By Geoffrey Gray
Crown | 320pgs
Release Date: August 9, 2011

Summary:
An innocuous man, who boarded a Northwest Orient flight from Portland to Seattle under the name Dan Cooper on November 24, 1971, perpetrated the most daring and mysterious hijacking in American history. Twenty-eight short minutes into the flight Cooper passed a note to a flight attendant demanding $200,000 and threatening to blow up the plane with a bomb he carried in his briefcase. On landing in Seattle, the passengers were released in exchange for the cash and parachutes and the plane once again took off. At an altitude of 10,000 feet, Cooper, later reported erroneously in the media as D.B. Cooper, parachuted out over a dark forest in the Pacific Northwest, and disappeared without a trace. Reporter Geoffrey Gray attempts to shed new light on the infamous crime and explore new leads in Skyjack: The Hunt for D.B. Cooper. With thorough research, firsthand interviews and unprecedented access to Cooper’s FBI file, Gray launches his own investigation and considers an array of suspects, some credible, others outlandish.

What the critics are saying:
Gray began his fascination with the Cooper story when he wrote a piece about the hijacking for New York Magazine, where he is currently a contributing editor. As his interest in the story grew, he expanded his research to write the book. His investigation covers various suspects, as well as law enforcement agents and reporters who have been touched by “The Cooper Curse.” Though the reporter does not offer a definitive solution to the mystery, many critics agree that he has crafted a very exciting read. “Gray weaves a fascinating tale about one of the 20th century’s greatest unsolved mysteries. It’s a page turner, even though D.B. Cooper remains elusive right up to the end. Perhaps as it should be,” writes Craig Wilson for USA Today.