Impossible Odds

July 22, 2013
Buchanan and husband Landemalm provide perspective and detail of theher real-life and recent kidnapping. In the fall of 2011, 32-year-old Jessica Buchanan, an American working for an NGO in Somalia, was preparing to travel to a training session near the Somalia border in an area controlled by Islamists. All went smoothly until October 25, when Jessica and her Dutch colleague began their trip home and were kidnapped by extremists. And so began an ordeal that dragged on for 3 months and left Buchanan near death. The story is retold through an awkward mix of Jessica's first person accounts, third person narratives that include her husband's story and flashbacks. The use of third person narrative to describe Erik and Jessica's joyful reunion is a prime example of how the book's craft dulls down its subject matter. The story is dramatic on its own but its retelling suffers from overwritten prose yet rarely imparts the depths of despair that Jessica felt. As a result, the eventual rescue â following months of negotiations, espionage, and planning by the FBI and a SEAL teamâis oddly anticlimactic. While Buchanan's experience was most certainly a horrifying and life-changing event, it's nearly impossible to get that story from this book.

December 1, 2012

While working on a demining project in Somalia for the Danish Refugee Council, Buchanan was kidnapped with fellow council employee Poul Hagen Thisted and held for three months in north-central Somalia. In January 2012, in a move meant to show that America will not tolerate threats against its citizens, the two were rescued by members of a Navy SEAL Team 6 unit. Extensive news coverage, but here's personal perspective.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.