Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six Author: Jessica Buchanan | Language: English | ISBN:
B009G3EPMQ | Format: EPUB
Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six Description
A New York Times bestseller!In 2006, twenty-seven-year-old Jessica Buchanan stepped off a plane in Nairobi, Kenya, with a teaching degree and long-held dreams of helping to educate African children. By 2009, she had met and married a native Swede named Erik Landemalm, who worked to coordinate humanitarian aid with authorities in Africa. Together the two moved from Nairobi to Somalia, and with hopes of starting a family, their future couldn’t have been brighter. . . .
But on October 25, 2011, Jessica and a colleague were kidnapped at gunpoint and held for ransom by a band of Somali pirates. For the next three months, Jessica was terrorized by more than two dozen gangsters, held outdoors in filthy conditions, and kept on a starvation diet while her health steadily deteriorated. Negotiations for ransom dragged on, and as the ordeal stretched into its third month, the captors grew increasingly impatient. Every terrifying moment Jessica Buchanan spent suffering in captivity was matched by that of her adoring husband working behind the scenes to deal with her captors. After ninety-three days of fruitless negotiations, and with Jessica’s medical state becoming a life-or-death issue, President Barack Obama ordered Navy SEAL Team Six to attempt a rescue operation. On January 25, 2012, just before the president delivered his State of the Union speech, the team of twenty-four SEALs, under the cover of darkness, attacked the heavily armed hostiles. They killed all nine with no harm to the hostages, who were quickly airlifted out on a military rescue helicopter.
In riveting detail, this book chronicles Jessica and Erik’s mutual journey during those torturous months. Together they relate the events prior to the kidnapping, the drama of Jessica’s fight to stay alive, and Erik’s efforts to bolster and support the hunt for her while he acted as liaison between their two families, the FBI, professional hostage negotiators, and the United States government. Both a testament to two people’s courage and a nail-biting look at a life-or-death struggle, this is a harrowing and deeply personal story about their triumph over impossible odds.
- File Size: 22801 KB
- Print Length: 321 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1476725160
- Publisher: Atria Books (May 14, 2013)
- Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
- Language: English
- ASIN: B009G3EPMQ
- Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,797 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #40
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > True Accounts > True Crime - #41
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Military - #41
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Military & Spies
- #40
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > True Accounts > True Crime - #41
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Military - #41
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Military & Spies
*****
This book is even better than the media coverage that has surrounded it recently--it is well-written, VERY suspenseful, and dramatic. It is told from the point-of-views of both Jessica Buchanan (an aid worker in Somalia who was held captive by rogue Somali kidnappers) and her husband Erik Landemalm (who also worked to aid the people of Africa). Jessica was working to protect the people of Somalia when she was abducted; the work she was doing was nonpolitical and nonreligious. The reader shares in the experience by imagining what it would have been like to have been held hostage in primitive conditions as well as what it was like for the family members of the captives to languish and negotiate for her release for months. There is also quite a bit in the book--fascinating--regarding the amazing SEAL fighters who rescued Jessica.
An older Danish male colleague of Jessica's, Poul Thisted, was also held captive at the same time. He said that he felt lucky to have been held with an American citizen and attributes his rescue to this fact. Their family members could tell no one to protect the victims and to keep the kidnappers from learning vital information. The conditions of the captivity were arduous and they are described in detail--they were kept out in the open exposed to the weather, almost starved, deprived of water, not allowed to bathe--only infrequently permitted to wipe themselves off with diesel water, had to ask permission to go to relieve themselves, had no access to basic sanitary practices, and were often separated and not allowed to interact for the most part. They were kept alive, but that was all.
How does it feel to fear rape, torture, and death daily? To have your life reduced to trying to make it from one moment to the next? How does it change you?
Jessica Buchanan and Erik Landemalm were humanitarian aid workers in Somalia. Jessica had a deep desire to help educate the African children. Erik worked to help coordinate humanitarian aid with authorities in Africa.
On October 25, 2011, Jessica and a colleague were kidnapped at gunpoint and held for ransom by a band of Somali pirates. For the next three months, Jessica was held outdoors in filthy conditions and kept on a starvation diet while her health steadily deteriorated.
After 93 days of negotiations, President Barack Obama ordered Navy SEAL Team Six to attempt a rescue mission. On January 25, 2012, a team of 24 SEALS attacked the heavily armed pirates. They killed all the pirates (nine were in the camp at the time of the rescue) with no harm to the hostages.
This is a story of courage, perseverance and faith.
I first heard about this book when Jessica Buchanan was a guest on the Dr. Phil Show. I remember Dr. Phil saying to Jessica, "I read your book...it is very well written." I was touched by Jessica's story and decided this was a book worth reading.
Jessica was a dedicated teacher and was deeply concerned about the child soldiers in Africa. These children are often kidnapped, drugged and forced to kill their entire families so they will have no place to go home to. Jessica was doing the work she loved when she became a victim of the very child soldiers that she was trying to help.
This book provides a detailed account about what it is like to be a victim of cruel and savage kidnappers. It also shares all the behind-the-scenes events that were taking place with her family, her employer and the U.S. government.
Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six Preview
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