Blood Before Dawn (The Dung Beetles of Liberia, #2)

Volume 2 in The Dung Beetles of Liberia series.2022 WINNER OF THE BEST HISTORICAL THRILLER OF THE YEAR-The BestThrillers Book Awards2022 CATEGORY   Book Excellence Awards; New York Big Book; American Fiction Awards; Hollywood Book Fest; New England Book Fest; Los Angeles Book Rest; Firebird Awards2022 CATEGORY Readers' Choice Awards, Next Generation Indie Book Awards; Global Book Awards   In April of 1979, Ken Verrier and his wife, Sam, return to Liberia to buy diamonds. They did not return to get caught up in a rice riot and a coup d'etat. But that's what happens. Ken witnesses and unwittingly participates in a period of Liberia's tumultuous yet poorly documented history---the overthrow of the Tolbert presidency and ultimately the end of the Americo-Liberian one hundred thirty-three years of political and social dominance.Details of President Tolbert's assassination are sketchy, but through Ken's association with his Americo friends from the past, the CIA agents he meets, and the Liberian military he is forced to deal with, a believable scenario emerges.While describing the once beautiful country and a kind and generous people, Meier intertwines terrifying tales of the atrocities committed that account for the future pain of an entire nation.