Wilbur Smith · 2011 · thriller

Wilbur Smith's 2011 thriller, first of the Hector Cross novels. When Somali pirates seize a tanker and kidnap the daughter of oil billionaire Hazel Bannock, the law can do nothing - so Hazel turns to her security chief, the formidable Hector Cross. From Abu Dhabi across the Indian Ocean, Cross mounts a private war to storm the pirates' lair on the Somali coast.

1. 1
   Abu Dhabi

   When her daughter Cayla is seized by Somali pirates, the oil billionaire Hazel Bannock finds governments powerless - and turns instead to Hector Cross, the ex-soldier who runs her security.

2. 2
   The Gulf of Aden

   Across the pirate-haunted waters of the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, Cross gathers his men and his weapons and lays his plans - waging a quiet, ruthless private war to find where Cayla is being held before it is too late.

3. 3
   The Somali coast

   On the lawless Somali coast, Cross and his hardened team storm the pirates' stronghold in a lightning raid - a desperate, bloody rescue against overwhelming odds to bring Hazel's daughter home alive.