I'm sorry but I was not one of the people who couldn't put this book down while I was reading it. It was more like I couldn't wait to put it down. Yeah it was a detailed account of a young woman's time kept in captivity for ransom in Somalia but being very detailed was also its downfall. It was so drawn out and boring at times I wanted it to just end. Also I didn't really sympathize with Amanda as much as I may have with others in this situation. From the beginning she was self centered and wanted to visit these countries that were in turmoil more to spite her family and as an in your face gesture than for a genuine reason. She only became a photographer and news writer once she got the idea from seeing Nigel with his camera. This whole situation didn't even need to happen. She wasn't an established news reporter doing her duty she was merely getting her feet wet and puffing out her chest. 
 What also annoyed me about this book was the way that she sympathized with her captors at times. Even in the thralls of rape she has some epitome that her rapist had also suffered and that's what made him do the things he did. It disgusted me. It wasn't even Stockholm syndrome. I felt like again it was her trying to show what a good person she was and how she could forgive even in the worst situation. She even immediately forgave Nigel after he blamed her and let her take a brutal beating and punishment for their failed escape which they both planned knowing he would not suffer nearly as much being that he was a man. 
 As much as I wanted to feel for Amanda I would for a little while but then I'd again be disgusted by something she did or said. 
 Oh I almost forgot. The topping on the cake was that after the whole ordeal was over what does Amanda do? She starts a charity to help people in Somalia. I mean come on. And she also wrote this book. It's like she finally got the claim to fame she was looking for and was able to use the money to continue to travel which was her overall goal in the first place. Really though. Couldn't she start a charity for educating kids in one of the countries that she saw suffering along with kindness. Instead her reasoning is basically that if her captors were educated they may have made other choices. I don't know. I'm just skeptical of it all. I don't see her as a very deep person. At least not in the way she seems to try to portray herself. 
 So everyone I'm sorry if my opinion upsets or offends but it's just my opinion.