Helmand, 2004: Afghanistan's most lawless province, where nearly ninety per cent of the world's opium is grown. Gangsters and warlords battle for supremacy in the lucrative trade, and the few Western NGOs that try to make a difference put themselves firmly in the line of fire.
When Anglo-Dutch NGO Well Diggers comes under attack, its head of security Ginger Jameson calls on his old friend 'Mac' MacKenzie to come to his aid. One man is dead and another man is missing - suspected kidnapped, possibly spirited away into the poppy fields that line the Helmand River for hundreds of miles south of provincial capital Lashkar Gah.
When the expected ransom demand fails to materialise, rumours blossom to fill the vacuum, creating a web of deceit and a multitude of false leads.
Embarking on a rescue mission into the no-go reaches of southern Helmand might look like the chance of a major scoop to Mac's girlfriend, investigative reporter Baz Khan, but it puts the whole team in danger. The trail leads them from Helmand's poppy fields through the Desert of Death to the notorious opium bazaars of Barham Chah on the Pakistani border - where nothing is as cheap as a man's life.
But what they discover at the end of the road isn't at all what they were expecting...
The gripping sequel to Death in Kabul, perfect for fans of Jack Reacher.
