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Terrorist Attack Girl: How I Survived Terrorism and Reconstructed My Shattered Mind
This is the true story of how terrorism shattered my mind, and what I did to survive.
In January of 2019, I was trapped in a hotel room in the DusitD2 in Nairobi for seventeen long hours while Al-Shabaab terrorists attacked the property. I was completely alone, and certain I was going to die. However, thanks to the incomprehensibly brave men who fought to get us out, led by now-retired SAS operator Christian Craighead, hundreds of us were extracted to safety. After the attack, though, PTSD made me so miserable that I started to wish I had died after all. Aside from the terrorist attack itself, PTSD is the hardest thing I have ever dealt with in my life.
This book is the in-depth retelling of the attack, combined with my personal journal entries about PTSD afterward. It's a true story about trauma. About how dark and ugly it can be. Because the unfortunate truth the vast majority of us will experience a traumatic event in our lives. But when I was lying on the floor sobbing, unable to leave my apartment but also unable to sleep, wishing that I had died in that terrorist attack, I didn’t know that. I thought that I was uniquely traumatized, and uniquely weak. I could think of so many stories of incredible, resilient, practically superhuman people who had overcome all manner of horrible things. Why couldn’t I?
So many of us know those stories about extraordinary resilience. Or at least we think we do. But what we usually know is actually just a tiny fraction of the story, a beginning and an this person went through something terrible and now they are amazing. This book is the middle. It’s the nightmares and the flashbacks and the million times I wanted to quit trying, at therapy, at relationships, at life. It’s the dark, ugly truth that we usually try to keep locked away because it’s so painful and embarrassing to drag it into the light. But I wanted to pay tribute to all the other people who are struggling, or who ever have struggled. And the only way to do that is to tell the whole truth, middle included, and offer that little bit of empathy, and the flicker of hope. The tunnel may be incredibly long, it may feel bleak and grueling and insurmountable, but at the end of it, there is light.
*Please note, because much of this book is personal journal entries, there is some crude language.*
In January of 2019, I was trapped in a hotel room in the DusitD2 in Nairobi for seventeen long hours while Al-Shabaab terrorists attacked the property. I was completely alone, and certain I was going to die. However, thanks to the incomprehensibly brave men who fought to get us out, led by now-retired SAS operator Christian Craighead, hundreds of us were extracted to safety. After the attack, though, PTSD made me so miserable that I started to wish I had died after all. Aside from the terrorist attack itself, PTSD is the hardest thing I have ever dealt with in my life.
This book is the in-depth retelling of the attack, combined with my personal journal entries about PTSD afterward. It's a true story about trauma. About how dark and ugly it can be. Because the unfortunate truth the vast majority of us will experience a traumatic event in our lives. But when I was lying on the floor sobbing, unable to leave my apartment but also unable to sleep, wishing that I had died in that terrorist attack, I didn’t know that. I thought that I was uniquely traumatized, and uniquely weak. I could think of so many stories of incredible, resilient, practically superhuman people who had overcome all manner of horrible things. Why couldn’t I?
So many of us know those stories about extraordinary resilience. Or at least we think we do. But what we usually know is actually just a tiny fraction of the story, a beginning and an this person went through something terrible and now they are amazing. This book is the middle. It’s the nightmares and the flashbacks and the million times I wanted to quit trying, at therapy, at relationships, at life. It’s the dark, ugly truth that we usually try to keep locked away because it’s so painful and embarrassing to drag it into the light. But I wanted to pay tribute to all the other people who are struggling, or who ever have struggled. And the only way to do that is to tell the whole truth, middle included, and offer that little bit of empathy, and the flicker of hope. The tunnel may be incredibly long, it may feel bleak and grueling and insurmountable, but at the end of it, there is light.
*Please note, because much of this book is personal journal entries, there is some crude language.*
- GenresNonfiction
182 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 6, 2022
35 people are currently reading
171 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 21, 2022
This book is honest and unflinching. But it’s also hopeful.
When you’ve gone through something that most people can’t possibly understand, hope sometimes feels saccharine. Like something you can’t afford.
It’s not. This hope is complicated and grounded and messy. But it’s real and honest. And it’s there, ready to give you a lifeline.
You deserve to read this book. It is compelling and thought-provoking and also beautiful and joyous. It won’t lie to you, but who needs that, when the truth can save you?
When you’ve gone through something that most people can’t possibly understand, hope sometimes feels saccharine. Like something you can’t afford.
It’s not. This hope is complicated and grounded and messy. But it’s real and honest. And it’s there, ready to give you a lifeline.
