The Skimmer

Out of Captivity

By Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell and Tom Howes, with Gary Brozek Morrow; 457 pages

In February 2003, three American contractors crash-landed in the Colombian jungle and were captured by FARC, the country’s long-lasting Marxist rebel group. For the next five years, the three were held hostage–many of their captors little more than brainwashed youths with guns–facing snakes, insects, disease and constant movement from one dank jungle camp to the next. But the character earning the most scorn in their lengthy account turns out to be a fellow captive. French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, whose rescue in the same mission that freed the authors made world headlines, comes off as a “frickin’ princess” more interested in playing power games than in establishing solidarity with her fellow prisoners. Her emotional relationships with the many men surrounding her, the authors say, provoked jealousy so divisive that FARC minders often separated her from the others. Of course, until Betancourt tells her side, we have only the Americans’ account to go by. As pure jungle-survival memoir, it hits all the expected notes.

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