by Geoffrey Gray
Crown, $25.00, 302 pages
Geoffrey Gray’s Skyjack: The Hunt for D. B. Cooper tells the story of the D. B. Cooper hijacking and the subsequent investigation in a personal, accessible way. Gray re-imagines the way the hijacking unfolded, and through his research, provides a thriller-style narrative on the page. He also details his own personal interest in the case, complete with a pet suspect of his own. The author also provides us with some background and the available evidence for the other three or four most popular suspects in the hijacking.
Gray’s very casual narrative style, complete with profanity and movie-influenced jump from one topic to another may irritate or even turn off some readers. He also contributes very little that someone who has followed the case for years wouldn’t already know. However, fans with casual interest, or who have heard of the Cooper case, but don’t know much about it will find this a delightful way to get familiar with the case and some of the people who were and are involved in it without being overburdened with scientific explanations. Northwest readers will be at a particular advantage here in their ability to understand the geography, and the way the forest in this area looks and feels.
Katie Richards