Eleven Days Of Hell: My True Story Of Kidnapping, Terror, Torture And Historic Fbi & Kgb Rescue

by Yvonne Bornstein, Mark Ribowsky (Contributor)

On January 6, 1992 Yvonne Weinstock and her then-husband Danny landed in Moscow on a business trip. They had just left the airport when they were ambushed, kidnapped and held for ransom for 11 horrifying days in a dilapidated country house by a gang of Russian "gypsies" who were in reality far more sinister -- cold-blooded conspirators in a sinister plot that joined the Russian Mob, ex-KGB agents and early al-Qaeda operatives looking to fund terrorism, no matter the cost of human life. As told by Yvonne Weinstock (now Bornstein), who survived, but will never be free of its painful echoes, this is the incredible story of those 11 days of hell, and of one of history's unlikeliest rescue operations -- which against all odds allied the FBI and Russian intelligence agencies for the first and only time in history. Reliving the agony, horror and torture she endured, she also unravels the twists and turns of the rescue mission from her own research into the confidential case, skillfully weaving a heart-thumping narrative of drama and intrigue worthy of a top-notch spy novel. Yvonne writes from the heart about the devastating impact of the kidnapping on her marriage and her life, and the change of attitude it had on her that resulted in a belated appreciation for the simple, meaningful things she had come to overlook in her drive to the top of the corporate business world.. In the end, though, she lives uneasily with the memory of her 11 days of hell, she took from it lessons in life that apply to all of us.

Paperback

First published March 10, 2009

Reviews

[♥ Marlene♥]

Tried to read this book twice but the writing was not really good. They did not manage to lure me in and I wanted to. I've read 1/3rd and am giving up.

[Skip]

True story upon which David Hagberg's Burned was based. A story of real life heroes and villans, of unprecedented cooperation between the U.S. and Russia law enforcement, and especially of the Bornsteins, who survived the ordeal but were driven apart.

[Pineapple.Deb]

This must have been an incredible and awful ordeal to experience, with some very interesting threads to the story.
Unfortunately, I found that the wiring style wasn't very good, for example throughout the book adjectives and adverbs seem to be added just for the sake of it, even at times contradicting themselves.
The writer has attempted to combine their first person account with some third person sections to give other viewpoints and context. This could have been a great idea, but the execution didn't work for me. I felt that there was not the right balance between first person introspective analysis and third person investigative analysis. For example, the writer used a lot of judgemental descriptions or names for the kidnappers, which could have worked if it was more emotionally available writing, however it jarred with the other apparent attempts to appear more objective and emotionally distant. It could definitely be just my reception, but the third person sections just felt quite arrogant to me.
Luckily, the book was a pretty quick read so I was able to get the story without having to struggle with it for too long. It was good enough to make me think that I would read about this again if something was written by an investigative journalist with good prose writing.

[Narsames Maiky]

Well, I kinda liked the book even though it didn't make me excited to read it throughoutly .

[G Ream]

Wow- would not want to face this.