The Kidnap Years: The Astonishing True History of the Forgotten Kidnapping Epidemic That Shook Depression-Era America

by David Stout

The astonishing true history of the kidnapping open-season that terrorized America

The Great Depression was a time of desperation in America--parents struggled to feed their children and unemployment was at a record high. Adding to the lawlessness of the decade, thugs with submachine guns and corrupt law-enforcement officers ran rampant. But amidst this panic, there was one sure-fire way to make money, one used by criminals and resourceful civilians alike: kidnapping.

Jump into this forgotten history with Edgar Award-winning author David Stout as he explores the reports of missing people that inundated newspapers at the time. Learn the horrifying details of these abduction cases, from the methods used and the investigative processes to the personal histories of the culprits and victims. All of this culminates with the most infamous kidnapping in American history, the one that targeted an international celebrity and changed legislation forever: the Lindbergh kidnapping.

The Kidnap Years is a gritty, visceral, thoughtfully reported page-turner that chronicles the sweep of abductions that afflicted all corners of the country as desperate people were pushed to do the unthinkable.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, History, Crime, Audiobook, Book Club, American History

464 pages, Hardcover

First published April 7, 2020

About the author

David Stout (b. 1942) is an accomplished reporter who has been writing mysteries and true crime since the 1980s. Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, Stout took a job at the New York Times in 1982. He spent nearly twenty-eight years at the newspaper, as a reporter, editor and rewrite man covering national news and sports, and retired in 2009.

Stout began writing his first novel while working at the Times. Based on the true story of a 1940s double-murder for which fourteen year-old George Stinney was controversially executed, Carolina Skeletons (1988) won Stout an Edgar award for best first novel. After two more well-received mysteries, Night Of The Ice Storm (1991) and The Dog Hermit (1993), Stout turned to writing non-fiction. Night Of The Devil (2003) tells the story of famous convict Thomas Trantino, while The Boy In The Box (2008) is an investigation of one of America’s most famous unsolved murders. Since retiring from the Times, Stout has redoubled his work on his next book.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Kidnap Years: The Astonishing True History of the Forgotten Kidnapping Epidemic That Shook Depression-Era America by David Stout is a 2020 Sourcebooks publication.

Back in the 1930’s kidnapping became almost an epidemic. It wasn't just children and babies that fell victim, but adults too.

This book examines these kidnappings, some familiar, some not- and yes, I suppose it is fair to say, this kidnapping rampage has been largely forgotten about. But, at the center of the book is the infamous Lindbergh kidnapping. It was that case that tipped the scales and forced a hardline crackdown. For me though, it was the lesser known cases that made the book interesting, especially since the Lindbergh kidnapping, as well as one or two others mentioned in this book, has been examined ad nauseum, and as far as I could tell there was nothing new about those cases printed here.

There are other famous or infamous people in this book, though, besides the Lindbergh's. The FBI and Hoover’s involvement were also featured prominently at times. The author stayed on topic, and did not veer into personal commentary, for the most part, which was fine by me.

The organization is a little uneven spreading out some cases throughout the book, instead of putting all the information into one or more chapters, running consecutively. This was a little distracting for me, but a minor quibble.

Otherwise, the book reflects the desperation of the thirties, as well as the way money, greed and politics, all bled together to create the perfect climate for the kidnapping crime sprees of the decade.

Anyone who enjoys history or true crime will want to consider giving this book a try.

4 stars

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the author says, the United States had an epidemic of kidnappings in the 1930s. It is interesting to see how kidnappings have changed over time, but that is not covered in this book. Stout covers many of the thirties cases and the victims were mostly adults and sometimes children from wealthy industrial families (amazing how many came from beer families). Coming in the depths of the depression it’s not surprising those kidnappings were all about money. The majority of the cases ended with a live victim. Of course some went wrong and Stout’s featured case went horribly wrong. The Lindbergh baby case was the most notorious of the era and still well known today.

Today kidnapping frequently has other names such as missing persons, abducted children, or family abductions. Kidnap by stranger catches our attention but is actually very rare. Those situations are also outside of the coverage in this book.

