The Diamond Hunters

by Wilbur Smith

First published 1971

Amazon

4.2(4,672)

The death of a South African diamond magnate leaves his company divided among his children Benedict and Tracey and his estranged foster son Johnny Lance. The inheritance intensifies old rivalries rather than settling ownership. Marine prospecting technology and the legal ownership of seabed concessions make the inheritance dispute a struggle over a new form of mineral extraction.

Johnny attempts to recover diamonds from the seabed off the South West African coast while Benedict works to destroy him. Family hostility, engineering risk and control of mineral rights drive the contemporary adventure. The setting reflects modern southern African business and family rivalry, but it does not require a historical-period relationship.