When Marc Portman arrives at the designated meeting place, he finds the person he is to meet lying dead on the sixth floor of the abandoned building. A quick search doesn't yield any identification, so Marc snaps a picture and decides it's time to leave. Before he gets very far, an extremist group attacks the building with guns and grenades. Marc has to repel down an elevator shaft, fighting off extremists on his way, to escape the building. Mogadishu is a dangerous city to be in for an American or anyone who is not a native.

Marc has been hired by the French DGSE (General Directorate for External Security) as a close protection specialist to get Andre Masse out of the country with the goods he is there to secure, vital information on the oil dealings of the al-Shabaab in Northern Africa and other critical Intel. Now it appears that Masse doesn't need Portman, and the computer drive with the Intel is nowhere to be found. But before Portman can make arrangements to leave the country, he receives a phone call from Andre Masse himself. If Masse is still alive, who's the dead man on the sixth floor?

When Marc begins to make some inquiries, he finds there are more parties involved than just the French. Now the British are recruiting him to get Masse and the computer drive out of the country as well. This proves to be no easy feat!

DARK ASSET is another installment in Adrian Magson's A Marc Portman Thriller series. There is non-stop, riveting action from the very beginning. This is an international espionage page-turner you won't be able to put down. Portman is a strong, resourceful character. He is very good at his job, with lots of international contacts on his side. The supporting characters are a sundry lot, some are good guys, some are bad guys and we're never sure just who can be trusted. Although there are gun fights at just about every turn, this is not a war being fought with only guns and bombs, but also with technology. Several intelligence agencies from several countries are involved here, each one trying to get the upper hand, but each one also denying any plausibility. Oh what a tangled web is being woven! Don't miss it!