Kidnapped on Safari

By Peter Riva

Skyhorse     2020

288 pages     Thriller

Kidnapped on Safari is number three in the Mbuno and Pero thriller series. The books primarily take place in East Africa. I began Kidnapped on Safari with a great deal of anticipation. After all, I’d been on safari! I’d read the #1 Ladies Detective Agency books! I’d been chased by an elephant mother protecting her baby! In many ways, the photo safari descriptions met my expectations, and the plot was definitely more than I expected.

Author Peter Riva has spent a great deal of time in Africa, and his intimate knowledge is very much in evidence in his novel, which is part mystery, part thriller, part espionage, and part terrorist plot. Pero is a wildlife television producer, and he has worked with Mbuno, an expert safari guide, for many years. On this particular filming adventure, they get word that Mbuno’s son has been kidnapped, so they set out to rescue him.

Pero and his buddy Mbuno have been through a lot together. “In the past two years or more, he (Pero) had been shot at, poisoned with radioactivity, landed in the hospital twice, and narrowly escaped major catastrophes that would also have affected his friends and hundreds of thousands of innocent people. He was proud of what he had helped achieve, but that did not diminish the terror he felt at the prospect of a repeated trial against an unknown enemy.” But nevertheless, he and Mbuno, as well as a small group of associates and an American operative, head out to find the young man—against amazing odds.

About half-way through the book,  the action thickens as the group heads across Tanzania to save Mbuno’s son but ultimately to save the country. The start of the book is a bit sluggish, but it ends with a race through the jungle on a hijacked train and includes the rescue of a group of kidnapped schoolgirls. The Publishers Weekly review calls it a “solid, if somewhat plodding, yarn.”

I love mysteries and thrillers that take me to places that I have been, places that I want to visit, or places I will never see in person. Kidnapped on Safari brought back a lot of memories of one of the great adventures of my life. I invite you to take this safari adventure for yourself.

Peter Riva’s website. Other books in this series include Murder on Safari and The Berlin Package.