A beast of a thriller

Former Army Reserve air despatcher and 2002-era Afghanistan public affairs officer Tony Park has reached another milestone with the July release of his 24th southern Africa-based thriller King of Beasts.

Like all his previous yarns, King of Beasts is a gritty, fast-paced, hard-to-put-down page-turner – that’s a lot of cliches, but they’re all fair dinkum.

Its action-packed beginning has a naïve South African archaeologist being captured by Russian troops in Ukraine, and then rescued temporarily by her foul-mouthed twin sister – a British Army Afghanistan veteran and part-time MI6 operative.

Topically, a South African Zulu, who has been tricked into joining the Russian Army, helps with the girls’ rescue in an effort to escape the Russians. He, in turn, is rescued by a white South African fighting for Ukraine, who welcomes him like a long-lost brother.

A ruthless Russian mercenary commander, with the usual unhealthy interest in domanatrixes, holds one girl hostage in South Africa in order to persuade her mother to help him hijack a top-secret South African-produced drone with built-in AI that can be used to perform assassinations.

Tough-as-nails former mercenary Sonja Kurtz, who makes her sixth appearance in a Tony Park novel, is forced to make a tough decision: to sacrifice the drone or sacrifice her daughter. 

A devious female FSB agent is also competing with the Russian mercenary to hijack the drone for the Russian Government.

In the backdrop, an ageing white lion has been forced out of his pride and left to survive on his own between two game ranches.

On one, he’s protected, and on the other, the corrupt owner has a permit for the Russian mercenary commander to hunt him down, in between efforts to hijack the drone.

For those of you into technical gadgetry, Park has put a big effort into detailing the drone’s characteristics and data. 

Just when you think you’ve worked out who a mystery baddy is, the story takes some serious twists and turns.

I’ve been reviewing this bloke’s books since 2008, and I reckon King of Beasts is his best one yet, and more than well worth a read.