Dear Jacob: A Mother's Journey of Hope
Patty Wetterling
With stunning detail, Patty Wetterling shares the untold story of the 27-year search for her son Jacob—and its astonishing conclusion. On October 22, 1989, in the small town of St. Joseph, Minnesota, eleven-year-old Jacob Wetterling was kidnapped at gunpoint. more
348 pages, Hardcover
First published Minnesota Historical Society Press
4.66
Rating
1692
Ratings
217
Reviews
Patty Wetterling
3 books 9 followers
Community reviews
These GoodReads ratings really fail to express my thoughts on this book. "I really liked it" does not give this book the respect or gravitas it deserves. I was 16 and living in a small town in Minnesota when the news came out that Jacob Wetterling was abducted. His story became our story as the months turned into years, and then decades. The book is quite detailed--Patty Wetterling gives us a back-stage pass into the decades-long struggle to bring Jacob home and we hear about not only the investigations, but the family's struggles, the heartbreak of following lead after lead to nowhere, and Patty's advocacy work. more
Patty Wetterling must be the strongest and most courageous woman alive. Reading the details of her heartbreaking journey into finding the truth just about gutted me. At the time Jacob went missing just a few hours away from where I lived, the idea of someone from school or a friend disappearing like that was scary. Now, as a mother with a son, I cannot fathom the pain Patty endured for nearly three decades. I sobbed along with Patty and her family throughout the last several chapters. more
This is a special book for me. Jacob’s abduction changed the peace of the whole state of Minnesota. Perhaps, here in Minnesota, we were the holdouts but before 10/22/1989, our children were safe in our neighborhoods, after dark, sometimes alone. When Jacob’s story broke, the State broke with the Wetterlings. Devastation. more
This was a really tough book to read and I often found myself with tears running down my face. Things were talked about frankly in this book, done in a way that you could understand what the Wetterlings were going through at the high trauma times and how they managed to live their lives in the in between and finally when they had to face the hardest truth ever and how to deal with the bad guy and learning what happened to Jacob. As a kid who grew up in the 70' - 80's, it seemed like there were a lot of kidnappings, missing kids were on milk cartons, I remember when Adam Walsh was kidnapped and the huge story that was. I didn't live in MN when Jacob went missing, but did move here in the mid 90's, went to college in WI (an hour and half from the Twin Cities) in the early 90's, so it feels like I've always been aware of what happened to Jacob and when the anniversary's would pop up, everything was in the news again. Jacob never really left people's thoughts, it was always there in the back ground. more
I don't even know how to put into words how much this book moved me. As a mom, I absolutely cannot imagine how Patty managed to get through every day after Jacob disappeared or how she survived when she found out in detail what happened to him. Her willingness to share her family's story was not necessary. However, she does so with honesty, vulnerability and even a little humor in this memoir. It's a difficult read at times but well worth it. more
I'm from the area where this kidnapping happened. It permeated life in Minnesota for many, many years. Then the story slowly, gradually faded into the background. But it never went away. Until Heinrich was arrested. more
Growing up in Minnesota, Jacob Wetterling was a household name. This book is going to stick with me. . more
This is more than a 5⭐️ book. This is a family’s journey through the unimaginable. How can anyone truly comprehend wondering for 27 f-ing years where your son/brother/friend is. Patty and Joy share just enough to satisfy readers, while respecting the Wetterling family’s privacy, as well as that of Jared and the other Paynesville victims. They captured their frustration at times with law enforcement and the investigation with poise and restraint. more
The most heartbreaking, devastating, and eye-opening book that is simultaneously so impactful and a testament to the power of hope - I cried for Patty, Jacob, and the reality of this world. more
Jacob Wetterling’s abduction on October 22, 1989 changed life for everyone in MN. Patty Wetterling recounts the events of that day, the events following the abduction, the 27 years in between, and finally how Jacob was finally found. Patty is one amazing woman. The work she has done for children in this country is second to none. I wish her all the happiness in the world along with her family. more
A painfully beautiful story about a mother’s dedication to bringing her son home. Patty and Joy have a way with words that paints the agonizing journey it took to find Jacob. The strength of the Wetterlings, victims, and those with hope is unmatched. more
I knew how this ended, but this still made me cry. I can’t imagine experiencing this kind of pain. more
