It's been a hell of a year - and for Detective Inspector Daniel Jouma and his friend, ex-policeman Jake Moore, a fishing trip together represents some long-overdue down time. As usual, trouble is not far behind; and when the two men are kidnapped at sea by a gang of murderous Somalis they find themselves held hostage on board a ship run by notorious pirate Omar Abdulle.

To stay alive they must pool all their accumulated expertise first to catch a killer - and then to survive on the run in Somalia itself, a lawless land of cut-throats and bandits known as the Snakepit of Africa. As the hunters close in on their prey Jake and Jouma embark on a terrifying race for their lives- one in which the stakes are quite simply a matter of life or death.