Wilbur Smith's writing captivates his listeners with tale full of passions, rage, and glory. In Birds of Prey, he sets the scene for 1667 when Sir Francis Courteney and his son Hal are on patrol in their fighting caravel off the Agulhas Cape of South Africa. They are lying in wait there for one of the treasure-laden galleons of the Dutch East India Company returning from the Orient. So begins a quest for adventure and the spoils of war.

...

An adventure set in the violent world of modern piracy and terrorism follows the kidnapping of an oil heiress's daughter for a multi-billion-dollar ransom and the efforts of Cross Bow Security head Hector Cross to secure her release.

"On a NUMA training mission in the Caribbean, Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala catch a distress call from a nearby freighter. Leaping into action, they locate a damaged vessel and a dead captain clutching a shotgun. While searching the freighter for clues, Kurt and Joe are ambushed by crew members who seem terrified and disoriented, almost brainwashed. The trawler they were hauling has vanished, taken--the men say--by baffling lights that circled the ship....