Follow Here To Purchase Lost at Sea: The Hunt for Patrick McDermott

Author: Patrick R. Klein

Publisher: Klein Publishing

ISBN: 9781468122848

Many years ago now, a friend of mine got into his Boston Whaler one day and motored out into the Atlantic. He was never seen again. A few days later, his empty boat was found, his wallet and watch on the seat. I suppose he jumped into the water and swam until he drowned. On the other hand, well ........ that, of course is the mystery. The possibilities are intriguing. Had anyone been interested in pursuing this further, he might have engaged the services of Philip Klein, a private investigator based in Nederland, Texas.

Philip Klein started his career in 1982 as an insurance death claims investigator, and in 1992 he formed Klein Investigations and Consulting specializing in intelligence, personal protection, kidnappings and parental abductions. He has been featured on Dateline NBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Good Morning London, and other worldwide news programs.

Lost At Sea is the story of an investigation suggested by the TV program Dateline NBC which wanted to document the kind of work that Philip Klein’s company routinely carries out. They introduced the project by presenting Klein with three cases, one of which was that of a man who on June 30, 2005. went out on a fishing trip with thirty other people and disappeared. That man was Patrick Kim McDermott.

Now it needs to be noted here that interest in this book will come not because of those involved, most of whom are unremarkable with the exception of Olivia Newton John, the actress with whom McDermott briefly carried on a liason, but rather because Lost At Sea is an excellent description of how investigators plan and carry out the search for a missing person. Anyone who has romantic inclinations about this kind of work will think differently after reading Klein’s account of seemingly endless travel and long hours of often thankless, fruitless drudgery, in this case complicated by the accompanying Dateline NBC TV camera crew whose bosses after all are paying for this investigation. This is not a kind of Sam Spade single person operation. Klein assembles a professional team of investigators some of whom have formal legal training, some are proficient in languages, others have a myriad of talents, from research to police work, all of which can be brought to bear in the pursuit of the truth: is Patrick dead or alive, and if alive where is he and why did he run?

Nor will interest in Lost At Sea come from Klein’s use of the first person as the narrative voice. I do not think that our author set out to be unrelentingly self-promotional but that is often the danger with first person accounts. In this case, it is intrusive and distracting; however, on the upside, the resulting conversational tone suits many parts of this intriguing story which would have been enhanced by a few pictures of the individuals and places involved.

So ....... if you are in mood for a real life mystery and if you want to find out what really happened to Patrick Kim McDermott, and if you want to enjoy a fast moving lifestyle set in California and Mexico, this is the book for you.