I have not read any books by Wilbur Smith previously and I probably would not have read this one except I was on holidays and had run out of reading material so I thought I would give this one a try. It reminded me a lot of Ian Fleming’s Bond books that I read when I was a teenager because my brother had a stash of them. It was written in 1991 which perhaps explains the faintly chauvinistic tone but still rubbed me the wrong way.
Daniel Armstrong was born in Africa in what was then Rhodesia. As a young white man he fought for Ian Smith’s forces until he saw the unfairness of the fight. He loves Africa and its peoples and makes his living by producing films about Africa. He has returned to Chiwewe National Park in Zimbabwe where he worked as a park ranger. He is making a film about the elephants and the illegal ivory trade which accounts for the slaughter of hundreds of elephants each year. The National Park also kills elephants because there are too many to be supported in the park. From these cullings and confiscations from poachers the park has built up an enormous stockpile of ivory tusks. This has drawn the attention of the Taiwanese Ambassador, Ning Cheng Gong, who is a collector of ivory. He wants a very special gift for his father because that would cement him as the heir to his father’s enormous empire. With the help of Chittie Singh, a middleman for poachers all across Africa, he has arranged for the ranger’s stash to be stolen. This necessitates killing the ranger, Johnny Nzou, his family and servants. Daniel, who has been friends with Johnny since childhood, discovers the bodies and Johnny’s dying note which fingers Ning. He then makes it his mission to avenge the deaths by whatever means necessary. Of course this involves beautiful women and dangerous deeds but he triumphs in the end.
I’m not a prude but there is way too much description of violent sexual acts which I found entirely unnecessary for the storyline. I know they were probably meant to show how horrible the bad guys were but slaughtering animals, killing men, women and children and enslaving others and raping the land would have been enough for me to understand they were bad.
I won’t be looking for any more books by Wilbur Smith. ( )

Very powerful. Wonderful, touching and provoking all at once. ( )

What a great book! I was drawn in by the story, and at the end I was amazed that all that action happened in one book!! ( )

Dr. Daniel Armstrong witnesses a horrible event in Africa, which leads to his own personal vendetta. Along the way, he becomes involved with two women and overthrows a government.

Blech. I have never written a bad review on LT before this. This book had too much telling and not enough showing. It had stereotypical, unrealistic characters that I could not care about. It had obvious story arches and editing mistakes. One good thing about the book is the straightforward by vivid descriptions of Africa's different landscapes. It also doesn't sugar coat the atrocities that are happening on this continent.

Nah. ( )

NIL