Author’s book vents over poaching atrocities
'Tears of Greed' is available locally at Book Boutique and as an e-book at Amazon and Kalahari.
AUTHOR, John Holmes of Toti has labelled the publishing of his first book, ‘Tears of Greed’, “a great sense of achievement”.
The work of fiction was published on 9 December, 2014 by Partridge Africa, a Penguin Random House Company.
‘Tears of Greed’ involves poaching, smuggling, hired killers and other heinous crimes. “My decision to write such a story was a result of daily headline news reporting serious crimes not only in South Africa but Africa. Rhino poaching is seemingly uncontrollable at the moment and greed is the one deadly sin responsible for the destruction of Africa’s natural heritage to the brink of extinction.”
John’s questioned how environmentalists, conservationists and law enforcement agencies are able to deal with this serious problem. “It is this problem which prompted me to write ‘Tears of Greed’, where I could express my personal feelings to entertain readers and to encourage citizens not to give up hope and that the good guys do succeed sometimes.”
It took John eight months to research and write the book. “Some days were good, the ideas flowed and I could write until 2.30am. On other days, writer’s block set in and I could only manage half a page.”
The villain in the book is an ex-mercenary with a history of being a ruthless killer linked to genocide atrocities in Uganda and other parts of Africa. However, as the political climate changes, he directs his deadly activities into poaching and smuggling.
“The main SA characters are Warrant Officer Gerald Gumede, and his childhood friend, Lt Simon Smit, the leader of a crack anti-poaching operating in the Imfolozi Hluhluwe Game Reserve in KZN. The friends and the police search for the villain and their exploits lead to many surprising and hopefully entertaining scenarios.”
John retired as a human resources manager in 2012. “My background in writing business reports helped me with my book.”
‘Tears of Greed’ is available at the Book Boutique and as an e-book at Amazon and Kalahari.
As the writing bug has bitten him, John is busy with a second book.
