Reviewed by Chris
TITLE: Hijacked Love
AUTHOR: Ethan Stone
PUBLISHER: Stone Publishing
LENGTH: 54 pages
RELEASE DATE: April 15, 2017
BLURB:
It’s the winter of 1971 and FBI Agent Zack Pomeroy is hoping to make a name for himself when he’s assigned the case of the century—the hijacking of an airplane by D.B. Cooper. Zack’s used to hiding his sexuality but working with Duke Magruder is even more of a challenge. Not only do they do have vastly different personalities but also contrasting opinions on how to work the case. Nonetheless, Zack is able to earn Duke’s begrudging respect.
Until Duke learns Zack’s secret.
When Zack finds a lead on the case Duke not only refuses to listen, he also refuses to work with Zack any longer. Zack’s career and his assignment are at jeopardy but that doesn’t mean he’s about to give up on finding Cooper, no matter how many years it takes.
Hijacked Love is a blend of mystery and historical fiction with a bit of romance thrown in.
REVIEW:
What really happened to D.B. Cooper in 1971 after he hijacked a plane and then disappeared mid flight, is still very much a mystery. This story takes a fictional look at the clues surrounding the mystery, by dropping fictional FBI Agent Zack Pomeroy into the real life tale and seeing what happens.
I have to say that when we received the offer of this book for review several of us were really quite interested to see how it played out. I was not overly familiar with the original case, but I had enough knowledge to be intrigued. And intrigued enough that I discounted my usual avoidance of historical books that happen past the mid-50’s.
The reality of the book was a bit…lackluster?, though. I found aspects of the book interesting, but overall I couldn’t escape the feeling that a series of events were happening on page, not a story. The case, which was a huge selling point initially, didn’t draw me in like I hoped. It was too much like reading a Wikipedia article about the hijacking. Interesting and informative, sure, but not something you experience. And while I knew going in that the case wasn’t going to wrapped up quickly, since it is still a mystery in real life, the twist at the end felt a bit forced. The huge jumps in time, later in the story, didn’t help either with my disconnect. Leaving Zack for huge spaces of time–years, decades even–just made it harder to really care about the characters or mystery. I think I went in hoping for more time focused on the investigation, and that part of it felt really rushed.
There was also a few issues with Zack as a character. One of the major ones being his sudden 180 from “we’re in an open relationship” to “I only want to be with you”. I don’t have problems with either open relationships or monogamy (or the shift from one to the other) I just kinda want some explanation for the sudden turn-around. It felt like the author was trying to squeeze Zack and his boyfriend into a monogamous relationship when five pages earlier Zack was all but ready to blow some random FBI agent in the bathroom. The switch felt too much like something the author decided to do to the characters, and less like a natural progression of events.
I’ve been going back and forth on the rating for this, to be honest. It wasn’t a bad book, and it is an interesting story if only for the whole historical mystery, but it also failed to capture my attention for any length of time. It isn’t quite enough for a 3-star, but it almost gets there at times, so I’m calling this 2.75.
RATING: 
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