Malachi Dakwaa has survived civil war but he's now mute, after his tongue was cut out. Disengaged from his world, he's performing mind-numbing work in a factory when he gets an extraordinary job offer. In exchange for six months as a warden on a top-secret organ-farming project, Frasier Pharmaceuticals will graft a new tongue for him.
Far out to sea, Malachi finds himself among warlords and mass murderers like the kind who ruined him. But are the prisoners as evil as Frasier says? Do they deserve their fate?
As doubt starts to grow, Malachi's own memories rise until he is faced with a terrible choice. Should he remain silent and let the prisoners suffer, or risk his life to set them free?