Those in Peril

by Wilbur Smith Book 1 in the Hector Cross series.

First published 2011

Amazon

4.3(6,691)

In the contemporary Indian Ocean, pirates linked to an extremist organisation seize the daughter of oil executive Hazel Bannock and demand a ransom large enough to damage her company. Governments refuse to meet the terms or authorise a direct rescue. The rescue operation moves between corporate wealth, private military expertise and piracy shaped by the modern oil economy.

Hazel turns to security specialist Hector Cross, who builds a private operation based on surveillance, infiltration and force. The mission reveals that the kidnapping serves a purpose beyond money and places both rescuer and employer inside a wider terrorist plot. Because its institutions, technology and political conflicts are contemporary, the book should remain without a historical-period relationship.