First published 2013
Jessica Buchanan travels to Kenya in 2006 with teaching credentials and hopes of educating children across Africa. Three years later, she marries Erik Landemalm, a Swedish humanitarian coordinator, and they relocate to Somalia to build their life together. On October 25, 2011, armed Somali land pirates seize Jessica and a coworker at gunpoint. For three months, over two dozen captors hold her in squalid outdoor conditions, feeding her barely enough to survive while her physical condition worsens. Back home, Erik works frantically with FBI agents, professional negotiators, and government officials to secure her freedom. As ransom talks stall and the kidnappers grow more volatile, time runs short. On January 25, 2012, President Obama authorizes a Navy SEAL rescue mission. Twenty-four commandos eliminate all nine captors and airlift the hostages to safety. Buchanan chronicles both perspectives of this ordeal, revealing how terror and hope intertwined during her fight for survival and Erik's relentless campaign to bring her home.
Genres: historical-fiction, adventure, crime, thriller, non-fiction, biography-memoir
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family, survival
Setting: Africa, Kenya, Somalia
Period: 2006, 2011, 2012
320 pages · Hardcover · Atria Books
Content warnings: kidnapping, violence