You deserve to read this book. It is compelling and thought-provoking and also beautiful and joyous. It won’t lie to you, but who needs that, when the truth can save you?
May 23, 2022
A gripping story from beginning to end. The most in-depth description of living with PTSD I have ever seen. I love the way Ms. Chapin describes her environment and her feelings.
June 11, 2022
You will feel like you are trapped in the hotel room with Meyli Chapin. 17 hours of hell! Feeling hopeless, fear, rage, hope, loneliness, abandonment, emotional trauma, and healing. This is a powerful read that resonates with anyone that protects others, emotionally, mentally, and physically. In addition, it is a positive resource for anyone that suffers from emotional and mental trauma. I highly recommend it.
February 9, 2024
I really don’t understand why this isn’t a best seller. The entire book is told through the eyes of an individual who lived to tell about something many do not. I got this book after hearing it discussed on Shawn Ryan’s podcast. This author is not only amazing, but so is the man that saved her, and a total of 700 other people (a man that is now being ___ on by his own government). I have never heard anyone describe trauma, PTSD, and the struggles that accompany them describe it so eloquently or be able to describe them in such a way that it makes it almost palpable.
This is a book that a LOT of people need to read (or hear) for a LOT of reasons; specifically Chapter 2. I found myself in both agreement, and disagreement with quite a bit in this chapter, but feel that much of the author’s viewpoints were based on an ideal that existed when the book was written. Hopefully, if in 2024, if Meyli is ever on future podcasts its introductory pages will be brought up and questioned. The spiral into alcoholism, the ease of which this occurs, and how she describes how easily this occurs and relieved her is something many can’t understand, don’t understand, and quite frankly refuse to. People don’t understand what they cannot see, and whether you agree with me or disagree on what is happening at our border I find irrelevant - a terrorist attack seems to be imminent based off of some of the podcasts that I have seen (check out Shawn Ryan’s interview with Sarah Adams, a former CIA targeter; mark my words: The administration’s policies - the one that began 2021 - will cost more American lives in the same way it did in Afghanistan, and it makes me feel physically ill. I am not here to argue, but please don’t spew an opinion on it until you hear the podcast from someone who is actually aware of who is here.)
I am not someone who gets starstruck, or who feels as if meeting a celebrity, author, or survivor is an achievement in life - trust me when I say I have met many of the aforementioned, and they all pull their pants on one leg at a time and sit down when it is time to go number two in a bathroom, but I do wish that if ever given the chance I could “pick this individuals brain” regarding their outlook before vs. then, and vs. now. It amazes me how, once confronted with one, most staunch advocates against firearms tend to do a 180. I recall hearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast how, when it seemed the world was going to hell a few years ago, he was contacted by a multitude of his friends inquiring as to how they could obtain one once they found themselves fearing for their lives.
It is sickening to me how in the Western World we constantly take what amounts to a dump on our TRUE heroes… Again, go to the Shawn Ryan podcast with “Obi One Nairobi”/Christian Craighead podcast (it isn’t hard to deduce who “Obi” is).
The bottom line for the TLDR crowd is this: The world needs this book.
This is a book that a LOT of people need to read (or hear) for a LOT of reasons; specifically Chapter 2. I found myself in both agreement, and disagreement with quite a bit in this chapter, but feel that much of the author’s viewpoints were based on an ideal that existed when the book was written. Hopefully, if in 2024, if Meyli is ever on future podcasts its introductory pages will be brought up and questioned. The spiral into alcoholism, the ease of which this occurs, and how she describes how easily this occurs and relieved her is something many can’t understand, don’t understand, and quite frankly refuse to. People don’t understand what they cannot see, and whether you agree with me or disagree on what is happening at our border I find irrelevant - a terrorist attack seems to be imminent based off of some of the podcasts that I have seen (check out Shawn Ryan’s interview with Sarah Adams, a former CIA targeter; mark my words: The administration’s policies - the one that began 2021 - will cost more American lives in the same way it did in Afghanistan, and it makes me feel physically ill. I am not here to argue, but please don’t spew an opinion on it until you hear the podcast from someone who is actually aware of who is here.)
I am not someone who gets starstruck, or who feels as if meeting a celebrity, author, or survivor is an achievement in life - trust me when I say I have met many of the aforementioned, and they all pull their pants on one leg at a time and sit down when it is time to go number two in a bathroom, but I do wish that if ever given the chance I could “pick this individuals brain” regarding their outlook before vs. then, and vs. now. It amazes me how, once confronted with one, most staunch advocates against firearms tend to do a 180. I recall hearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast how, when it seemed the world was going to hell a few years ago, he was contacted by a multitude of his friends inquiring as to how they could obtain one once they found themselves fearing for their lives.
