Skyjack: The Hunt for D. B. Cooper by Geoffrey Gray

Skyjack is a fascinating story of the successful skyjacking of a Boeing 737 in the fall of 1971.  The hijacker,D. B. Cooper (alias) demanded a ransom of $200,000 in twenties along with parachutes.  Today this ransom would be worth more than a million dollars.  The author has done research into the lives of the four likely suspects, the pilots, flight attendants, FBI agents and amateur sleuths.  The boy who found some of the money nine years later on a river feels it was a curse to his family.  I liked the re-creation of the crime from cabin to cockpit to tower.  It took a skilled person to jump out of a plane into a dark rainy night falling toward the forest.  There was nothing to show if Cooper escaped or died in the fall.  Only a small amount of the money was found.  It’s great reading about the suspects and their backgrounds.  Some confessed to the crime, but not enough evidence.  The motive didn’t appear to be just about money but getting away with something.  When asked by the flight attendant, if he had a grudge against the airline, Cooper responded “no I just have a grudge.  One of the great cold cases of the twentieth century.