The Dark of the Sun was published by William Heinemann in 1965. Captain Bruce Dobie is a mercenary in the Congo during the civil war that followed independence from Belgium in 1960. He is tasked with leading an armored train into rebel territory to evacuate a mining town — and to retrieve a fortune in diamonds stored in the town’s vault.
The mission is straightforward; everything that can go wrong does. The rebels are Simba warriors hopped on drugs and convinced of their invulnerability. Dobie’s second-in-command is a psychopath. The train must pass through territory where atrocities are being committed on a scale that defies comprehension. Smith based his depictions of violence on documented events from the Congo Crisis — the Simba Rebellion of 1964 produced some of the most horrifying mass violence in modern African history.
The novel was adapted into the 1968 film The Mercenaries (released as Dark of the Sun in the US) starring Rod Taylor and Jim Brown. The film softened much of the novel’s violence but retained its moral complexity: Dobie is not a hero in any conventional sense but a professional who does terrible things efficiently.
The Congo Crisis
Smith based his novel on the documented horrors of the Simba Rebellion of 1964 — one of the most violent episodes of African decolonisation. The Simba warriors, convinced by witch doctors that they were immune to bullets, committed mass atrocities against civilians and European residents. Smith’s refusal to sanitise this violence was controversial but reflected his conviction that adventure fiction should not lie about the reality of war.
Collecting The Dark of the Sun
First edition (William Heinemann, London, 1965): Boards with dust jacket.
Approximate market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $200–$600
- Very good/very good: $80–$200
Projected values (2026–2036): Strong appreciation. Early Smith first editions are increasingly scarce, and The Dark of the Sun is considered his finest early novel.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was The Dark of the Sun made into a film? Yes. The 1968 film Dark of the Sun (released as The Mercenaries in the UK) starred Rod Taylor, Jim Brown, and Yvette Mimieux. It was one of the most violent films of its era and remains a cult classic of the war-adventure genre.