This is a tale of survival in captivity. Any traveller captured by militant extremists in a foreign land may face a sudden, merciless death. And such a death was the fate of Martin, the German companion of the three surviving captives held by Al Qaeda in Timbuktu, Mali from 2011 to 2017.
Stephen McGown is South African and his narrative details his own ordeal, and that of Sjaak Rijke a Dutch national, and Johan Gustafsson a Swede. The slain Martin’s last name does not appear in the book, or anywhere else in the public domain. His lost family name is a curious metaphor for the violent obliteration of a man’s identity, along with his life. The opening of the book sets the scene for the death of the German and for the six-years-long life in captivity of the Timbuktu Three.