Blood Trail by Tony Park

 

In his latest book Tony Park takes a look at traditional beliefs in South Africa.  As well, he focuses on the enormous problem of rhinoceros poaching and the lengths to which some people will go to enrich themselves or, in some cases, simply to put food on their tables and look after their families.  Overlaying these themes is a ripping yarn with all of Tony’s trademark action, suspense and character development.

Something strange is going on in COVID-19 era Kruger National Park.  Top trackers are losing poachers whose trails they have been following; people are disappearing into thin air and rational people are looking at traditional remedies and wondering if there really is something more to umuthi than the power to engender self-belief in stressful situations. Visitors are beginning to come back to the Park and it is going to be more important than ever to keep them entertained, and safe.

If you have been watching the live game drives on line from some of South Africa’s safari camps, you will appreciate how Tony has pushed this kind of program to a limit we would probably all love to witness!

One of my favourites, the beautiful Sannie can Rensburg, is back, along with a feisty new heroine, Mia Greenaway. Sean Bourke is on the scene with Bennie the wonder dog as well as Henk de Vrees and Julianne Clyde-Smith.

Make sure you can read the last five or so chapters at a time and place where you are not going to be disturbed; you will be gripping your seat and needing your fullest concentration. Once you have made it through to the end, you might need to pour yourself an Amarula on ice, like I did.

(Disclaimer: the author is my son but he really does deserve a hearty 5 out of 5).

Published by Macmillan

The Imitator by Rebecca Starford

 

This is the story of Evelyn, a young woman who became a spy working for MI 5 in London in the early years of World War 2. It is also the story of Evelyn’s life leading up to that time. Having been a scholarship student at an exclusive school Evelyn developed a chameleon-like ability to fit in with different people and situations. As an Oxford graduate with Firsts in German and Literature she was looking forward to having a career in London in 1939.

Rebecca Starford brings war-time London vividly to life. In 1939 people were having to learn things which we, all these years later, have been aware of all our lives. With hindsight we have learned that Hitler was a monster, Chamberlain was wrong to want appeasement, Churchill was a great war-time leader; but a lot of people in the time leading up to the war had different points of view on what should be done. It is frightening to think of a world where Mosley and others, for instance, had not been brought down. Rebecca Starford has created an atmosphere reminiscent of Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life, and both writers have done this brilliantly.

Evelyn is a many-dimensional character. She is very clever yet vulnerable in a world where she is trying to find her place. Her relationships with her parents and friends are real and authentic. She has self-awareness and she is honest with herself about the incredibly stressful tasks she has to undertake. The women in real life who did this kind of work in World War 2, and women like the Bletchley Circle and others, must have had extraordinary strength of character. They had to keep their work secret and they received no recognition, mostly, for what they had contributed to the War effort.

It is a thought-provoking book which I would recommend to readers of character-driven stories, spy novels, and thrillers alike. I will look for more of Rebecca Starford’s books. 5 out of 5.

Published by Allen & Unwin

Love Objects by Emily Maguire

 Half-way through the first chapter of Love Objects by Emily Maguire I thought I don’t like this book and I don’t want to finish reading it; by the end of the first chapter I was hooked, good and proper. The characters were so real I couldn’t leave them. The problems they faced, although not being new to the twenty-first century, were going to have to be dealt with in a twenty-first century way and I had to see how this was going to be done.

Neither of the two problems, hoarding and character assassination,  can be fixed easily. I remember a parable from school days about the contents of a feather pillow being scattered to the wind and the impossibility of retrieving every single feather. The digital age has uncovered some truly horrible traits in people which, although they have always been there, have not always been so easily and quickly brought to the surface. Likewise, psychological problems that have always been around are being recognised as such and attempts made to analyse and, hopefully, treat them.

The three main characters, Lena, Nicole and Will are strongly and sympathetically drawn. Some confronting things are said and done which could not be watered down in the telling if they were to make their point. This is a serious, dramatic and at the same time entertaining book. Lena, Nic and Will are all loveable and worthy of and deserving of love. Because I haven’t yet stopped thinking of them as real people, and not characters in a book, I wish them a happy, beautiful future!

Congratulations, Emily Maguire. 5 stars!

Published by Allen & Unwin

Joe Country by Mick Herron

 

Joe Country is another superb episode in the lives of Jackson Lamb and his ‘slow horses’ the rejected spooks from Regent’s Park, the headquarters of MI 5, who now work within the crumbling walls of Slough House.

Mick Herron this time has put four of the slow horses to work as field operatives in ‘joe country’. Louisa has gone looking for someone with a connection to her immediate past and then when Louisa disappears River, Shirley and J K Coe take off to see if they can find her. Louisa’s new friend, Emma Flyte, also becomes involved in the highly dramatic and at times horrifying action

Diana Taverner, the head of MI 5 these days, is up to her usual machinations and a lot of familiar characters appear making this another fabulous read. The story is, as usual, complicated but not convoluted which is how I like my spy fiction. Jackson Lamb, Mick Herron’s brilliant creation, is as repulsive, witty and massively intelligent as ever. He is one of the best characters I have encountered in all my reading years.

I highly recommend this book but to get maximum enjoyment from it I would suggest reading the entire series in order, starting with Slow Horses”.

A combination of high drama and terrifically clever dialogue! 5 out of 5, naturally.

John Murray (Publishers) an Hachette UK company.