Read an extract from My Friend the Mercenary
In a fly-blown bar in West Africa, war reporter James Brabazon found himself discussing military plans to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea with one of Africa’s most notorious mercenaries – his friend Nick du Toit.
The Byzantine plot, its farcical execution and its tragic consequences led to Mark Thatcher, Simon Mann and a host of celebrated guns-for-hire falling victim to their own avaricious plans, Machiavellian scheming and perverse double-crosses. In a twist of fate, James Brabazon remained free. His mercenary friend wasn’t as lucky. Nick du Toit was supposed to serve thirty-four years in Black Beach Prison, Africa’s most notorious jail – a sentence which James could have been serving alongside him.
The 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 onto a dangerous world of mercenaries, spies and violent
regime change.
‘James Brabazon has written a fully-adrenalised book about civil war, mercenaries and the tiny margins by which fate determines the course of one’s life. He is not only a beautiful writer but an incredibly brave reporter, and this book reflects both brilliantly… A classic story of intrigue, greed and violence… which I couldn’t read fast enough.’ SEBASTIAN JUNGER
Read an extract from My Friend the Mercenary