It is sickening to me how in the Western World we constantly take what amounts to a dump on our TRUE heroes… Again, go to the Shawn Ryan podcast with “Obi One Nairobi”/Christian Craighead podcast (it isn’t hard to deduce who “Obi” is).
The bottom line for the TLDR crowd is this: The world needs this book.
June 30, 2024
This was the first non-fiction book I have read in months. I never reach for anything like this as an avid romance novel reader, but my fiancé had listened the to Shawn Ryan Show episode with Christian Craighead and really wanted me to read this book, as he is not a reader (at all… ever), but wanted to hear more about the events that occurred at Nairobi.
Some reasons I enjoyed this:
The dual-story telling moving between the recollection of events and the post-attack experiences made this book very compelling and hard to put down. The exerps were short and written in a way that I just had to keep reading. Even though I knew the author lives, I had to know how and why and what she endured.
The brutal honesty of her journey with PTSD was eye opening in ways I can not fully express. It was raw, inspiring, and helped me understand PTSD better than I ever have before.
Worth the read, I finished cover to cover in one sitting.
Some reasons I enjoyed this:
The dual-story telling moving between the recollection of events and the post-attack experiences made this book very compelling and hard to put down. The exerps were short and written in a way that I just had to keep reading. Even though I knew the author lives, I had to know how and why and what she endured.
The brutal honesty of her journey with PTSD was eye opening in ways I can not fully express. It was raw, inspiring, and helped me understand PTSD better than I ever have before.
Worth the read, I finished cover to cover in one sitting.
January 18, 2024
Very good account of 17 frightening hours trapped in a foreign hotel room under siege. Written in a back and forth time style in which she recalls coping with her PTSD after the incident.
The real hero of the story (the SAS guy who saved them all) has written a book but the authorities in the UK have not allowed it to be published. Hopefully that happens soon.
The real hero of the story (the SAS guy who saved them all) has written a book but the authorities in the UK have not allowed it to be published. Hopefully that happens soon.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 23, 2024
Unfortunately this book seems like it takes forever to get through. I definitely feel for her and the terror she went through but it just seems to drag on forever. I read this wanting to hear about the SAS operator that saved so many people that day but sadly he’s not really even in it, other than meeting her a year down the road.
July 11, 2022
CAPTIVATING
Incredible story of a young woman living in terror for 17 hours but feels like an eternity. It only starts there as she battles with the aftermath. I couldn’t put the book down. Had it with me all the time so I could read it as I had any break in my daily mundane routine. This book has helped me reevaluate my life priorities.
Incredible story of a young woman living in terror for 17 hours but feels like an eternity. It only starts there as she battles with the aftermath. I couldn’t put the book down. Had it with me all the time so I could read it as I had any break in my daily mundane routine. This book has helped me reevaluate my life priorities.
September 20, 2022
This book not only details the terrorist attack that Meyli survived but her raw emotions during the attack. Listening to her read her story made it that much better. She discusses PTSD and there are some difficult topics but I highly recommend this book.
December 5, 2022
I think it's an excellent book, but it would mean far more to someone who has suffered a traumatic event, and is suffering from PTSD. I struggled with the format a bit, but I understand why it was done that way. Definitely a good read, and written by a true survivor.
January 4, 2026
Gripping account of a regular silicon-valley employee of a tech giant struggling to stay alive during a terror attack in her hotel while she was on a work trip in Kenya. Her description of PTSD was insightful and eye opening. I’ve read through it twice (it’s that good).
March 11, 2023
Just read this in one 3-hour sitting, and it was truly wonderful. The portrayal of mental health is raw and real, and her conflicting emotions just pour off the page. Highly recommend.
February 20, 2024
After reading this book! Wow, the author had a horrific experience and how she is slowly recovering from the stress. The author has shown how ptsd can affect anyone.
February 17, 2025
A truthful look at ptsd and how it plays out. I appreciated how open the author was about her experiences, thoughts, and progress/regression.
July 6, 2022
Brilliant, unforgettable journey outward and inward. Deeply touches ones soul, heart and mind. Should be required reading for every high school and college student. A courageous self examination of herself and beliefs in World where everyday, one may, and certainly someone you may never know will, no longer have the luxury of seeing it as only they choose.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews