Blood Trail by Tony Park is his 19th novel and addresses the problems exacerbated by the current global pandemic regarding Africa’s endangered wildlife, including the collapse of international tourism.
Blood Trail also sees the return of police Captain Susan (Sannie) van Rensburg who finds herself dealing not only with COVID but also with the mystery of two missing girls. Indigenous locals believe they may have been taken for use in forbidden, traditional medicine practices.
Mia Greenaway is a guide and ace tracker working for the Lion Plains Lodge in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve in South Africa. While conducting a virtual game drive with a fellow tracker and wildlife protector, Bogani, they find themselves chasing poachers. Suddenly one of the poachers disappears into thin air!
Mia has heard that the poachers are paying healers for various potions believing that this form of witchcraft will make them invisible and invincible.
Amidst the escalating poaching crisis, a tourist goes missing! Mia and Sannie need to work together to solve the mysteries of a gory trail that vanishes at every turn.
Will they be able to confront and overcome their own demons and the challenges regarding all they believe in and survive the experience?
The narrative initially explains the workings of the safari operators and the involvement of the indigenous population. Then it moves on to darker aspects regarding poaching and ‘black magic’ tying them to the current COVID crisis and subsequent lack of employment.
Rapidly escalating, the story becomes a rollercoaster ride of fast-action, suspense and sheer terror leading to a thrilling conclusion!
It also reminds the reader of the interminable fight by dedicated people to save African animals from extinction by preventing the poaching of horns, tusks, etc., and their capture for illegal wildlife trafficking.
An action-packed must-read for 2021!
ISBN: 9781760781217
Blood Trail is available in paperback, e-book and audiobook
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
About Tony Park
Tony Park was born in 1964 and grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney. He has worked as a newspaper reporter, a press secretary, a PR consultant and a freelance writer. He also served 34 years in the Australian Army Reserve, including six months as a public affairs officer in Afghanistan in 2002. He and his wife, Nicola, divide their time equally between Australia and southern Africa. He is the author of eighteen other African novels which centre on current affairs and wildlife/conservation issues in Africa. He is also the author of six non-fiction biographies.
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