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Chasing the Thrill
- Obsession, Death, and Glory in America's Most Extraordinary Treasure Hunt
- Narrated by: Daniel Barbarisi
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
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Chasing the Thrill
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Publisher's Summary
"Daniel Barbarisi plunges into an adventure from another era when he goes in search of buried treasure, guided only by a cryptic poem, a mischievous art collector, and the footsteps another pursuer who died on the quest.... Every page draws you deeper into this no-man’s-land where fortune - or tragedy - awaits." (Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run)
When Forrest Fenn was given a fatal cancer diagnosis, he came up with a bold plan: He would hide a chest full of jewels and gold in the wilderness, and publish a poem that would serve as a map leading to the treasure's secret location. But he didn't die, and after hiding the treasure in 2010, Fenn instead presided over a decade-long gold rush that saw many thousands of treasure hunters scrambling across the Rocky Mountains in pursuit of his fortune.
Daniel Barbarisi first learned of Fenn's hunt in 2017, when a friend became consumed with decoding the poem and convinced Barbarisi, a reporter, to document his search. What began as an attempt to capture the inner workings of Fenn's hunt quickly turned into a personal quest that led Barbarisi down a reckless and potentially dangerous path, one that found him embroiled in searcher conspiracies and matching wits with Fenn himself. Over the course of four chaotic years, several searchers would die, endless controversies would erupt, and one hunter would ultimately find the chest.
But the mystery didn't end there.
Full of intrigue, danger, and break-neck action, Chasing the Thrill is a riveting tale of desire, obsession, and unbridled adventure.
What the critics say
“Rousing...Barbarisi writes with gusto and portrays the eccentrics he encounters with a candor.... He can also make a landscape come alive. I’ve read many descriptions of Yellowstone geysers, but none more striking than his evocation of how runoff from the Artemisia Geyser affects the immediate surroundings...Barbarisi tells the story so well that you should resist any form of peeking ahead and leave the matter in his capable hands.” (Dennis Drabelle, The Washington Post)
“The idea of a years-long quest throughout the Rocky Mountains in search of treasure represents competition of a different, fascinating sort. Barbarisi’s exploration of the who and how and why of those who hunted for the hidden treasure left by Forrest Fenn confronts fascinating questions about the sometimes indistinct realms of adventure and obsession.” (The Boston Globe, “Summer Reading 2021”)
“Chasing the Thrill leads the reader on an engaging armchair treasure hunt, a welcome escape in these waning days of COVID. Daniel Barbarisi’s bold gamble - inserting himself at the story’s center - pays off. The writer emerges as a sympathetic protagonist, and his participation buys him entrée into a secretive and mistrustful club. By the final chapters of Chasing the Thrill, we share his wonder in watching the Fenn saga draw to an exhilarating close.” (Daniel de Visé, Washington Independent Review of Books)