the back cover or the *many* anecdotes about increasingly ludicrous events in his life and 'crime fighting' career...an un-uniformed paid law enforcement official at 16? an official leo at 17? fighting off more than two dozen cultists with his bare hands? these are just a few examples from the text. There's also all the talk of the extremely (for the time) sophisticated and outlandishly expensive equipment from the more 'mundane' things like private planes and helicopters to what would likely have still been spy and leo gear at the time.
This reads a lot less like true crime and a lot more like a mashup of a pulpy detective/p.i. and a bond-esque adventure story. And if you read it as such, instead of as a true crime book, its actually not that bad and probably falls into the realm of all those taught spy thrillers you always see for sale in bookstores that men of a certain age seem to be really into. I found myself telling my partner that, in more modern terms, this wouldn't be out of place as a solid episode of something like a Criminal Minds or CSI.
If you don't read it that way, its going to be rough. Its hard to take Dear seriously (let alone as seriously as he tries to take himself). Sure, the dialogue is pretty terrible, especially considering these are supposed to be quotes from real people and real events...I can't think of a single character that talks the way real people do. However, the pacing and tension is solid. And the clear mythologizing and lore building about himself could be easily excused in fiction. I actually think he could have had a solid career writing these sorts of stories.
What I did not realize in advance was just how outlandish and silly this book about the tragic life of Dallas Egbert was going to be. William Dear seems like...quite a character. Whether its the picture of him posing with his tommy gun on the back cover or the *many* anecdotes about increasingly ludicrous events in his life and 'crime fighting' career...an un-uniformed paid law enforcement official at 16? an official leo at 17? fighting off more than two dozen cultists with his bare hands? these are just a few examples from the text. There's also all the talk of the extremely (for the time) sophisticated and outlandishly expensive equipment from the more 'mundane' things like private planes and helicopters to what would likely have still been spy and leo gear at the time.
This reads a lot less like true crime and a lot more like a mashup of a pulpy detective/p.i. and a bond-esque adventure story. And if you read it as such, instead of as a true crime book, its actually not that bad and probably falls into the realm of all those taught spy thrillers you always see for sale in bookstores that men of a certain age seem to be really into. I found myself telling my partner that, in more modern terms, this wouldn't be out of place as a solid episode of something like a Criminal Minds or CSI.
If you don't read it that way, its going to be rough. Its hard to take Dear seriously (let alone as seriously as he tries to take himself). Sure, the dialogue is pretty terrible, especially considering these are supposed to be quotes from real people and real events...I can't think of a single character that talks the way real people do. However, the pacing and tension is solid. And the clear mythologizing and lore building about himself could be easily excused in fiction. I actually think he could have had a solid career writing these sorts of stories.
April 27, 2021
It’s an old book, written by a self-aggrandizing blowhard in which he falsely blames a new hobby as being the last straw that breaks the mind of a confused young boy. In the work he runs up to blaming D&D and then is forced back by how badly mischaracterizing his understanding of the hobby is.
The book never has our writer acknowledge that his fear was a spark that burned the satanic panic and D&D into the culture while at the same time he clearly wants to hold onto the sense of power rocking the world as he did game him.
The sections of gameplay, as they sit down in motel rooms to game, are both amazingly painful (as it would have been a 30?-40? Something year old man with kids half his age gaming) and just great examples of bad gaming. (By today’s standards for sure, and I think even by early red book standards.)
I don’t regret reading it, but outside of quoting sections of gameplay to my friends to get a laugh out of as we remember our own bad sessions I will not be returning to this. There is nothing here and the story without the inflated melodrama is ‘I went to find a kid who I thought either ran away or committed suicide. I talked to his friends and went to where he looked like he planned to take his life. I used his strange new hobby to stir up the media and eventually he called me to say he ran away.’
The book never has our writer acknowledge that his fear was a spark that burned the satanic panic and D&D into the culture while at the same time he clearly wants to hold onto the sense of power rocking the world as he did game him.
The sections of gameplay, as they sit down in motel rooms to game, are both amazingly painful (as it would have been a 30?-40? Something year old man with kids half his age gaming) and just great examples of bad gaming. (By today’s standards for sure, and I think even by early red book standards.)
I don’t regret reading it, but outside of quoting sections of gameplay to my friends to get a laugh out of as we remember our own bad sessions I will not be returning to this. There is nothing here and the story without the inflated melodrama is ‘I went to find a kid who I thought either ran away or committed suicide. I talked to his friends and went to where he looked like he planned to take his life. I used his strange new hobby to stir up the media and eventually he called me to say he ran away.’
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 9, 2023
I’m normally not into true crime or anything like that, but this one deals with Dungeons & Dragons, a pastime that is bear and dear to me, so I gave it a go.
A case which helped incite much if the Satanic Panic era’s dastardly dislike of Dungeons & Dragons, the disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III garnered much media attention in 1979 as a team of private investigators followed the clues and pressured many different elements of East Lansing society including: D&D players, Michigan State University faculty, teachers, and students, and local gay community. This book, which is written by William Dear, the lead Private Investigator who handled the majority of the case, follows his path from being hired on as PI all the way to the ultimately successful recovery (and eventual unhappy ending) of James Dallas Egbert III.
