No one ever believes their dream vacation can instantly turn into a tragic nightmare...until it's too late.
Some tourists vanish without a trace. Over 170 people have disappeared from cruise ships around the world since 1995, several under very suspicious circumstances. Others have their lives senselessly stolen, like the 8-year old boy sucked into an unprotected pool drain at a major resort, leaving his mother crying out his name as security staff held her at gunpoint. Or 22-year old Nolan Webster, denied proper medical care after being pulled unconscious from a Cancun resort pool, only to have his dead body left in plain view for hours and his parents billed for his room.
Vacations are meant to be joyous and fun. Sometimes terrible things happen unexpectedly. A parasailing newlywed plummets hundreds of feet to her death on the last day of her honeymoon when her harness snaps in mid-air. Hikers make a fatal plunge on an improperly-marked Kauai cliffside trail. And of course, there's every mother's nightmare: the disappearance of Natalee Holloway while on a high school graduation trip to Aruba with members of her senior class.
"Sometimes travelers put themselves into situations beyond their limitations or worse, beyond their control," says Nemcoff. "People on vacation tend to engage in riskier activities than they are normally used to. Sometimes things can instantly turn deadly because you made a bad decision or were in the wrong place at the wrong time."
In addition to FATAL SUNSET's shocking stories of deadly shark attacks, drownings, suspicious encounters, unfortunate accidents and murder, there is one part of the book that still haunts Nemcoff. "I interviewed Nolan Webster's mom, Maureen. In the book she explains what it was like to get that terrible phone call about her son's death. It's something I think about every day."
"There's one piece of advice I've learned researching this book," tells Nemcoff. "Dare to be aware."