Impossible Odds

The New York Times–bestselling memoir of a woman taken by Somali pirates, her husband’s efforts to bring her home, and a daring rescue by SEAL Team Six.

In 2006, twenty-seven-year-old Jessica Buchanan arrived in Nairobi, Kenya, to pursue her dream of teaching African children. There, she met and married Erik Landemalm, a Swedish humanitarian aid worker. When Jessica and Erik moved to Somalia to start a family, their future couldn’t have been brighter . . .

But on October 25, 2011, Jessica was kidnapped at gunpoint and held for ransom by Somali pirates. For the next three months, she was terrorized by gangsters and kept on a starvation diet. Every terrifying moment Jessica spent in captivity was matched by that of her husband, working behind the scenes to bring her to safety.

After ninety-three days of fruitless negotiations, President Barack Obama ordered Navy SEAL Team Six to attempt a rescue operation. On January 25, 2012, the team of twenty-four SEALs attacked the heavily armed hostiles. They killed all nine with no harm to the hostages. In Impossible Odd, Jessica and Erik chronicle their mutual journey in riveting detail.