A gripping debut novel of modern war written by a former Marine captain who has experienced it all firsthand. Marine Lieutenant Gavin Kelly is in a no-win situation. His grandfather expects him to undo his father's cowardice in Vietnam. His best friend, arguably a better Marine than Kelly, lusts after the glory he believes Kelly will see as a leader of the U.S military's Operation Restore Hope in Somalia. To make things worse, Kelly's new assignment leaves no room for him to showcase his killer military instincts, the same instincts that earned him a medal in Desert Storm. When one of Kelly's men, trigger-happy and honour-hungry, kills a Somali bodyguard minutes after the Marines land in Mogadishu, none of Kelly's military training prepares him for the maelstrom to follow. With the international press corps determined to uncover the 'murder,' the State Department desperate to place blame, and the Marines held to crippling rules of engagement, Kelly must somehow reconcile his military responsibility with his personal ethics even as Somali gangsters run amok in the night.