The Kidnap Years was not written by a historian, social scientist or psychologist but a retired NY Times journalist who depended heavily on that newspaper’s files. That means analysis is very light and he ends with few conclusions. The book is arranged roughly chronologically but the Lindbergh case and J. Edgar Hoover are discussed throughout. I found that disruptive.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

"As the false glitz of the 1920's yielded to the crushing poverty of the 1930's, kidnappings became so frequent in the United States that the newspapers could scarcely keep up with them . . . A lot of kidnappings were carried out by professional criminals who had branched out from bootlegging, gambling, and other illicit enterprises. But some kidnappings were the work of amateurs, driven to desperation because they had no jobs and no prospects." -- from the author's introduction

I much admired author Stout's Boy in the Box: The Unsolved Case of America's Unknown Child about fifteen years ago (however, the juvenile homicide victim from this infamous Philadelphia 'cold case' has since been identified through DNA testing in 2022), and he now graced us with another true crime triumph with The Kidnap Years. Roughly focusing on the eventful years of 1928 to 1938 - when the conclusion of Prohibition and the start of the Great Depression uneasily and sometimes messily overlapped in the U.S. timeframe - Stout skillfully threads over a dozen cases throughout his gripping historical narrative. Of course, the best known (and covered somewhat in-depth here) is the tragic 'Crime of the Century,' involving the disappearance and death of infant Charles Lindbergh Jr. in March 1932. However, many lesser-known or forgotten incidents receive the appropriate attention - the Budd child abduction in 1928 had an extremely sad coda, but the dedicated work of an NYPD investigator helped to provide answers, bring closure, and likely prevent further deaths with his identification and apprehension of the truly heinous suspect - and involve victims widely ranging in age from babies to senior citizens. Also lurking throughout is J. Edgar Hoover and his upstart Federal Bureau of Investigation, which apparently experienced as many successes as it did failures during this time. I found this to be a well-researched and informative historical / sociological page-turner.

[Valerity (Val) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book takes you back to the 1930s and headline making kidnapping cases as it follows them from start to finish. The kidnappings became so common and got so out of hand that something had to be done. It took the death of the Lindbergh baby for a real change in the law to happen. I enjoyed this book, reading about the crime in that decade, though I was familiar with several of the cases already there was information that was new to me. The kidnappers were as different as their selected victims were. I read a book on the kidnapping of one of the Busch beer clan awhile back that was very good.

Many of the gangsters were into bootlegging, and with the end of Prohibition coming, they were worried about that loss of very good income. So they began branching out into kidnapping to create a new revenue stream. One of the aspects of kidnappings that I loathe is the ones who kidnap the victim and kill them right away and dump the body because they are too lazy to even bother with taking care of a hostage. What a nuisance, they figure. So, without even waiting to see if the family is going to pay or not, one side’s treated like they have done something wrong and assassinated an innocent party for no reason. Which, of course is not discovered until after the ransom money is paid and the kidnappers believe that they are safely away, and at times are. Advance electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author David Stout, and Sourcebooks.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 3 out of 5]

With a book like this there is all kinds of wasted potential. This is a book that could have been great, the subject matter is certainly interesting and the author's exploration of a kidnapping epidemic in the late 20's to the mid 30's, with organized kidnapping gangs, had traumatic results and also led to a rise in an early war on crime that led to tough sentencing, including the death penalty, for a crime that had previously not been viewed as being particularly serious. Yet despite this potential, the author really blows it, and it is instructive to consider why this is the case. For one, the author's slavish devotion to the New York Times is rather dubious. But more to the point is the way that the author just butchers this book to oblivion with terrible structure, setting up stories and then waiting to finish them off for hundreds of pages, screwing up the chronological organization of the material and jumping about from one scattered mess of a chapter to another. This would not have been a hard book to make good, but the author just could not stay on point or structure this in a way that did more than provide plenty of teases and unresolved setups left hanging.

This book is about 400 pages long and divided into 47 generally short chapters that lack any kind of overarching consistent structure. The general subject matter of the book is a kidnapping epidemic that took place from about 1928 to 1936 or so. This is discussed via material that deals with a variety of people, including the kidnapping victims themselves, who were sometimes part of wealthy families but at other times were just poor and ordinary people caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people, political leaders, journalists, law enforcement, and gangsters and other criminals. The author demonstrates how the combination of press sensationalism about kidnappings as well as the growing public hostility to any crime wave, which led to increased penalties, including the death penalty, for kidnapping and related offenses. The book also discusses how the kidnapping craze led to an opportunistic bid for increased federal power by the IRS and especially the FBI, which has had negative consequences for the long term freedom of Americans from burdensome federal bureaucracies.

How did the author mess up so badly? The author is, it should be noted, a journo, and that does not inspire a great deal of confidence on my part. Yet one of the important lessons of journalism is not to bury the lede, which this author does repeatedly. Continually the author brings up someone only to drop the discussion for a dozen chapters before picking it up again. If the author was found to be suffering from untreated adult ADHD, it would be little surprise from the way this book shows scattered thoughts and jumping from one topic and kidnapping case to another, focusing here on doctors and there on children and at another place on beer heirs and still other places at the collusion between politicos and the mob, and still later on the effect of journalism. Any one of those threads could have been worthwhile if they were followed up on in some fashion, either with a chronological focus that tried to keep all of the balls in play with updates, or in focusing on one crime story at a time, resolving one and then moving on to the next, but the author screws it up badly by failing to organize effectively either chronologically or topically. Some structural editing would have made drastic improvements to this book.

[Vonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating read that was very well researched. Probably one of the more intriguing true crime books I have read. It talks about the kidnapping epidemic in America during the Great Depression. There are a lot of kidnapping cases (bankers, doctors, oil tycoon, etc) discussed in this book, but it centers around the famous kidnapping case of the 20 month-old baby, Charles Lindbergh Jr., the son of the famous aviator, Charles Lindbergh of New Jersey. This case sparked public outrage and eventually led the Congress to pass the Federal Kidnapping Act or Lindbergh Law in 1932, which made kidnapping across state lines a federal offense. It flowed quickly and I heard of other cases from the same period that I didn't realize happened as it started an epidemic of kidnappings.

[Kirsti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Who publishes a book about J. Edgar Hoover in 2020 and doesn't mention that he was gay? Who publishes a book about Anne Morrow Lindbergh in 2020 and doesn't mention her ardent support of white supremacy? Who publishes a book in 2020 that refers to all journalists and all future FBI directors as "he"? Who publishes a book in 2020 that uses terms such as "house of pleasure" and "the Orient" outside of quoted material?

I think this book sat in a drawer for 30 years.

Also, the author's near-constant use of the passive voice is bitterly resented by me.

I liked this enough to finish it, but there are much better nonfiction books out there.

[Kimba Tichenor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun read! Not the words one usually uses to describe a history, but this popular history reads like a novel, complete with gangsters, business magnates, and other colorful characters that the author brings to life. Each chapter tells the tale of a specific kidnapping that took place during the 1930s in the United States, when kidnapping reached unparalleled heights, as rank amateurs, hardened criminals, and gangsters tried their hand at this crime. The individual narratives of these criminal capers are held together by two interrelated threads that run throughout the book. The first thread is the story of the "crime of the century," that is, of course, the Lindbergh kidnapping. The author details not only the crime, but also how it contributed to a new federal law that allowed the FBI to intercede in kidnapping cases. The second thread concerns J. Edgar Hoover's desire to promote the FBI as the premiere national crime fighting organization. The reader is treated to tales of the agency's early bungling of kidnapping cases and of Hoover's savvy manipulation of the press to portray the FBI as the crime fighting agency that always catches the criminal.

[Walt · Rating 2 out of 5]

As the subtitle shows, Stout writes about the explosion of kidnappings in the early 1930s. Aside from the Lindbergh Kidnapping, yes, most of the kidnappings were forgotten. He has a lot of material to work with, and a great story to tell. But ultimately, the book is disappointing. There are few if any connections between the kidnappings. He tries to make connections where the evidence does not support them. His source material is problematic. His organization is frustrating. He inserts a great deal of bias. And then to top it all off, he has some strange appendices.

The crushing poverty of the era, the grandeur of the obscene rich, the desperation of the criminal class, and weak laws governing kidnapping (Hauptman was charged with stealing the Lindbergh baby's clothes - a felony, rather than kidnapping - a misdemeanor) all came together in the early 1930s to spawn a spate of kidnappings, many of them directed at wealthy citizens. Into this setting, Stout selects about a dozen cases that were solved - the perpetrators were captured, tried, convicted, and frequently executed. After reading this book, there is no hint that there were other kidnappings in the era. Are these dozen cases representative of the pandemic, or are they the entire spread?

There is little to no analysis. Stout presents a dry overview of most of the kidnappings. The lone exception is the Lindbergh case where he goes into rather minute detail on wood samples. Somehow that line of inquiry led to courtroom testimony where the lone wood expert matched up the boards used in the ladder to steal the baby to the attic inside Bruno Hauptman's home. Chapter after chapter finally led to this dramatic courtroom appearance. There is no hesitancy or skepticism that Arthur Koehler managed to trace the cut of wood from the ladder across the country from a mill in South Carolina, up to a New Jersey supplier, to a lumberyard in the Bronx, and finally, after years of searching (what about his real job?) to Hauptman's attic? But the case broke with chasing the gold certificates used in the ransom....The ladder was just a nice finishing touch on an otherwise strong case.

Throughout the book, Stout tries to connect the kidnappings to gangsters. Except for the rare cases of William Hickman and Albert Fish, Stout mentions the underworld in every case, even if the gangsters were not involved. He justifies it with saying Hoover pushed for that narrative to showcase his agency. Hoover's men caught Ma Barker, Alvin Karpis, and John Dillinger. And yet, many readers were expecting Al Capone. Time and again, Stout returns to the alleged kidnapping of Jake Factor and the probably framing of Roger Touhy just so that he can kept mentioning that Touhy was a a racketeer and prominent opponent of Al Capone. If anything, Touhy was a minor nuisance to the Capone Syndicate. With regards two kidnappings in Kansas City, yes, the families of the victims approached the local mob rather than the police; but that seems to be the exception, not the rule. Even in another mob-controled city (St. Paul), the families went to the police. Stout is trying to make the kidnappings appear to be more sensational than they were.

His source material appears to have been little more than the NY Times microfilm. I would not fault him for favoring his own employer; but he slovenly praises the publication and constantly reminds readers what the NY Times was saying at each step in the case. He also relies heavily on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch because one of their ace reporters broke two sensational kidnappings. But there is little follow up from the front-page exposes. The wrap-up chapter(s) on the Kelley Kidnapping barely touch upon the compounded scandal that was Mrs. Nellie Tipton Muench. The coverage of lesser crimes (Grace Budd and Marion Parker) were so scant, that I felt a need to do further digging beyond this book. And, of course, he has multiple sources on Arthur Koehler's ladder. It does not appear as though Stout did much research. He barely skimmed the surface.

The organization of the book is rigidly chronological. By that I mean, he is proceeding roughly 1930-1937. Rather than covering each kidnapping in a chapter or two, he breaks them and spreads them out as though readers were re-living that era and seeing how the cases progressed. For a quick case like William Hickman-Marion Parker, that works fine. The Lindbergh case covers a good quarter of the book (much more time focused on Arthur Koehler's ladder than necessary). That case is spread throughout the book. The Isaac Kelley Kidnapping is spread throughout the book. For a less well-known crime, such as Albert Fish-Grace Budd, it is hard to keep track of the actors, much less the circumstances.

Stout begins the book, not with a kidnapping; but with a man: J. Edgar Hoover. It is an odd choice to start a book on kidnapping. Stout is introducing his primary protagonist or anti-hero. Hoover, ultimately is the only star throughout the book, and the only real connection between the different cases. Stout is clearly trying to portray the FBI and Hoover as amateurish, cartoonish, and foolish. Yes, they were not the paramount law enforcement agency they would become; but Stout's effort to present them as buffoons weakens his book because that bias leads him on tangents such as the Union City Massacre (no kidnappings) and the death of John Dillinger (not a kidnapper). He also strays across the Atlantic to foreshadow the rise of Fascism? Huh?

Finally, the book ends with two non-traditional appendices: Reading Club Discussion Topics and a Conversation with the Author. Huh? Both of these suggest to this reader / reviewer that Stout is full of hubris. My rating took off a star just for those appendices. Why not include an unflattering eulogy for Hoover? or a boot-licking piece glorifying the NY Times?

Overall, I learned more about the kidnappings. But I had to augment that knowledge with further reading. The kidnappings blurred together, even with just a handful. There were no solid theoretical or analytical connections or theses. Readers are left with the assumption that the random kidnapping of Buppie Orthwein in St. Louis in 1930 made other low life criminals or desperate jobless bums figure on kidnapping wealthy people. The problems of this book seemingly out-weigh the advantages. However, it is good for a cursory reading to see how kidnapping grew in seriousness; and how the federal government grew in authority.

[Kristi Schmitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The amount of research and knowledge that went into the writing of this book is truly astounding and David Stout deserves ALL of the accolades this book is receiving. As someone who truly loves the true crime genre, this book stood out for its originality and for the way that Stout so masterfully blended the historical context with the crimes themselves-coming out of the depression and into a string of unprecedented kidnappings and everything that came along with it. I loved that so many crimes were detailed (but not overly so) so that I was able to get a good grasp of what was going on at that time in America.

If you are a fan of true crime, this book will shoot right to the top of your favorites list, I promise! It was so well-written, I was sad when it was over. Bravo, David Stout, you are such an extraordinary writer!

5 out of 5 stars for The Kidnap Year by David Stout. A HUGE thanks to the author, SOURCEBOOKS, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this phenomenal book. All opinions are completely my own.

[Kimba Tichenor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun read! Not the words one usually uses to describe a history, but this popular history reads like a novel, complete with gangsters, business magnates, and other colorful characters that the author brings to life. Each chapter tells the tale of a specific kidnapping that took place during the 1930s in the United States, when kidnapping reached unparalleled heights, as rank amateurs, hardened criminals, and gangsters tried their hand at this crime. The individual narratives of these criminal capers are held together by two interrelated threads that run throughout the book. The first thread is the story of the "crime of the century," that is, of course, the Lindbergh kidnapping. The author details not only the crime, but also how it contributed to a new federal law that allowed the FBI to intercede in kidnapping cases. The second thread concerns J. Edgar Hoover's desire to promote the FBI as the premiere national crime fighting organization. Then reader is treated to tales of the agency's early bungling of kidnapping cases and of Hoover's savvy manipulation of the press to portray the FBI as the crime fighting agency that always catches the criminal.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me a copy of this book.


This book really impressed me. I have always been interested in true crime, but books of this genre scare me a bit because some of them are so unprofessional and simplistic. But this book is just so good. It's a perfect mix of investigative work and writing style. It's very long, in my opinion, but this also shows how seriously this author takes his job.

[Patina Malinalli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this because I was interested in the topic of kidnapping for research purposes. I did not realize it occurred so frequently during the Great Depression/WWII. It is very thorough. It does investigate separate incidents of kidnapping, but far more occurred than are covered. David Stout writes of the Lindbergh kidnapping along with various others which occurred in the 1930s. It would be interesting for someone who wants to delve into the crime history of the 1930s, or who is interested in the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby. It is very niche-specific. Other true-crime readers may still be interested in this book though.

[Maria Almaguer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brand new book about the many, many kidnappings during the Great Depression. Written by a retired journalist, it has an engaging and somewhat sensationalistic tone, but I felt that it lightened the content which was pretty troubling to say the least. My best friend--a more strict academic-- read it at the same time and he disliked it because of its sensational nature, but I felt that that's what kept it interesting to the lay reader. The Lindbergh case is the biggest case but there were a lot of lesser known but no less notable kidnappings (and heartbreaking murders). A quick read about some very bad characters, this might be a consideration for the Mystery Book Discussion I lead at the library for next year.

[lawyergobblesbooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has enormously interesting elements but it desperately needed a good editor to tell the author that some stories of the "kidnap years" were more interesting and essential than others. Too often it felt like a catalogue of the crimes, with several chapters devoted to incidents that started to bleed together. I found myself really bored by everything except the Lindbergh story by the end. Such an intriguing topic that deserved a more focused historian.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had potential to be a fascinating look into the time of criminals and gangsters during the 1930's amid the Depression and the growing shadow of Nazi Germany. As I was watching the character of Elliot Ness in The Untouchables in the 1960's with my father my appetite for true crime was born. I was hoping it would be whetted by this book; however, this book suffered from too many details and too many stories. I needed a glossary of characters to keep all the hoodlums and gangsters straight as they reappeared haphazardly throughout the book.

