Blood Will Flow

LONGLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES AND STANDARD CHARTERED BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2026
WINNER OF A POLK AWARD AND A TRUE STORY AWARD
NOMINATED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR JOURNALISM, THE MOORE PRIZE, THE ONE WORLD MEDIA AWARDS, THE AMNESTY AWARDS, AND THE BAYEUX-CALVADOS-NORMANDY AWARD FOR WAR CORRESPONDENTS

'Breathtaking' Jon Lee Anderson
'A magnificent, earth-shaking achievement' Andrew Harding
'Vital' Sally Hayden
'The most astonishing piece of investigative journalism I have ever read' Reader review

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 L1 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 roughnecks, mercenaries, billionaires, and corporate spooks. As the revelations build and the lies multiply, Perry finds himself drawn into 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.