The crash of flight 3804 : a lost spy, a daughter's quest, and the deadly politics of the great game for oil

While unravelling the mystery of her father - a Master Spy’s - death, an investigative journalist reveals the truth behind an era of endless wars in the Middle East by following the pipelines. In 1947, Daniel Dennett, America’s sole Master Spy in the Middle East, was dispatched to Saudi Arabia to study the route of the proposed Trans-Arabian Pipeline.

It would be his last assignment. A plane carrying him to Ethiopia went down, killing everyone on board.

In The Crash of Flight 3804 investigative journalist Charlotte Dennett digs into her father’s postwar counterintelligence work, which pitted him against America’s wartime allies - the British, French, and Russians - in a covert battle for geopolitical and economic influence in the Middle East.

Through stories and maps, she reveals how feverish competition among superpower intelligence networks, military, and Big Oil interests have fuelled indiscriminate attacks and targeted killings that continue to this day. Part personal pilgrimage, part deft critique, Dennett’s insightful reportage examines what happens to international relations when oil wealth hangs in the balance and shines a glaring light on what so many have actually been dying for.  The Crash of Flight 3804 provides important context for understanding the Middle East region, while bringing new questions to light, including: Did the infamous British double agent Kim Philby have anything to do with Daniel Dennett's death?

As the US continues to be on the brink of war with Iran, what oil infrastructure and vulnerable choke points are key political calculation?

What new conflicts lie ahead with the signing of the EastMed undersea gas pipeline agreement?

To what lengths has the US negotiated with the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and ISIS to secure Big Oil's holdings in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen?