A great, true-life adventure story appeals partly because you, the reader, can find yourself thinking something like, "These are real people and they were crazy enough to do this stuff!"
In "Blind Descent," author James M. Tabor tells the tale of two teams of spelunkers who are vying to discover the world's deepest cave. And they're not just recreational spelunkers, either -- they're seasoned explorers with expertise in fields ranging from geology to engineering to cave diving.
The story: A team in Mexico is pushing into Cheve Cave, a beautiful or nightmarish world depending on your viewpoint. Either way, it's a horrendously dangerous place, complete with underground rivers that divers dare to enter even though any problem with their gear means almost certain death because there's nowhere to surface. On the other side of the world, in the Republic of Georgia, another team is plumbing the ghastly darkness of Krubera, where huge vertical drops alternate with more horizontal, claustrophobia-inducing passages.
I read the book in two sittings, both of which cost me a good night's sleep. The story is just so good that it's hard to stop reading. That said, Tabor isn't the best of writers. He's careless about repeating words, and uses too many cliches.
If you can get past that, "Blind Descent" is a terrific read.