Prescott's Kayla Mueller honored in a French book — endorsed by her parents
David Hornus publishes his second book “Seul Dieu la voit” (Only God Sees — Hostage at the Heart of the Syrian Crisis)
A gripping narrative at the heart of the Syrian crisis and the tragedy of ISIS hostages.
Following Danger Zone (Balland, 2022), David Hornus continues his exploration of the little-known world of “crisis negotiators” with a new, gripping book of dramatic intensity, Seul Dieu la voit, to be published by Éditions Balland on 28 May 2026.
A STORY INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS
The novel draws on the heart-wrenching fate of the young American humanitarian Kayla Mueller, abducted by Daesh and who died in captivity in Syria in 2015. Through an immersive investigative fiction of rare intensity, the author retraces the events that shaped Syria in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring and reveals, without restraint, the brutality endured by the hostages of the Islamic State — some tortured, others executed.
David Hornus also lifts the veil on those who, in the shadows, mobilise to save lives, offering a rare window into a world where a sense of duty, courage, sacrifice and determination intersect.
Seul Dieu la voit is a vibrant tribute to the men and women committed to serving their fellow human beings. It is also a testimony of selflessness, faith, friendship and hope.
A FOREWORD BY CARL AND MARSHA MUELLER, AND A PREFACE BY DIANE FOLEY
The book opens with a deeply moving foreword by Carl and Marsha Mueller, the parents of Kayla Mueller, and a preface by Diane Foley, mother of American journalist James Foley — executed by Daesh in 2015 — and author, with Colum McCann, of American Mother. As with Kayla Mueller, the body of James Foley has never been recovered.
📖 SUMMARY
Syria, June 2013 — French journalists are abducted by jihadists of the Islamic State.
In a Syria torn apart by civil war, the regime confronts the various rebel factions of the Free Syrian Army, the jihadists of the al-Nusra Front aligned with Al-Qaeda, and the troops of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant — Daesh — locked in a violent struggle for influence.
Amid this chaos, the systematic sexual enslavement of Yazidi women, summary executions and the kidnapping of Westerners are commonplace.
Clovis Esclavier, a former paratrooper officer running a French security company, is commissioned by the American private military company Global Risk Solutions — founded by a former FBI agent — to find them. Assisted by Léon, a former special-forces operator, he embarks on a perilous mission that will lead him to Gaziantep, in Turkey — the gateway into Syria — where he will need to summon all his energy and his negotiator’s craft in a breathless race against the clock, full of unexpected twists.
This immersion in a poorly understood world — a pretext for every kind of fantasy — plunges the reader into the reality of war and human cruelty, in all its violence.
✍️ ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Engaged for more than twenty years in the protection of economic interests, David Hornus is a member of an international team of crisis negotiators. A graduate of the postgraduate programme in “Economic Intelligence Strategy” at the École de Guerre Économique – ESLSCA (Paris, 1998/99), he is also an alumnus of the 32nd Mediterranean Session of Advanced Strategic Studies (Mediterranean Foundation for Advanced Strategic Studies) and of the 82nd session “Economic and Strategic Intelligence” at the Institute for Advanced National Defence Studies (IHEDN) in December 2023.
A reserve officer, a reservist of the French National Police and former Deputy Mayor in charge of security (Saint-Genis-Laval-FRANCE), he heads RUDDERSHIP Conseil, an intelligence and economic-security advisory firm. His expertise in risk governance has taken him on high-intensity security missions, which he recounted in Danger Zone, his first book published by Balland in 2022.
📅 Publication date: 28 May 2026
🏷️ Publisher: Éditions Balland
📚 Genre: Psychological thriller / Roman noir
📄 Pages: 300
Author contact – David Hornus
📧 dhornus@icloud.com — 📞 +33 6 01 78 40 41
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