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In a fly-blown bar in West Africa, British war reporter James Brabazon found himself being briefed on covert military plans to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea by one of Africa's most notorious mercenaries - his friend Nick du Toit. The Byzantine plot, its farcical execution and its tragic consequences led to Simon Mann and a host of celebrated guns-for-hire falling victim to their own avaricious plans, Machiavellian scheming and ruthless double-crosses.
In a twist of fate, James Brabazon remained free. His mercenary friend wasn't so lucky. Nick du Toit was sentenced to serve thirty-four years in Black Beach prison, Africa's most notorious jail - a sentence which James could have been serving alongside him. Their unlikely friendship began two years earlier on the bloody battlefields of the Liberian civil war. With Nick as his bodyguard, James was the only journalist to film behind rebel lines. Establishing him as a brave and talented filmmaker, the war tested James's physical and moral boundaries to the limit - and opened a door on to a dangerous world of mercenaries, spies and violent regime change. My Friend the Mercenary recounts James's courageous journey into the Liberian war, and tells the inside story of the most infamous coup attempt in recent history.
Through this gripping narrative, James Brabazon explodes the myth of the modern mercenary, and paints a moving portrait of an extraordinary friendship. It is a brutally honest book about what it takes to be a journalist, survivor and friend in the morally corrosive crucible of war.
"It's both a seductive paean to and a harsh exposé of the mercenary ethos that fattens off of Africa's travails." - Publishers Weekly
"Because of the subject and the author's lucid writing, the book is both a gripping adventure and a valuable account of a West African tragedy." - Library Journal
"Starred Review. As clear a picture of the murky world of postcolonial Africa as the readers are likely to get...A haunting memoir and tribute to an extraordinary comrade-at-arms." - Kirkus Reviews
This information about My Friend the Mercenary was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
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