Things Aren't Right: The Disappearance of the Yuba County Five Paperback – January 4, 2024

I enjoyed this book. Well researched and thoughtful. Ties things up at the end pretty well and was to the point overall.

I first encountered the story of the Yuba County Five more or less by happenstance some years ago via the Wikipedia article on the Dyatlov Pass incident. I read the original Washington Post article about the disappearance and subsequent discovery of the "Boys" at the same time, and I was struck by the sheer tragedy of what had happened to these young men in the winter of 1978; I kept imagining the misery that poor Ted Weiher must have endured in those last weeks of his life in the Forest Service trailer up at the Daniel Zink Campground. I thought at the time about how sad it was that, after 40+ years, there were probably none of the parents still alive to tell their story, and that most of the original investigators had probably passed away or long since retired, and their story would remain forever lost in obscurity. Imagine my surprise when, courtesy of Tony Wright, this turned out not to be the case.Now, Mr. Wright shines new light on "America's Dyatlov Pass mystery" and does something I had not really seen until now -- tells the story of each of the men themselves. He does a fine job of actually bringing Weiher, Jack Madruga, Jackie Huett, Bill Sterling, and Gary Mathias to life, as it were, especially insofar as their individual personalities likely factored into whatever baffling events led them to their strange fate in the Plumas National Forest. He also does very impressive work going behind the scenes of the search/investigation by the various agencies involved in the doomed effort to locate the five men. What I particularly appreciated about this part of the account was the difficulty in trying to locate missing persons in remote and rugged country; having personally known SAR volunteers (both ground personnel and pilots) in the past, I came to truly understand what a needle-in-a-haystack task it actually is.Mr. Wright mentions that this is his first book that he published, and truth be told, it does show. The writing is good, but he could have benefited from an editor (or, if he did use one, a *better* editor). I was also surprised by the rather small number of photos in the book, which are not that difficult to come by elsewhere. Nevertheless, this does not detract from the overall quality of the story very often. I admit I was surprised that, with the abundance of information offered in the book, Mr. Wright appeared to have omitted a few important details or only vaguely mentioned them (for example, that Jack Madruga's car was apparently in almost pristine condition when it was found, as if he had driven very slowly to where he eventually got stuck in the snow; that Joseph Schons actually did suffer a heart attack, according to his doctors; and Mr. Schons' death was not even included among all the other mentions of the various deceased players in the drama). Overall, though, if you want to read a nearly exhaustive analysis of this most perplexing enigma, this is certainly the book to read.

The author, Tony Wright, brings a much needed, in-depth look into the events of that cold night, in the Plumas National Forest, in 1978. Not content with mining the usual sources for information, nor taking for granted that every “rumor” or aspect of this tragic story is without need of scrutiny, he makes every effort to go directly to those who were there. In some cases, family members and associated investigators have since passed away, yet a wealth of information sourced by the author, personally, fromthose still living, makes the information detailed within invaluable. The anecdotes and memories of each of the families, make this much more than just a clinical dispensation of “the facts”, it adds to the portrait he gives these five men, by allowing the families to bring forth new, and personal, insights. In his efforts, Wright was granted access to official law enforcement archives and records, multiple media accounts made during that time, along with interviews and countless conversations with the families, gave the book a more “personal” feel. In fact, he states that during his time researching this story, he developed genuine friendships with those involved. This book was concise, the portrayals of each of the five balanced, honest, humanizing, without resorting to base speculation or exploiting them for sensationalism, and enjoyable to read. If this topic, or any of those similar to this, interests you, I highly recommend Something’s Not Right, and I look forward to whatever else this author decides to do next.

At last!! A book on The Yuba County Five that includes information from the case files, as well as interviews with family, friends and police!!Thank you, Tony – your book is just what we all needed to get a much better understanding of “The Boys” and what happened on Feb 24th, 1978 and the days weeks, months and years that followed. Outstanding research and documentation!I believe without a doubt they were forced up the mountain. At the spot where they stopped on the road, they were then forced into the bed of a pickup truck and driven to Daniel Zink’s Campground and dumped off. I believe the perpetrators knew the road was plowed and the trailers were stocked.I also believe by first light the next day or day after that one of the boys noticed the campground map (used by the motorcyclists who discovered Ted, remember?) and determined where they were. From there they hatched a plan to get help. Gary headed north while Jack and Bill headed south. Jackie stayed with Ted in the trailer to look after him. Unfortunately, they may have overestimated their ability to withstand the weather conditions even if they thought they could find help quickly…and perished. One thing I’d like to point out – Jack was found clutching a watch in his hand. Well, he actually may have been using his watch as a compass. Yeah, it’s a thing….google it!As for Schon, I think the perpetrators picked him up either as they were headed to the trailers or back from the trailers and threatened him into silence. Schon would be an accessory after the fact, first to kidnapping and then to murder.My theory is much more long-winded than this review, but this is the gist of it. The Boys were kidnapped, and their eventual deaths should be considered homicides. Period.

Ein spannendes Buch für jeden, der sich mit der tragischen Geschichte beschäftigt hat. Der Fokus liegt auf den fünf Männern, der Polizeiarbeit und den Familien. Der Autor verzichtet dabei auf Schuldzuweisungen und wilde Spekulationen. Die sachliche und detailreiche Schilderung zeichnet ein umfassendes Bild der Umgebung, der Zeit und des Verschwindens der fünf Männer, eine Lösung des Rätsels findet auch Tony Wright nicht. Das Mysterium bleibt bestehen.

This is an absolutely brilliant book, which I would highly recommend to anyone who, like me, is obsessed with finding out what truly happened to "the five boys'.Having read about this story a few years ago in a book about disappearances in America I couldn't believe what had happened and was always looking for a more in-depth explanation of the circumstances.I came across this book and am so glad I did.Although obviously this book can't answer all the questions, I am sure the writer and all the others interested in this story will finally get more answers eventually.I just hope I'm still around if and when the full truth comes out.

Superb and engrossing book.The definitive book on the Yuba County Five case. Highly recommended.

The author does a great job in presenting the facts and analysing it all. At the same time he is very respectful when talking about the five men, their families and even witnesses and possible suspects. A great read!!

I am going to honest with you, Tony is a friend of mine and I could have lavished a vat full of praise for this marvellous true crime tome just for the sake of it.To be further honest if I had not enjoyed the book all I would have said is "Great book, Tony, well done". However; Things Aren't Right is much more than that.If I had to say two words about it, one would be "Addictive". I found myself reading it in a café on the way to work, a snippet during my lunch hour and a morsel when I got home, where I pretended I was watching The Chase. Which leads me to the second word "Unputdownable"I consider myself to be a Yuba County Five obsessive and was a tad concerned that I would skip pages saying "Already knew that" "Already knew this" However the amount of detail and information that Tony has presented is amazing. There are events and people that I never heard of previously and even parts of the story that I knew heart by heart felt fresh. Tony has dug (no pun intended) deep in the history of the case:The disappearance of Jackie, Jack, William, Ted and Gary, their families search for the truth; the police investigation and theories are meticulously examined.I would be very surprised if this book is not turned into a Netflix sensation or a David Fincher box office smash.READ THE BOOKTony should be proud of this book which he has been written with dedication and care and I for one am proud of him.