Blood Will Flow

On March 24, 2021, in the remote north of Mozambique, 500 ISIS militants attacked the small, paradise beach town of Palma - strategically unimportant but for vast offshore gas fields that had attracted $50 billion in foreign investment, including over £1 billion from the British government.

As the Islamists surged through town beheading civilians, a group of men, women and children - including 80 gas plant construction workers - barricaded themselves inside a hotel to await rescue. An oil and gas compound defended by attack helicopters and 1,000 soldiers was just minutes away. But help never came.

Five years on, Alex Perry's spell-binding, meticulous reconstruction unearths a hidden and unprecedented fiasco. Woven into his account is a search for the truth about how energy companies really make their vast profits.

His investigation takes him around the world, from Europe to the US, and back to Africa again, as he tracks down the roughnecks, mercenaries, billionaires, and corporate spooks who can shed light on our most essential industry. As the revelations build and the lies multiply, Perry finds himself drawn into a legal drama, and an exploding political scandal.

Propulsive, prophetic, and arriving at a time when energy companies imperil the planet, Blood Will Flow delivers a morality tale for the global economy, and an inspiring quest for justice.

A magnificent, earth-shaking achievement. How many books truly change the world? This one will - indeed it already has. Perry's book combines moral fury, forensic research, a vivid cast of characters, and the pace and drama of a thriller.Andrew Harding, author of A Small, Stubborn Town A powerful, gripping and rigorously reported story of greed, violence and courageJason Burke, author of The Revolutionists

Alex Perry is a reporter and nonfiction author. He is the author of Blood Will Flow, The Good Mothers, The Rift, Falling Off The Edge, and Lifeblood, as well as several ebooks. His journalism has won numerous awards and has appeared in The New Yorker, National Geographic, Politico, The Economist, Outside, The Guardian, Harper's, TIME, Newsweek, and others. Among screen adaptations of his work, Disney made a 6-part series of The Good Mothers, which won the Berlinale film festival. Born in Philadelphia and raised in England, Perry lived and worked for 15 years in Asia and Africa. He now lives in Hampshire, England.