Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

'Captivating, a John le Carre-esque yarn' Telegraph'A thoroughly good read' Michael Portillo, author of Portillo's Hidden History of Britain and presenter of Great British Railway Journeys'A compelling story of courage, determination and skill' Terry Waite CBE, author of Taken on TrustThe true story of a retired British army officer's private Somali-hostage rescue missionDuring the peak of the Somali piracy crisis, three ships - from Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan - were hijacked and then abandoned to their fate by their employers, who lacked the money to pay ransoms. All would still be there, were it not for Colonel John Steed, a retired British military attaché, who launched his own private mission to free them. At 65, Colonel Steed was hardly an ideal saviour. With no experience in hostage negotiations and no money behind him, he had to raise the ransom cash from scratch, running the operation from his spare room and ferrying million-dollar ransom payments around in the boot of his car. Drawing on first-hand interviews, former chief foreign correspondent of The Sunday Telegraph, Colin Freeman, who has himself spent time held hostage by Somali pirates, takes readers on an inside track into the world of hostage negotiation and one man's heroic rescue mission.

Freeman draws from extensive first-hand interviews with survivors to paint a vivid picture of this shadowy world with the clarity and panache of a seasoned reporter ... the story is captivating, a John le Carre-esque yarn., A compelling story of courage, determination and skill. If any book shows that hostage negotiation is not for the faint hearted this is it., A raw, gripping and profoundly moving book. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea tells the extraordinary story of Somalia's forgotten hostages, the pirates who tortured them for years, and the quietly heroic Britons who refused to give up on them., A thoroughly good read., John Steed has led an exemplary retirement as a uniquely skilled volunteer, helping to free the seafarer hostages of Somali pirates who some governments wanted to forget. Colin Freeman's book about him is both wonderful and long overdue.

Colin Freeman is an author and journalist specialising in foreign affairs. He was chief foreign correspondent of The Sunday Telegraph from 2006-2016, covering mainly the Middle East and Africa. Today he contributes to a variety of publications including The Telegraph magazine, the Spectator and From Our Own Correspondent on BBC Radio 4. He lives with his family in London.