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A review by karieh13
Skyjack: The Hunt for D.B. Cooper by Geoffrey Gray
2.0
The second half of the title of this book is quite accurate. “The Hunt for D.B. Cooper” is far more the focus of the book than the skyjacker himself. Author Geoffrey Gray immerses himself in the lives of those hunting the elusive legend – and as the book goes on, these obsessed and more than eccentric people take the focus almost completely off the 1971 crime.
Grey was given access to FBI files and has new leads to pursue, and dreams of finally solving the case (and winning the Pulitzer prize). Yet these leads seemed to lead him farther down a rabbit hole than down the road of fortune and glory.
The section of the book that deals with “The Jump” was fascinating. I had no idea skyjacking was such an epidemic at the time…and along with many people; the story of the hijacker that got away intrigues me. I learned that “D.B” was a name born of a bad phone conversation – that the ticket purchased was actually in the name of “Dan Cooper”. The details of the actual events were well laid out and interesting.
Once the book moves into the later years of “The Hunt”, however, I started to lose interest. There are so many people mentioned as possible “D.B.”s and so many more than colorful people looking for the mystery man, that not only does the thread of the story get lost, but my interest waned.
There are copycat skyjackers, people who talk about skyjacking, people showing up all over the country with large amounts of cash, wives who suspect their husbands of being the criminal, frustrated transsexuals, fortune hunters still looking for the loot 40 years later…it ended up being a mishmash of bizarre people and stories.
“What do I know about a criminal investigation? I’m taking my cues from an 80-something retired postal worker from middle-of-nowhere Minnesota, whose advice to me was to rent a metal detector. I want to cry.”
Given that such slim leads and completely circumstantial evidence are given such time and weight in this decades old hunt, I could see why. “The Hunt” devolves into the section “The Curse” with good reason. A link to a comic book character from the 1950s named Dan Cooper is investigated, pornographic movies are thought to contain clues…
“There is no path. There is no story. What have I done? What have I found? Proof that the Cooper Curse has gotten me too?”
“I call the Pentagon. The media liaison has no idea how to answer my question. I don’t even know if I’m asking a question. I’m ranting about covert ops.”
And at the end, when a link between a possible Cooper suspect is thought to be in a recipe for cheery cheesecake…the answer to the author’s question seems certain.
There just seems to be something about this 40-year old mystery that grabs the imagination of some people and pulls them beyond the edges of reality. It is a fascinating crime, but it is one that seems better viewed as history instead of a way of life.
Grey was given access to FBI files and has new leads to pursue, and dreams of finally solving the case (and winning the Pulitzer prize). Yet these leads seemed to lead him farther down a rabbit hole than down the road of fortune and glory.
The section of the book that deals with “The Jump” was fascinating. I had no idea skyjacking was such an epidemic at the time…and along with many people; the story of the hijacker that got away intrigues me. I learned that “D.B” was a name born of a bad phone conversation – that the ticket purchased was actually in the name of “Dan Cooper”. The details of the actual events were well laid out and interesting.
Once the book moves into the later years of “The Hunt”, however, I started to lose interest. There are so many people mentioned as possible “D.B.”s and so many more than colorful people looking for the mystery man, that not only does the thread of the story get lost, but my interest waned.
There are copycat skyjackers, people who talk about skyjacking, people showing up all over the country with large amounts of cash, wives who suspect their husbands of being the criminal, frustrated transsexuals, fortune hunters still looking for the loot 40 years later…it ended up being a mishmash of bizarre people and stories.
“What do I know about a criminal investigation? I’m taking my cues from an 80-something retired postal worker from middle-of-nowhere Minnesota, whose advice to me was to rent a metal detector. I want to cry.”
Given that such slim leads and completely circumstantial evidence are given such time and weight in this decades old hunt, I could see why. “The Hunt” devolves into the section “The Curse” with good reason. A link to a comic book character from the 1950s named Dan Cooper is investigated, pornographic movies are thought to contain clues…
“There is no path. There is no story. What have I done? What have I found? Proof that the Cooper Curse has gotten me too?”
“I call the Pentagon. The media liaison has no idea how to answer my question. I don’t even know if I’m asking a question. I’m ranting about covert ops.”
And at the end, when a link between a possible Cooper suspect is thought to be in a recipe for cheery cheesecake…the answer to the author’s question seems certain.
There just seems to be something about this 40-year old mystery that grabs the imagination of some people and pulls them beyond the edges of reality. It is a fascinating crime, but it is one that seems better viewed as history instead of a way of life.