BOOK REVIEW: Eco-thriller offers fast-paced action in a world of rhino poaching

IF you truly want to grasp the situation facing conservationists, do what a poacher does: Look at a rhino and see a three-foot-long scimitar of pure gold on its nose.

But you don’t have to tunnel into the earth for it. One bullet is all you need.

Alaskan fishing guide Chris Stone’s future sister-in-law Josie Gordon, a game ranger, has been kidnapped in South Africa by a murderous gang of rhino poachers.

She was investigating the illicit horn trade, now among the most lucrative crimes in the world, and was on the verge of exposing the international wildlife mafia.

A South African private detective and a former Vietnam Green Beret, Chris and his fiancé Debra vow to find her.

They follow Josie’s trail, from South African hunting reserves that are little more than drug-fueled bordellos in the bush to Ho Chi Minh City, where rhino horn is regarded as a wonder cure for anything from cancer to impotency.

The final showdown takes place back in Africa, where game rangers using ancient bolt-action rifles take on the heavily-armed mercenaries of the wildlife mafia.

With the rhino fast facing extinction, Graham Spence, the author of the international bestseller

‘The Elephant Whisperer’ explores the scourge of wildlife smuggling in this searing novel taken from today’s headlines.

Beer vs Books

‘Bloodhorn is available on Amazon at the moment, but as Amazon globally accounts for close on 80 per cent of all fiction sold, that’s the way I’m going to go,’ said the author from his home in

England, at which he has penned several novels including the aforementioned The Elephant Whisperer, Apocalypse Chase, Keepers of the Flame, The Last Rhinos and Babylon’s Ark.

‘Bloodhorn is exactly what it says on the tin. That, I think, makes it easy to figure out if you may be interested or not,’ he said.

‘In other words, this is not literary fiction, 50 Shades of Gray, comedy or Chick-lit.

‘It’s got guns, poachers, drugs, violence and wilderness. I’ll gladly refund anyone who disagrees.’

On Kindle, Bloodhorn is currently priced at £2.00.

‘For my South African mates, that’s R32.69 at today’s exchange rate. The last time I bought a beer in SA was at the Bush Tavern in Umdloti and it cost me R30 – so sadly I can’t say my book is cheaper than a pint of the good stuff. It is in England though – the Stag and Hounds down the road sells a pint for just under £4.00.’

‘However, the thing about comparing books and beer is that with a beer you know you are guaranteed to like it – so I’m not going to labour this point too much.’

His website – grahamspence.com – offers further details of his works as well as direct links to purchase copies of his publications.