This is a well-researched account of the disappearance and subsequent search for two honeymooners who traveled down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon running rapids in a scow. The year was 1928 (9 years after the Grand Canyon became a national park) and Bessie Hyde would have been the first woman to attempt such feat. The author makes a good point that aside from the adventure of the journey, Glen and Bessie lived in the age of “record setting and exploration” (Amelia Earhart, George Mallory, Charles Liindbergh) and a successful trip would have earned them enough fame to go on the pre-television Vaudeville lecture circuit that accounted for so many small theaters across America at the time.

Because their bodies were never found, there were several stories that grew up around the disappearance that the author revisits, along with their backgrounds before they got together that added to the mystery of who they really were. For example, Bessie, only 23, had been married before. The book has substantial discussion of rafting that may interest and benefit someone who has done or will do such a trip. However, the technical details are not so overwhelming as to turn off the more casual reader who is mostly interested in the mystery part of the story. I know enough about the area and some of the places and names that it was easy and entertaining for me to imagine the trip. I also enjoyed Bessie’s pieces of poetry (just simple rhymed verse, many tied to the river and exploration) at the start of each chapter. The author had access to a phenomenal amount of photos (many of which I wished were larger as sometimes small ones were surrounded by the blank space of a whole page) that evidence the access the Hyde family and others gave him to any surviving records of the two. The author’s work is a labor of love for the sport and the couple.

On the other hand, I did come away from the book thinking the story was unfinished. I didn’t feel there was complete commitment by the author on settling on what happened to the couple – he in fact asks people to contact him if they find out any more. One thing I would have liked to have known more about was why Georgie had a copy of Bessie and Glen’s marriage certificate. I don’t think that question was answered with any certainty, so maybe more time in the book should have been spent researching these other “Bessies” and “Glens” if the real Bessie’s and Glen’s final ends were not clear. To me, this part of the book was the most curious, but too short in comparison to the setup and technical details of the river and painstakingly mapped out route.

Overall though, I think the author did a very nice job and could recommend the book to several people.

The tragic disappearance of honeymooners Glen and Bessie Hyde in 1928 became legendary among river sports enthusiasts. Author Brad Dimock researched the couple's lives and family backgrounds, primary sources documenting the couple's ill-fated Colorado River trip, and popular theories about the survival of one or the other of the pair. The author and his wife built a similar boat and traveled the same route under approximately the same conditions the Hydes encountered, and he incorporates his personal experience into his conclusions regarding Glen and Bessie's fates.

Although I'm not an outdoor enthusiast, the family history and missing persons aspects of the account more than made up for my typical lack of interest in outdoor adventure literature. Bessie's poems at the head of each chapter almost persuade me that she had a premonition of her fate. I don't believe Bessie's poetry has been published outside of this work. It touched me enough to make me consider purchasing a copy of this book (which I borrowed from the library) just to have a copy of the poems. ( )

In 1928, Glen and Bessie Hyde decided to run the Grand Canyon in a homemade flat-bottomed scow. Glen had experience with this type of boat on Idaho rivers. Partway through the trip, they vanished. An extensive search turned up their boat, but neither Glen nor Bessie was ever found.

Brad Dimock reviews the history, separates truth from myth, and even re-creates the voyage, then tells the tale in this engaging book. Liberally illustrated with photographs from the Hyde's own camera, the book is a satisfying depiction of this mystery. Definitely worth owning for the lover of the lore of the southwest, or mysterious disappearances. ( )

As part of his research for this book, the author Brad Dimock actually attempted to recreate the setting of Glen and Bessie Hyde's disappearances. Both professional boaters, Dimock and his wife made a sweep scow like the Hydes' boat, as reconstructed from photographs, and rafted down the same rivers they did to get a feeling of what it was like. Dimock's experience on the river no doubt contributed to the conclusions he reached about Bessie and Glen's disappearance.

Thoroughly researched and packed with photographs of Glen, Bessie, their family members and other people involved in their story, Sunk Without a Sound is a real gem of a book. Dimock provides extensive biographical history on the Hydes, maps of their routes, and quoted reminiscences from those who knew them and from Glen and Bessie's own letters and notes. Most importantly, Dimock is a good myth-destroyer. By sweeping all the extraneous campfire gossip aside, he enables the reader to see as well as is possible what must have happened to Glen and Bessie. The old adage about how the simplest explanation is most likely to be the correct one definitely applies here, and I write this with a certain sadness, for I grew fond of the Hydes as I read about their lives. I highly recommend this book, to mystery buffs, historians and outdoor lovers alike. ( )