Synopsis
'A page-turner of a book' -- Financial Times
'Alex Perry has done a service to history' -- Ed Stoddard, Daily Maverick
'Breathtaking' -- Jon Lee Anderson
'A magnificent, earth-shaking achievement' -- Andrew Harding
'Vital' -- Sally Hayden
'Powerful, gripping and rigorously researched' -- Jason Burke
'The most astonishing piece of investigative journalism I have ever read' -- Reader review
On March 24, 2021, in the remote north of Mozambique, 500 ISIS militants attacked the small, paradise beach town of Palma - strategically unimportant but for vast offshore gas fields that had attracted $50 billion in foreign investment, including over £1 billion from the British government.
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. An oil and gas compound defended by attack helicopters and 1,000 soldiers was just minutes away. But help never came.
Five years on, Alex Perry's spell-binding, meticulous reconstruction unearths a hidden and unprecedented fiasco. Woven into his account is a search for the truth about how energy companies really make their vast profits.
His investigation takes him around the world, from Europe to the US, and back to Africa again, as he tracks down the roughnecks, mercenaries, billionaires, and corporate spooks who can shed light on our most essential industry. As the revelations build and the lies multiply, Perry finds himself drawn into a legal drama, and an exploding political scandal.
Propulsive, prophetic, and arriving at a time when energy companies imperil the planet, Blood Will Flow delivers a morality tale for the global economy, and an inspiring quest for justice.
'Alex Perry has done a service to history' -- Ed Stoddard, Daily Maverick
'Breathtaking' -- Jon Lee Anderson
'A magnificent, earth-shaking achievement' -- Andrew Harding
'Vital' -- Sally Hayden
'Powerful, gripping and rigorously researched' -- Jason Burke
'The most astonishing piece of investigative journalism I have ever read' -- Reader review
On March 24, 2021, in the remote north of Mozambique, 500 ISIS militants attacked the small, paradise beach town of Palma - strategically unimportant but for vast offshore gas fields that had attracted $50 billion in foreign investment, including over £1 billion from the British government.
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. An oil and gas compound defended by attack helicopters and 1,000 soldiers was just minutes away. But help never came.
Five years on, Alex Perry's spell-binding, meticulous reconstruction unearths a hidden and unprecedented fiasco. Woven into his account is a search for the truth about how energy companies really make their vast profits.
His investigation takes him around the world, from Europe to the US, and back to Africa again, as he tracks down the roughnecks, mercenaries, billionaires, and corporate spooks who can shed light on our most essential industry. As the revelations build and the lies multiply, Perry finds himself drawn into a legal drama, and an exploding political scandal.
Propulsive, prophetic, and arriving at a time when energy companies imperil the planet, Blood Will Flow delivers a morality tale for the global economy, and an inspiring quest for justice.
Details
19 March 2026
9781804182703Imprint: Ithaka
Reviews
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.
This page-turner of a book is built around Perry's meticulous reporting of a brutal 2021 rampage by Islamist militants in the coastal town of Palma . . . Perry skilfully uses this story to illustrate a larger tale about a global fossil fuel business with a long history of being dogged by violence and injury.
Alex Perry has a well-deserved reputation for producing top class reportage again and again. Blood Will Flow is a powerful, gripping and rigorously reported story of greed, violence and courage. It's a must-read for anyone interested in Africa, the oil industry and violent extremism in recent years. His careful, harrowing and moving account of the lives and deaths of ordinary people exposes brilliantly the devastating consequences for communities across the continent
Blood Will Flow reads like a thriller, though this story is all too real. Journalists write the first draft of history and Alex Perry has done a vital job in ensuring that a major catastrophe is not forgotten. I am in awe
