AN ECONOMIST, FINANCIAL TIMES, AND SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR

“A masterpiece.”

—MARK BOWDEN, The New York Times

“Truly one of the most nail-biting, page-turning, terrifying true-crime books I’ve ever read.”

—Nick Bilton, New York Times bestselling author of American Kingpin

 
 

From award-winning journalists Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel, the gripping, true-crime story of a notorious maritime hijacking at the heart of a massive conspiracy—and the unsolved murder that threatened to unravel it all.

In July 2011, the oil tanker Brillante Virtuoso was drifting through the treacherous Gulf of Aden when a crew of pirates attacked and set her ablaze in a devastating explosion. But when David Mockett, a maritime surveyor working for Lloyd’s of London, inspected the damaged vessel, he was left with more questions than answers. How had the pirates gotten aboard so easily? And if they wanted to steal the ship and bargain for its return, then why did they destroy it? The questions didn’t add up—and Mockett would never answer them. Soon after his inspection, David Mockett was murdered.