Why this book:  January 2024 selection  by my SEAL book club, in part because one of our members knows the author and was able to get him to join our discussion.

Summary in 3 Sentences:  Michael Scott Moore was kidnapped in 2012 and spent more that 2 1/2 years as hostage of Somali pirates who were demanding an exorbitant ransom payment. Not only do we learn of the boredom, frustration, discomfort,  uncertainty and fear associated with being a terrorist hostage,  but Moore also gives us background into the role of piracy in history, the history and culture of Somalia and what his experiences did to his personal values, and sense of himself and his place in the world. It is rich not only with details of his experience but also with his insights, and personal and spiritual growth that came from it. 

My Impressions:  Fascinating read about one man’s experience as a captive in a part of the world about which we read a lot, but know little.  He writes with a journalist’s flair for putting the reader in his shoes, and making his situation real and immediate.  

I have read a number of books by POWs and prisoners – among them and most notably, Stockdale’s In Love and War,  Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, and this one shares some qualities with those books – all of which include spiritual insights and reflections, suffering, fear and uncertainty, and an adversarial relationship with the captors.  But this one adds something different to that genre – Moore is a journalist with a flair for keeping his audience engaged, and also his captivity was part of a commercial venture – to make money for the captors.  He had a different relationship to his captors, and he had a different hope and expectation for release in the midst of suffering and uncertainty. 

In The Desert and the Sea, we experience with Moore, the months and years of uncertainty, changing news and prospects for recovery, frustration and anger with the lies, deception and even stupidity of his captors, as well as his fear and anxiety of what would come next, and whether he would survive. He also describes Somali culture and history, his relationship with his captors and his fellow captives, and there were many fellow captives  All were being held for ransom – this is a business in Somalia, as it has been in Mexico and other parts of the developing world – capturing citizens of first world nations and holding them for ransom. 

His description of his life before the capture, his childhood and his work as a journalist are all relevant to his experiences and reflections during his captivity.  While in captivity, several times he was beat up, physically abused,  his wrist was broken, he got malaria and only received the medical care that the captors believed would keep him alive long enough to get the ransom they were demanding.  They hoped and expected to get $20m for him in ransom, because in their minds, the US is a rich country and could afford it. They didn’t believe him when he told them that governments don’t as a matter of policy pay ransom.  His captors in general had very little understanding of the world outside their own domain. 

Through Moore, the pirates were able to get in touch with his mother, who was coached by the FBI about how to respond to their demands and phone calls.  His mother’s experiences during this period make up an important part of this book.  The pirates hired negotiators to help them get the money they were demanding, but their demands were way beyond what his friends and family could pay – it then  became a negotiation over price.

Moore  was held captive in various run down remote buildings in the Somali countryside, which he described variously as stinking cess-pools or filthy shit holes. He was fed the same basic beans and gruel, occasionally a bit of meat.  For part of his captivity he was kept on the Nahan3 a ship that the Somalis had captured and had anchored off the coast of Somalia, where he was one of many other  hostages, most of whom had been ship’s crew on various vessels that they had taken. His time on the ship was more tolerable, in that they had plenty of food, he made some friends with other hostages, and there were no mosquitos.  

Throughout his captivity the pirates were aware that US surveillance was looking for him.  During his captivity, there had been a successful rescue by Navy SEALs of Jessica Buchanan and Poul Thisted who had been taken hostage and held for ransom after working on a Danish humanitarian project in Somalia. During the rescue, the SEALs killed 9 Somali pirates.  The pirates holding Moore were aware of this and very afraid of a potential rescue attempt, and vowed to kill Moore immediately if one were attempted.  When they were aware of drones or surveillance aircraft, they hid him, while Moore himself did what he could to make himself visible to any such aircraft.

Ultimately a much lower ransom was paid and Moore was released, and he describes that process at the end of the book, as well as how his life changed afterward. He was able to reconnect with a number of the other hostages who had been able to attain their freedom.

A very engaging  and well-written book.  In addition to a fascinating story, it provides insights into Somalia culture, Somali pirate culture, his strong but occasionally flagging will to survive, his personal and spiritual struggle and growth during a period of suffering and uncertainty, and the squalid and anxious life that hostages for ransom face.  

I like and agree with Barnes and Noble’s short review: 
“A sort of Catch-22 meets Black Hawk Down, The Desert and the Sea is written with dark humor, candor, and a journalist’s clinical distance and eye for detail. Moore offers an intimate and otherwise inaccessible view of life as we cannot fathom it, brilliantly weaving his own experience as a hostage with the social, economic, religious, and political factors creating it.”