The Cull: 3 (Sonja Kurtz)

4.5★s
The Cull is the third book in the Sonja Kurtz series by Australian author, Tony Park. Following the murder by poachers of two women in her anti-poaching unit, Sonja Kurtz is recruited by a wealthy British Lodge owner to aggressively undermine the poaching syndicate plaguing the African continent. Not initially interested, the deal breaker for Sonja comes in the form of a chance to revenge the death of her beloved partner, Sam Chapman.

Sonja Kurtz is an African-born mercenary with experience in Northern Ireland with the British Army, and in Sierra Leone, Angola, Iraq, Afghanistan and Namibia. To Julianne Clyde-Smith, those qualifications make her the ideal person to head an anti-poacher task force. Clyde-Smith, billionaire businesswoman, philanthropist, ardent environmentalist, is a woman about whom some locals observe: "like all foreigners – she thinks she knows better ways to fight poachers than we do."

After a supposed surveillance/reconnaissance assignment on a golf course that sees two key figures in the poaching trade shot and one killed, then a corrupt Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Ranger is shot dead while Sonja's small hand-picked team is present, she begins to wonder if she is being set up, or if her employer has a more aggressive agenda to poaching than she has admitted. Is Clyde-Smith actually bankrolling a hit squad?

Sonja's erstwhile lover, Hudson Brand has, meanwhile, connected with SA Police Service Captain Sannie van Rensburg about the shooting of a possibly innocent man by Sonja's anti-poaching unit, and with pretty young travel writer, Rosie Appleton, who seems intent on a big expose of the poaching trade, whose tenor seems to have altered from opportunistic to organised crime.

The Scorpions are probably an international organised crime syndicate that deals in high value commodities: rhino horn, ivory, drugs, guns, abalone, pangolins, baby chimpanzees and vultures. Could Clyde-Smith be taking advantage of their devastating effect on the tourist trade to aid her own acquisition of coveted resort locations? Will Sonja's audacious plan succeed in proving this?

Once again, Park demonstrates his thorough knowledge of, and love for, the African continent and her people. The activities, methods and targets of poachers will likely be a revelation and there is, of course, plenty of action, a high body count and a clever twist by the time the exciting climax arrives. Park includes characters from previous novels, even slipping in a cameo for one of those novels, and the maps will be much appreciated by readers.

Park names a minor character James Paterson, and while this has a charity basis, some readers might wonder if this is a tongue-in-cheek dig at the ridiculous Alex Cross novel that the prolific two-t author set in Africa: clearly this JP is much better versed in all things African. This alone is probably enough to forgive him Sonja's ongoing prickliness, which was beginning to wear thin. Addictive African action drama.