Rescued from ISIS, by Dimitri Bontinck

Here's a heart-breaking story of teenage rebellion and a father's love.  Dimitri Bontinck writes in Rescued from ISIS: The Gripping True Story of How a Father Saved His Son about his relentless efforts to bring his son home from Syria.  Without a lot of preamble, Bontinck's teenage son became a Muslim, embraced the tenets and lifestyle, and was recruited to join ISIS to fight in Syria.

Bontinck recounts the changes in his son's attitudes, personality, and demeanor.  Yet he retained a belief in his son's goodness and held out hope that he could bring him home, withdrawing him from the toxic environment of radical Islam.  It took several trips.  He suffered capture and torture and risked his life by his presence and persistence.  He did get his son home, and became known as the guy who could bring home kids who have fled with ISIS.

As I read Rescued from ISIS, I felt like it was a cautionary tale.  On the level of parenthood, as Bontinck discovered, you have to be prepared for just about anything.  As I write, my wife is gathering the last of my son's things for his dorm; he's off to college tomorrow.  The reality is, kids grow up and start making their own decisions and choosing their own paths.  I don't see my son choosing Islam and fighting in Syria, but neither did Bontinck.  I appreciated his constant love for and dedication to his son, even when he rebelled against and rejected everything his family stood for.

On a broader scale, Rescued from ISIS is a cautionary tale for the West.  The Bontincks live in Belgium, which has turned into a recruiting ground for ISIS.  Cities across Europe, and, indeed, around the world, are experiencing the same thing.  Teens are given an idealistic vision of Islam and ISIS and recruited to fight in the Middle East and, potentially, in their own countries.  I would like to believe my Texas town is exempt from such a movement, but then I see the Islamic center down the street, the students at my kids' schools wearing hijabs, the families at the grocery store in full Middle Eastern garb.  I realize we live in a melting pot, and I realize that the odds are overwhelming that these are peaceful families, good neighbors, and faithful American citizens.  But it only takes a sliver of a population to be a radicalizing force.  One small group can touch those vulnerable lives and disrupt families and communities.  As Bontinck discovered, it's naive to ignore the connection between a growing Muslim presence in a community and the presence of ISIS recruiters.

Rescued from ISIS is exciting to read, but painful at the same time, as the author's son and other young people are damaged and taken from their families.  Not all of them make it back.  Rescued from ISIS is a challenge to parents to be aware of the religious and social foundation you provide in your home, and to Western culture to hold true to the democratic and religious foundations that have made us great.  God forbid we lose a generation to Muslim extremism.



Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!