This book focuses on the rash of kidnappings that occurred in the early 1900's. Centered around the kidnapping of Charles and Anne Lindberg's little boy, ("the crime of the century"), which spawned the law that made kidnapping a federal crime, punishable by death, we learn of kidnappings of mainly wealthy men or children. Some of the kidnappings resulted in the victims being released unharmed with no ransom paid, while others resulted in terrible deaths during or soon after the kidnappings. The FBI, and with it the rising power of J. Edgar Hoover, are brought into the mix of the crimes, sometimes being helpful and other times hampering or endangering victims or innocent bystanders. The author follows the cases from their beginnings, throughout the kidnapping events, and the conclusion, including any punishment of the perpetrators. The events leapfrog over each other, causing confusion in the eyes of this reader. The lack of continuity was bewildering and irritating. I would just get intensely involved in a case and the author would send me leaping onto another kidnapping that happened near or far from the one being discussed. Many notorious names of criminals of the 1900's pop up in this book, including "Machine Gun Kelly", Ma Barker and her sons, and "Pretty Boy Floyd". An interesting slice of true crime that could have been much more.

[Mallory (onmalsshelf) Bartel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love this collection of kidnapping stories from the Great Depression, however the passive tone of the book left me just wanting to set the book down.

I had to wait to get the audio so that I could even finish it and even then, I had to put it on 2x to get through it. I probably should've just DNF'd, but I was intrigued by the cases. Even though the cases seemed to be revertive in a sense because honestly how different can kidnappings be from the Great Depression era? I commend the author on his hard work and I can tell that he spent a lot of time researching and writing this book. However, in a time when so many true crime books are being released with interesting cases and a easily readable tone, I'm afraid this one may get lost in the fray.

If you're looking to learn about some kidnappings from the Great Depression era that are the not the Lindenbergh kidnapping, I suggest picking this up.

[Clued-in With A Book (Elvina Ulrich) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Motherhood is wonderful and it comes with so many challenges, struggles and fears, and my biggest fear or paranoia is my child being kidnapped, or taken away. I guess that's why kidnapping cases terrifies me yet fascinates me at the same time. It's horrifying to learn news about child abduction yet I want to know how they were taken away, so I can better protect my children and be more vigilant around people. So, naturally, this book - The Kidnap Years - caught my attention and I knew I had to read it!

This is one heck of an amazing read! Just like the title, it talks about the kidnapping epidemic in America during the Great Depression. There are a lot of kidnapping cases (bankers, doctors, oil tycoon, etc) discussed in this book, but it centers around the famous kidnapping case of the 20 month-old baby, Charles Lindbergh Jr., the son of the famous aviator, Charles Lindbergh of New Jersey. This case sparked public outrage and eventually led the Congress to pass the Federal Kidnapping Act or Lindbergh Law in 1932, which made kidnapping across state lines a federal offense.

There are also crime stories of bootleggers, gangsters (The Barkers Brothers, Machine Gun Kelly, Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd, etc), which I find absolutely intriguing as they are all somehow connected in one way or another. And of course, there was corruption within the police department itself with the "layover agreement". Police cover ups and the criminal conspiracy of the Union Station Massacre or Kansas City Massacre, where FBI director J. Edgar Hoover had a pivotal role, was intriguing!

This book is replete with interesting information and it is really well-researched. I enjoyed it immensely! It is not a book to be read in one sitting but rather to be savoured slowly. Although it is jam-packed with facts, the writing is engaging and easy to read. I highly recommend this book to true crime or history aficionados.

"… the judge said kidnapping was a crime that "strikes a blow at the tenderest and most sacred affections of human blood" and was becoming all too common."


Pub. Date: 7 April, 2020

***I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from SOURCEBOOKS (non-fiction) through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All views expressed in this review are my own and was not influenced by the author, publisher or any third party.***

[Tammy Buchli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating true crime book. Although I've read fairly extensively about the Lindbergh kidnapping and some of the other cases that were discussed in this book, many of them were new to me and all the more interesting for that. In this very readable book, Stout leans toward creative nonfiction, relying a good deal on imagined conversations and thoughts, so if that is something that bothers you in a non-fiction book, you should probably be wary of this one. Personally, I don't mind it in an otherwise well researched book -- which this was -- so it didn't bother me and I didn't grade the book down for it. If I had a criticism it would be that Stout rambles a little. It was a very enjoyable book but it would have been even better if it had been tightened up by a few pages. Nonetheless, I certainly recommend it to other fans of true crime, especially those who don't mind a little novelization in their non-fiction.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC copy for my review.

[Nicola Stevenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not often that you can say that a book about kidnapping is an entertaining read, but this book is. I found this to be well researched & well written. The book has stories about many kidnappings but mainly focuses on the Lindbergh kidnapping, and references the repercussions of this in kidnappings that happen after. I liked how the author referred back to previous cases, and also described the progress of the Lindbergh case over months while other kidnappings had occurred. Well worth a read if you are interested in this era of history.

