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  • Into the Abyss

  • How a Deadly Plane Crash Changed the Lives of a Pilot, a Politician, a Criminal and a Cop
  • Written by: Carol Shaben
  • Narrated by: Tiffany Morgan
  • Length: 10 hrs
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (32 ratings)

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Into the Abyss

Written by: Carol Shaben
Narrated by: Tiffany Morgan
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Publisher's Summary

On an icy night in October 1984, a Piper Navajo commuter plane carrying nine passengers crashed in the remote wilderness of Northern Alberta, killing five people. Four survived: the rookie pilot, a prominent politician, a cop, and the criminal he was escorting to face charges. Despite the poor weather, Erik Vogel, the 24-year-old pilot, was under intense pressure to fly - a situation not uncommon to pilots working for small airlines. Overworked and exhausted, he feared losing his job if he refused to fly. Larry Shaben, the author's father and Canada's first Muslim cabinet minister, was commuting home after a busy week at the Alberta Legislature. After Paul Archambault, a drifter wanted on an outstanding warrant, boarded the plane, rookie constable Scott Deschamps decided, against RCMP regulations, to remove his handcuffs - a decision that profoundly impacted the men's survival. 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.

©2017 Carol Shaben (P)2017 Penguin Random House Canada
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What the critics say

"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)

What listeners say about Into the Abyss

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A great story of survival and its aftermath

A great read for anyone interested in wilderness survival, plane crashes, Canadian history and/or the human experience. In the blink of an eye, four people’s lives are forever changed. How they survive a gruelling night injured and awaiting rescue and what they do with their lives afterwards makes for a compelling read. Well worth the listen. (As others have noted, it’s a bit odd that no one involved in the audio production noticed some rather glaring mispronounciations in the narration.)

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

American narrator

Audible really needs to hire Canadian narrators for Canadian books! The narrator’s mispronunciation such common Canadian words and place names makes the audiobook the best laughable, at worst barely tolerable.

A bit of research by the narrator would have helped immensely. Easy names like Peter Loughheed was butchered but the best/worst was the attempted French pronunciation of Aylmer (Québec) as A-why-mer.

I hope someone from Audible reads this as I want them to refund my credit.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Informative Personal Recount

Held my interest and sits with me still. As a northern Albertan and NDP supporter I was interested and greatly appreciated the personal stories of all affected by this tragedy. My heart goes out to the families of those who perished and also the survivors and their families. Their personal stories were both compelling and heartfelt. If the narrator and editors had made an effort to offer correct pronounciation of very commonly used French words, Metis for example, and proper nouns I would have given it a much higher mark. “Lougheed” is not only one of the largest American companies in aviation technologies, aircraft building, etc but also is a major highway right through the lower mainland Vancouver - home of the author- not to mention he was the premier of Alberta. You might want to pronounce his name right! Pronounciatians aside, I was also slightly annoyed by the narrator’s rhythm and emphasis within sentences. In my opinion could have been a whole lot better. Even got me wondering if I wanted it read by a man? Which wouldn’t have even crossed my mind without the narrator’s faults.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great story

very good listen , Enjoyed this story, interesting stuff narrator was better than most as well

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

informative book

I really enjoyed the story but found the reader very poor in her understanding of Canada and its politics. Her mispronunciation of several key names was particularly annoying. Who doesn't know how to pronounce Lougheed??? It is not an unusual name. Drove me crazy!! The story however, was quite inspiring although I wish I would have read the book version as opposed to the audio.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great true story but.....

I wished this story had been narrated by a man, especially one that was Canadian and had a better understanding of our Canadian language. That aside, I really enjoyed Carol Shaben's telling of this tragic story which included her father that survived the crash as well as the pilot, a police officer and a prisoner. This truly should be made into a movie. Well worth reading or listening to.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I can relate to this story being a pilot flying in Alberta. Al little piece of Alberta history.

Very interesting book. A must read for Canadians. A little piece of history. All be it sad for the lives lost, and for those who struggled in the aftermath of this unfortunate event.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Important Canadian Story

I found the book riveting and I wish I had paid more attention to politics back in the 80s and knew more about Larry Shaben.

The narrator’s inability to pronounce Canadian names properly was irritating but her voice was otherwise easy to listen to.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A good story, well told, adequately read

This is a well-written, sincere and thoughtful account of a remarkable incident. It’s not a masterpiece but it doesn’t set out to be. Like other reviewers, I’m a little puzzled by the choice of narrator. It’s an appealing speaking voice but the slightly halting rhythm of the delivery takes some getting used to and it’s hard to understand why there was no verification of pronunciations. It makes one think that the production side of these audiobooks consists of little more than sticking a microphone in front of someone and saying “read”. Nonetheless, I got to the end and enjoyed it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A Story of True Canadian Heroisn

A well researched, well written story of tragedy and heroism in northern Alberta, Canada. The story grips one from the first page. The biggest fault is a narrator that has little understanding of Canadian pronunciations. The Alberta premier's name was slaughtered, and the narrator didn't even know how correctly to say the word "premier." I also spotted mispronounced town names. Why can't Audible ensure that its narrators know how to correctly pronounce all words in a book?

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1 person found this helpful