For many years Sierra Leone and Liberia have been too dangerous to travel through, bedevilled by a uniquely brutal form of violence from which sprang many of Africa's cruellest contemporary icons. This travel book touches on one of the most fraught parts of the globe at a different moment in its history.

Chasing the Devil tells the story of Tim Butcher's audacious expedition from Freetown at the mouth of the Sierra Leone river overland through forest-covered mountains and malarial plains to the coast of Liberia. He ventures deep into areas not visited by outsiders for years. Both nations are on a developmental cusp and Tim explores whether national and international attempts to chase away the devil of war can succeed.