Michael Kodas

The California Literary Review gave High Crimes their highest rating in the May 15th issue. Reviewer John Holt wrote:

 By the time I was halfway through High Crimes I was disgusted with everyone involved with Everest, even the so-called good guys, who hadn’t done nearly enough to clean up the situation. By the end of the book I was angry. What’s going on at this mountain and many others represents everything that is wrong, that is despicable in not only mountaineering and adventure travel but human behavior overall. 

 Read the review in its entirety here. 

When I was in third grade my younger and shorter brother beat me at one-on-one in basketball. Repeatedly. I didn’t have much more success with football or baseball, so I headed deep into the woods to find a sport I could play without being embarrassed by my little brother. Now ESPN, as it continues to expand its realm from extensive coverage of ball sports into the X-Games and beyond, has found me in the woods and given my book about crime in mountaineering some nice coverage. Sam Elfling did a great interview for ESPN.com’s outdoor section, and ESPN and Borders listed High Crimes at number 7 on their Sports Bestseller List for March 5. You can check out the list here.

Entertainment Weekly gave High Crimes an “A-” in their review, which stated that “Like Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, High Crimes, an account of an Everest ascent, effectively strips the journey of all sentiment…Kodas forever dispels whatever romantic ideas readers may hold about the great Himalayan peak.” Check the review in its entirety at the Entertainment Weekly website, or in the magazine.

I’ll be visiting the New Canaan Library to present a multimedia program about High Crimes on Sunday, Feb. 24th at 4 pm. Elm Street Books will be on hand with books. For more information contact Kathleen Millard at Elm Street Books at 203-966-4545 or email her at kathleen@elmstreetbooks.com.

I’ll be making a half-hour presentation to a men’s group at the Westport Public Library, 20 Jesup Road, Westport, CT, at noon on Friday, Feb. 15.

The first northern New England presentation of High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed will be at the Inn at Stratton Mountain, 61 Middle Ridge RoadStratton Mountain, VT. The Northshire Bookstore will be on hand with copies of the book. For more information contact Kelly Odiorne, Guest Experience Manager, Stratton Mountain Resort at (802) 297-4288; or Linda Ellingsworth, Northshire Events Coordinator at lellingsworth@northshire.com, 802-362-3565, x 128. And pray for some snow!

“Kodas’s writing is clear and forceful, and he creates several gripping moments of suspense. In the end, there’s no getting around his conclusion: Everest, now more than ever, is a place any sane person would avoid.” - Brad Wetzler                           Check out the full review in the February, 2008 issue of Outside magazine