In the twilight of the Cold War, a strange and horrific civil war erupted in Sierra Leone that would ultimately lead to a UN War Crimes Tribunal for Crimes Against Humanity. Harkins’ novel captures the toxic brew of forces at play in the small West African country –– Big Oil, Big Diamonds, competing outside powers, foreign mercenaries, and the local dominant Lebanese Christian trading community –– all intriguing to pillage the African population’s assets to the point that a brutal insurrection breaks out at last.