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    Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six
    Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six
    Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six
    Ebook377 pages6 hours

    Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six

    By Jessica Buchanan, Erik Landemalm and Anthony Flacco

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAtria Books
    Release dateMay 14, 2013
    ISBN9781476725192
    Author

    Jessica Buchanan

    Jessica Buchanan worked in the humanitarian aid field in Somalia. She has recently relocated to the United States, where she and her husband, Erik Landemalm, lecture on their experiences while raising their son, August, born in October, 2012.  

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    Reviews for Impossible Odds

    4.5/5

    41 ratings6 reviews

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    • 2/5
      SPOILER ALERT -- While this book had all of the components of a true, edge of your seat, can't stop reading story, the author did Jessica and Erik no favors. From the start, they're described in unlikable, self-important ways; the harrowing story of 3 months in captivity contains no details of the practical details of survival (like what did she eat, did her thyroid medicine run out, how did she spend hours every day - not just circling the tree, etc., were there biting bugs, etc), just chapters and chapters of khat chewing and proof-of-life calls. We know that Jessica gets very sick and her body emaciated, but we're told, we don't experience it -- and a photo caption says she had a son in just over 9 months - how did her body recover so quickly? A very shallow capturing of an otherwise dramatic and unimaginable experience. Odd levels of detail: we know exactly how the SEAL team jumped from the helicopter, but don't know any of the details of how the mission logistically occurred. Disappointing.
    • 5/5
      This memoir of teaching impoverished kids, being kidnaped, being a captive, and being rescued is well written and hard to put down once started. The author provides a very detailed glimpse into life in such impoverished places and the difficulty involved in helping the people in those areas create order out of chaos. Later in the book the author conveys what it is like to be in extended captivity, and the impressive ability of our military's ability to rescue Americans.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      A strong willed woman, determined to help children in Africa, found herself kidnapped by Somali land pirates. This book details her three months of captivity, near-starvation and increasingly difficult situation. With strength and courage, we see the inner will she must have possessed to survive these harrowing circumstances.The book was a very fast read, it was hard to put down. I thought the author did a good job of switching points of view, to show us what her husband was suffering through as he tried desperately to seek a resolution. Overall, highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      This book is quite well-written, better than other books I have read about Seal Team exploits. The voice of Jessica, especially, is vivid and fascinating. I would have liked to know more about how her captivity was researched and how the rescue was planned and carried out, but I gather that information is classified. I would have liked to know more about what Erik did, vs what he felt, but I guess that info is probably also classified. I would have liked to learn more from Poul Thisted's perspective--is he perhaps writing his own book? Or maybe he didn't want to participate in this book because he'd have had to relive the experience. Regardless of what wasn't in the book, what is in the book is well worth reading. You'll understand what draws people like Jessica Buchanan and Erik Landemalm to such dangerous careers, and you'll appreciate the bravery and determination that enabled them to survive the ordeal.
    • 5/5
      I am recommending this book to everyone I know and don't know. As a book it is flawed -- it was clearly rushed to publication, and the closer you get to the end, the more jumbled the action and timeline becomes. But the stunning story of these two remarkable individuals shines through. Also, the account of Jessica's abduction is the finest piece of first person point of view I have ever read. You feel her terror moment by moment, which is by no means a good thing, but is an extremely impressive feat of writing. Hopefully, one day another book will be written to address some of the unanswered questions -- Why did it take 93 days! What really went wrong with the negotiations? Who really advocated for her release and who finally made it happen? I would also like to read anything further Jessica and Erik might write about their experiences, if they so choose. Meanwhile, may Jessica and Erik enjoy a long life of happiness and peace -- and I would like to say to them -- that although they are not out in the trenches anymore serving humanity one prisoner or child at a time -- there is no telling how many people they may serve by having told this story.
    • 2/5
      SPOILER ALERT -- While this book had all of the components of a true, edge of your seat, can't stop reading story, the author did Jessica and Erik no favors. From the start, they're described in unlikable, self-important ways; the harrowing story of 3 months in captivity contains no details of the practical details of survival (like what did she eat, did her thyroid medicine run out, how did she spend hours every day - not just circling the tree, etc., were there biting bugs, etc), just chapters and chapters of khat chewing and proof-of-life calls. We know that Jessica gets very sick and her body emaciated, but we're told, we don't experience it -- and a photo caption says she had a son in just over 9 months - how did her body recover so quickly? A very shallow capturing of an otherwise dramatic and unimaginable experience. Odd levels of detail: we know exactly how the SEAL team jumped from the helicopter, but don't know any of the details of how the mission logistically occurred. Disappointing.

    Book preview

    Impossible Odds - Jessica Buchanan

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