Thanks to Sourcebooks (non-fiction) & NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit dry but still interesting. I'm fascinated by these sprees of crimes and beliefs that just sweep over a nation and seem so bizarre to us now. This is a decent book to fill out that genre.

[Lisette · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 50% this book was so poorly written I couldn’t continue. It was so all over the place with timeline and which particular kidnapping he was talking about I couldn’t keep anything straight.

[Cristie Underwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fascinating, as I had no idea that the Depression years were also known as the Kidnap Years. The author wrote such a well-researched and interesting read. I loved how it included gangsters, wealthy business owners, and other interesting personalities. The variety of "characters" in this book made this read like a novel versus a history book. I learned a lot and enjoyed every second reading this.

[Sugarpuss O'Shea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just loved this book. It has it all: intrigue, infamous & bungling criminals, dirty cops, an egotistical, insecure Bureau Chief, and one of the most famous people in the world at the time. I didn't have a problem with the way Mr Stout broke up some of the larger stories throughout his book. I found it made for a more captivating read. All in all, it's one of those books that's hard to put down.

[Bethany Votaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given an arc in return for my honest opinion. This book was exprésele well organized and thought out, packed with information and a grilling narrative. I found it to have a slow start, and at times the long winded exposition of history and events pulled me from the story, but overall, very well done.

[J Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Kidnap Years: The Astonishing True History of the Forgotten Kidnapping Epidemic That Shook Depression-Era America by David Stout is a long-overdue account of the rash of kidnappings that took place during the depression. While the fact of the widespread nature of kidnapping has long been known there haven't been very many accounts that looked at the period as a whole.

In some ways, this book can be read in one of two ways depending on how you view the book and what your interest is. One way is based on the title, it is a history. As such, it is one story though admittedly comprising many stories (such is the nature of history). Read this way the separate accounts become less important than the similarities and differences between them, which point to possible explanations for this particular crime becoming so widespread. this story includes the rise of the FBI as well as the standardization of law around the act of kidnapping. This is a fascinating history and if this is your primary interest, you will be satisfied.

The other way to read it is almost like reading a collection of short stories that are linked but separate. Each chapter is about a case and there is some reference to cases before and after, as well as the book length thread of the Lindbergh kidnapping. Read in this way the book is also quite satisfying though, because the intent is as a history, it will appear as though you have to jump around since each chapter was read as if a complete entity. That said, it is still effective as a collection of case histories.

My calling them case histories is unfair, since when one thinks of a case history one usually thinks of dry and often boring prose. The writing here tries to take the reader into each household affected, into the minds of the victims (if possible), the criminals, and the family members. So this is not just case histories but short nonfiction stories.

I recommend this to fans of true crime, historians of crime and criminology, and readers who enjoy learning and reading about periods not so distant in time but seemingly far distant because of the technological advancements.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Tayler Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t normally read non fiction, but I loved this one. The pacing was well done, and the story was captivating. I like how all the cases were interwoven. I would give it 4.5 stars.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

The kidnapping tales are numerous and become a bit repetitive, but I suppose that's the point; there were quite a few kidnappings in the 1930s! It seems like the author was wrapping up these tales by going (perhaps a bit too much) in-depth into how the FBI boldly - and often incompetently - inserted itself into solving these crimes, but then the book goes back into recapping more kidnappings. The book, however, is well-researched and - not surprisingly - spends the most time on the kidnapping of Lindbergh baby. The part I found the most interesting was the specialist they brought in to examine the ladder used in this high-profile crime.

[CR · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book feels like it was throughly researched to the nines. I have never read anything about the 1930's Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping Case which was stated as being the crime of the century. I think those who are true crime fanatics will enjoy this one. For me who has kids this was very scary. It was chilling and and fascinating all at once.

[Jennifer M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Kidnap Year is a thorough review and synopsis of back when kidnapping (20s-50s) was a big thing. Believe it or not, it wasn't that many years ago when kidnapping wasn't even against the law - particularly for children. It's several stories of true crime and how it was essentially a time in America when kidnapping and holding a ransom was like "the" thing to do. It's fascinating and I liked it, even if the material is disturbing

The Kidnap Years publishes 4.7.2020.

4/5 Stars