I finished the book last night and waited to write the review until today. Dear Jacob, I am so sorry for the brutal way your life was ended. Some adults are evil and deserve the deepest pits of hell. I remember your kidnapping. I remember the fear of children and parents alike. more
Book Rating: 4. 0 stars A heartbreaking memoir of loss and hope after the kidnapping of her 11-year-old son. This was an interesting look into the life of a family after a crime is committed. I can see how she wanted to hope. But statistically speaking it was unlikely Jacob was going to come home, and she kind of deluded herself for 25 years. more
5 🌟 This was such a hard but powerful book. As a kid who grew up in Minnesota during the time that Jacob Wetterling went missing, I grew up hearing about his story + seeing Patty speak. And while the loss of Jacob is so unfortunate, the world is a better place because of the work Patty has done. more
I knew it would be a difficult read. It was so much more than that. I cried several times. I felt the hope. I feel like I knew Jacob. more
This story has haunted me since I was 8 years old. I had listened to the In The Dark podcast, but hearing it from Patty painted it in a whole new light. Knowing his murderer worked in my town brought it to a new other level. Thank you for sharing your story, and Jacob will never be forgotten. more
What an incredible read. Heartbreaking and uplifting. more
I’ve never struggled so hard to finish a book before. Broke my heart . more
Insightful, interesting, heartbreaking, brave. Patty Wetterling really left nothing unsaid about her son Jacob's kidnapping and 27 year search to find answers. As a Minnesotan, the book was even more impactful because Patty was so involved with Minnesota law and advocacy in different parts of the state. Highly recommend. . more
I moved to Minnesota just 3. 5 months before Jacob's abduction right after graduating from high school. The Jacob Wetterling case was something that every living Minnesotan who was here in 1989 knew about and has had to live with. Though we saw her on television, read interviews with her in newspapers or magazines, we really didn't know Patty Wetterling until now. This book gives the inside scoop through the eyes of the one person who loved Jacob the most - his mother. more
What a horrible story. I remember it from the time and have read about it over the years. That said, the day after I got the book from the library, 20/20 aired a 2-hour show about the case, obviously intended to coincide with the book release. That, of course, filled in a lot of the blanks for me. I went ahead with the book. more
I have to rate this is as a book, not as an assessment of someone's life. I'm very impressed by Patty Wetterling: her ability to hope, to keep going, to take a horrible event and use it to help others. She's done a ton of work in the area of exploited and missing children, and I applaud her for that. As a book, Dear Jacob is good but not great. I live in Minnesota, so the vast majority of what's in this book was already in the newspapers. more
Such a serious book with a riveting story. You cannot have grown up in MN without knowing the story of Jacob Wetterling. Oct 22,1989, when Jacob was 11 years old, he was biking home with his brother and a riend in his small town of St Joseph, MN, when a masked gunman selected him to take and he was never seen again. Most assumed after so many years he must be dead, but Patty Wetterling had such optimism and hope that we all wanted to hope he would one day found. What was so good about this book is that it was told in such incredible detail. more
10th grade history class… that’s where I was when Mr. Huss reviewed Current Events and the initial news of Jacob Wetterling’s abduction. Surely these things don’t happen here in Minnesota where I grew up, but it did… The event that led to helicopter parenting, by those of us who couldn’t fathom going through “a parent’s worst nightmare. ” I knew Patty had used her pain to help others, but wow… she is a force. Jacob’s legacy lives on. more
This was such an amazing & well written book. What this poor family had to endure was so tragic. I vividly remember this kidnapping as it happened when our daughters was so little. I remember how scared I was when this happened & how fearful us parents with younger kids felt. To read all the back story of what the Wetterling’s had to go through, was so unbelievable. more
If you’re from Minnesota, you most likely know the heartbreaking story of Jacob Wetterling. How for 27 years, his family had no answers as to who took him and why they let his brother and friend run free. I can still vividly remember the day the news broke that his body had been found. This memoir is full of hope, it is heartbreaking and hard to fathom how his family got through all of those years, and the pain when they finally found out what happened. more
Probably one of the saddest true crime memoirs I’ve ever read. Partly because memoirs written by a victim’s parents always are, but also just the extent of time that elapsed before the Wetterling family found out what happened to Jacob. I happen to have an 11 year old child of my own right now, so of course that aspect makes it even scarier. The brutality Jacob endured is just devastating. . more