Richard North Patterson: Eclipse [2009] paperback

In a novel of international intrigue, an American lawyer, Damon Pierce, attempts to save Bobby Okari, the West African leader of a protest movement, from execution by the country's corrupt and autocratic leader. Complicating matters further is Okari's wife, Marissa Brand, with whom Pierce had a relationship years before that he's never quite forgotten; she, in fact, persuaded him to take the case in the first place, and it is who she plays a crucial role in the eventual outcome...

Culminating in a dramatic show trial and a desperate race against time, Eclipse combines a thrilling narrative with a vivid look at the human cost of the global lust for oil.

'Every now and then - but a lot more rarely than that implies - you come across a thriller so important that it absolutely demands to be read. This is one' The Times on Exile