I won’t give away too much, but this is a very well-written and emotional book. I have no doubt that it was a major ego trip for Dear, but I still would highly suggest reading it to anyone interested in this sort of thing.
A case which helped incite much if the Satanic Panic era’s dastardly dislike of Dungeons & Dragons, the disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III garnered much media attention in 1979 as a team of private investigators followed the clues and pressured many different elements of East Lansing society including: D&D players, Michigan State University faculty, teachers, and students, and local gay community. This book, which is written by William Dear, the lead Private Investigator who handled the majority of the case, follows his path from being hired on as PI all the way to the ultimately successful recovery (and eventual unhappy ending) of James Dallas Egbert III.
I won’t give away too much, but this is a very well-written and emotional book. I have no doubt that it was a major ego trip for Dear, but I still would highly suggest reading it to anyone interested in this sort of thing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 3, 2019
This is a sort of true crime book about James Dallas Egbert III who disappeared in 1979 and the search conducted by William Dear who is a renowned private detective to find him. I liked this book because I really didn't know what had happened to Dallas before I read it and it was interesting to follow along during the investigation. William Dear is pretty ridiculous and full of himself and this actually made the book kind of fun to read. The book had little to do with Dungeons & Dragons except that Dallas and a few others played it and it wasn't a huge part of the book, but the chapter where Dear plays a game and how he describes it after is the best. I didn't feel this book demonized D&D and Dallas's story is an interesting one.
October 22, 2025
A can't put down read!
From the moment I started reading
this enthralling yet terribly sad story I was totally drawn in. I was totally captivated by young Dallas' story. Dallas was a misunderstood genius who never felt he belonged. He loved computers and Dungeons and Dragons! He used them escape a world of parental pressures and loneliness. One August day left his dorm and entered the labyrinth of tunnels under the Michigan State University campus. This is the story a private investigators unrelenting search for the boy.
From the moment I started reading
this enthralling yet terribly sad story I was totally drawn in. I was totally captivated by young Dallas' story. Dallas was a misunderstood genius who never felt he belonged. He loved computers and Dungeons and Dragons! He used them escape a world of parental pressures and loneliness. One August day left his dorm and entered the labyrinth of tunnels under the Michigan State University campus. This is the story a private investigators unrelenting search for the boy.
November 23, 2018
Disappearance of Dallas.
What I wish would disappear is all the typos in this book. There are way too many and distracting. I also felt that some of the supposed conversation statements were untrue in their wording. They seemed inauthentic for the person or occasion. Overall a decent read about the tragic story of Dallas Egbert.
What I wish would disappear is all the typos in this book. There are way too many and distracting. I also felt that some of the supposed conversation statements were untrue in their wording. They seemed inauthentic for the person or occasion. Overall a decent read about the tragic story of Dallas Egbert.
October 19, 2023
Dear seems stuck in this film-noir world where he thinks he can describe things as "hotter than a Saigon whorehouse" without readers rolling their eyes. It didn't help his character when he outed a gay student to the press to pressure her into giving him information. That being said, it's a bizarre book that had me on the edge of my seat.
March 15, 2024
What a wild ride!
Rarely do you find a book with such a ground up understanding of the world. Don’t Gatekeep this book! An All-American classic. Such beautiful and vivid pictures of The South. Who doesn’t love reading about a Cold Case? Certainly taught me a lot. Gonna go celebrate finishing this masterpiece with the Cool Cats Club!
Rarely do you find a book with such a ground up understanding of the world. Don’t Gatekeep this book! An All-American classic. Such beautiful and vivid pictures of The South. Who doesn’t love reading about a Cold Case? Certainly taught me a lot. Gonna go celebrate finishing this masterpiece with the Cool Cats Club!
October 28, 2022
Basically this "Private investigator" William Dear ruined a life and decided to keep on earning money by writing about how he outed James Egbert as a gay and satanic teenager.
Don't give the author any money. There are better things to read.
Don't give the author any money. There are better things to read.
April 27, 2018
The Dungeon Master
I CHOSE THIS RATING BECAUSE OF THE INTEREST I HAVE IN
MENTAL ILLNESS.
THIS IS AN EXCELLENT BOOK.
THIS IS THE SECOND BOOK FROM MR. DEAR THAT I HAVE
READ.
I CHOSE THIS RATING BECAUSE OF THE INTEREST I HAVE IN
MENTAL ILLNESS.
THIS IS AN EXCELLENT BOOK.
THIS IS THE SECOND BOOK FROM MR. DEAR THAT I HAVE
READ.
June 25, 2018
Love this author!
Bill Dear has interesting cases that he shares. Well written and keeps you on the edge of your seat to the very end!
Bill Dear has interesting cases that he shares. Well written and keeps you on the edge of your seat to the very end!
November 9, 2018
did not hold my interest
February 26, 2019
Good
Addicting book, well written, kept me on edge. Remarkable that this is a true story. I definitely want to read more by this author.
Addicting book, well written, kept me on edge. Remarkable that this is a true story. I definitely want to read more by this author.
October 4, 2021
An interesting account of the story that helped spawn the laughable "Mazes and Monsters" movie that put Dungeons and Dragons in such a negative light in the 80's.
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