Zambezi

Zambezi
Tony Park
Macmillan
432 pages $30

ARMY Public Relations Reservist Maj Tony Park has returned to the continent of his first novel, Far Horizon, Africa, for this story of love and betrayal.

Having served in Afghanistan on the first SASR deployment in 2001, he brings an air of authenticity to the introductory section where American Special Forces operator Jed Banks meets a young Aussie journalist, Luke Scarborough, during the battles with the Taliban and al Q’aeda.

From there, it is a quick jump to East Africa where hotel magnate Hassan bin Zayid finds out that his brother has been killed in Afghanistan fighting for al Q’aeda. Jed and Hassan are linked by Jed’s daughter Miranda. She is working as a researcher on lion behaviour, when she disappears. Was she eaten by a lion? Did poachers or criminals do away with her?

This is a competent thriller which takes a while to join all the dots in a plot that keeps it simple. It’s not Shakespeare or Tom Clancy but is more akin to Wilbur Smith with its African setting and mixture of action, sex and revenge.

– David Sibley

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