Wilbur Smith has a history of great action adventure novels. I particularly liked his ancient Egypt series as well as a number of his other more recent action-history stories.  But he has been writing for a long time and this novel goes back to 1965. The hero is a mercenary working for the Congolese’s government tasked to rescue embattled civilians from the war zone and by the way bring back the diamonds.

            All the elements here are good. He presents a hodgepodge of actors with a raft of personal problems and character flaws, a civil war with no clear heroes and a love story about two unlikely people thrown together by mere circumstance. It all works. The story is fast moving and the action believable. It’s a fast and fun read.

            Read this book for the numbers. Our hero, Bruce, has about 60 men. His first encounter with an insane general rampaging across the countryside has only a few more. It shows just how  few it takes to make the world a much worse place for the many.