A gripping story with a free excerpt below!
About the book, from SamGoodwin.com:
In 2019, Sam Goodwin was abducted by the Syrian regime, who threatened to hand him over to ISIS for beheading if he did not confess to being a CIA spy. Meanwhile, his Midwestern American family transformed themselves into their own detective agency, building up a network of journalists, hostage negotiators, Middle East experts, Russian diplomats, Vatican envoys, and shady mercenaries, until eventually – by nothing short of a miracle – they found a secret backdoor into the heart of the Syrian intelligence service itself.
Through multiple first-person narrators, Saving Sam recounts an inspiring and unforgettable saga that includes a travel journey to every country in the world, heads of state, celebrities, high-stakes diplomacy and critical life lessons around curiosity, uncertainty, prayer and what it ultimately means to be free. In a genuine, straightforward and sometimes humorous style, Sam draws on his experience as a hostage to demonstrate how to turn adversities into assets, whether it be in our personal, professional or spiritual lives. This story is a reflection of the challenges we all face in a world where borders may divide us, but our shared humanity unites us.
Here’s the excerpt, as told by Sam’s mother, Ann Goodwin:
We met the FBI team in TAG’s office the next morning-three agents from the St. Louis bureau and one big gun from DC. We did the introductions, and then the DC agent started to ask us questions.
He was physically fit, probably in his mid-thirties, and I could tell from his build and bearing that he’d been in the military at some point. His name was Paul, and it turned out he’d done security for diplomats and visiting heads of state. What impressed me the most was that from the minute he started talking to us, at around 10 a.m., until we wrapped up at 4 p.m., he didn’t leave his seat once, not even to go to the bathroom. He was tireless. Even as TAG and I alternated getting up for a sandwich or a drink, he remained seated at the long conference table continuing his deliberate questioning.
The downside quickly became clear, however. The questions started off innocuously enough. He asked about the family, Sam’s life from his birth to now, about hockey (down to the detail that Sam is right-handed in life but shoots left in hockey), his summers studying in France, his history of concussions, and the metal retainer on the inside of his bottom teeth.
Some of the questions were obscure enough that we had to text Rob. What was the name of the guy Sam lived with in Dubai? What’s his Skype username? What was his address in Singapore?
Of course, the FBI was very interested in all the events leading up to his recent travels into Syria. Paul, the lead agent, pulled up maps of Syria on his iPad and examined possible entry routes to get to Qamishli.
He then said they would like to get a sample of Sam’s DNA.
That is something that we never want to hear as a parent. It’s a grim reminder that our child may already be dead, and could potentially be unrecognizable by the time he is found.
TAG called Betty, who was out for a walk with a friend, and asked her to return to the houseand find something that might have traces of Sam’s DNA on it. The FBI recommended a toothbrush or a hairbrush. Betty hurried home and started rummaging around Sam’s old room inthe basement. Sam hadn’t lived at home for years, but still kept a few bags there for when he visited. Looking through his belongings, Betty found an old toothbrush that she thought was her brother’s. But then she found his old hockey helmet. She held it up to the light. There, in the lining, were a few dark hairs. Bingo. She jumped in the car and drove over to the meeting to deliver her prize. By the time she got there, Paul had switched tracks on his questioning. Now he was asking us if Sam had friends in the Middle East, whether he liked guns, if he was a loner, did he spend a lot of time online, and if he had ever shown any sympathy for extremist groups like ISIS or Al Qaeda. He was methodical, to the point and relentless. This line of questioning must have lasted for at least three hours. After a while, when we realized where this was going, I just told him straight up, “Look, our son has not been radicalized. He’s not anIslamic extremist. He didn’t go to Syria to join ISIS!”
I guess he had to cover all the bases, to use his detective skills and not draw any conclusions. And the real reason for Sam going to Syria did sound a little far-fetched, even to us as we repeated it to him. The agent pointed out that Sam had lived in the Far East for the past six years. Was it possible that during that absence he had changed? That we didn’t know him quite as well as we once had, as we did our other children? If not lured in by a religious extremist group, could we rule out that he might not have been working for some other government agency, perhaps the CIA? We sensed from Paul that he was beginning to view us as naive parents who were unaware of their oldest son’s purpose overseas. Sam had the character for a secret agent. He is intelligent, essentially introverted but social, physically fit and good at putting people at ease and getting information from them. Sure, that was his natural curiosity and quiet charm, but could he have used those characteristics to work for an intelligence agency? How would a parent know?
There was a moment, coming out of the meeting later that evening, when TAG and I looked at each other and asked ourselves-could Sam be in the CIA? Can we absolutely, one hundredpercent rule it out? But no, we just couldn’t believe it.
