In 1935, nine year old George Weyerhaeuser, part of the wealthy timber family, was kidnapped while walking home from school.  His kidnappers made contact and demanded the largest ransom recorded to date.  He was kept in trunks of cars, chained to trees in the forest and down in a pit, then imprisoned in a small closet.  After the ransom was paid, George was released and reunited with his family.

The kidnappers were a pair of ex-cons and a nineteen year old Mormon girl who had recently married one of them.  Although they threatened to kill the boy, there didn't seem to be any real intent to do so.  Throughout it all, George kept his cool and after his return, seemed remarkably unaffected by the trauma.  

The married couple were quickly caught after passing some of the ransom bills.  The other man, who was the originator of the plan and the leader of the group, evaded capture for a time.  All were brought to trial.  The married man was given forty-five years while his wife, whose lawyer and even the judge believed was fairly innocent, pled guilty and was given a shorter prison sentence.  The leader when eventually captured and tried was given life in prison.

This was an interesting true crime case.  Although I follow true crime fairly closely, I had never heard of this case, although I had heard of the Weyerhaeuser family.  The kidnapping occurred not long after the Lindbergh kidnapping and that case influenced both the family in its decision to pay the ransom and in the actions of the local law enforcement and the FBI who were involved.  Readers will learn much about the creation of the FBI and how J. Edgar Hoover viewed crime and criminals. George grew up to lead the family business and surprisingly, gave a job to the married man when he was released from prison.   The epilogue followed all the participants through later years.  This book is recommended for true crime readers.