358pp.,maps, paperback, Ithaka, London, 2026

ISBN: 9781804182727

Alex Perry uses his meticulous reconstruction of a brutal 2021 rampage by Islamist militants in the coastal town of Palma in Mozambique to illustrate a larger tale about how global fossil fuel companies really make their vast profits.

On March 24, 2021, 500 ISIS militants attacked the small town of Palma - strategically unimportant but for vast offshore gas fields that had attracted $50 billion in foreign investment. As the Islamists surged through town beheading civilians, a group of men, women and children, including 80 gas plant construction workers, barricaded themselves inside a hotel to await rescue. Although there was an oil and gas compound defended by attack helicopters and 1,000 soldiers just minutes away, help never came.

"A magnificent, earth-shaking achievement. How many books truly change the world? This one will - indeed it already has. Perry's book combines moral fury, forensic research, a vivid cast of characters, and the pace and drama of a thriller." Andrew Harding, author of These Are Not Gentle People

"It is extremely rare for a journalist to uncover a scandal on the scale of the one Alex Perry uncovered in Mozambique, and he deserves widespread recognition for it. Blood Will Flow tells the extraordinary story of his investigation into the murderous affairs of a French corporate giant in an African war zone. This is a breathtaking read and a story that urgently deserves a wide audience, because as the global scramble for gas, oil, gold and the so-called "rare earths" accelerates, blood is flowing elsewhere, mostly out of sight, and, more often than not, it is happening in our names." Jon Lee Anderson, journalist and author of Che Guevara and The Fall of Baghdad

Journalist Alex Perry's other non-fiction titles include The Good Mothers, The Rift, Falling Off The Edge and Lifeblood. His journalism has won numerous awards and has appeared in The New Yorker, National Geographic, Politico, The Economist, Outside, The Guardian, Harper's, TIME, Newsweek, and others. Born in Philadelphia and raised in England, Perry lived and worked for 15 years in Asia and Africa, and now lives in Hampshire, England.

BLOOD WILL FLOW, the murderous business of oil and gas

: Perry (A.)

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