Djibouti - Elmore Leonard

Dara Barr, documentary filmmaker, is at the top of her game. She's covered Bosnian women, Neo-Nazis and post-Katrina New Orleans (for which she won an Oscar), but now she's looking for an even bigger challenge. So she and her right-hand-man - a 6-foot-six, 72-year-old, African-American name Xavier - head to Djibouti on the Horn of Africa to tackle modern-day pirates. Once they start filming though, they find a whole lot more than they bargained for. They quickly learn that almost nobody in Djibouti is what he seems. A whole mob of colourful characters patrols the surrounding seas, including a pirate chief who keeps a BMW in Djibouti and a cultured Saudi diplomat with dubious connections. There's a billionaire American who plays different roles as the moods strike him. He loves champagne and firing his 600-calibre elephant gun. If his girlfriend Helene gets seasick or bored, he won't marry her. And there's an Al Qaeda terrorist from Miami with very lofty ambitions, who wants to blow up something big. What Dara and Xavier don't know is which guy is going to get the prize - and what they'll have to do if they want it.