Book Review: IVORY GHOSTS: A CATHERINE SOHON ELEPHANT MYSTERY
by Caitlin O'Connell
Alibi/Penguin Random House April 7, 2015 (digital edition)
The word "page-turner" is overused for
so many crime fiction novels and thrillers. It is spot-on for Caitlin
O'Connell's first Catherine Sohon Elephant Mystery. With her theme of
ivory trafficking and elephant poaching, O'Connell has created her own thriller
sub-genre: the wildlife conservation thriller. (Environmental
thrillers tend to have plots involving bioterrorism, but O'Connell places the
spotlight squarely on the slaughter of elephants for their tusks to feed the
real beast--ivory trafficking). Her protagonist, Catherine Sohon, is
well-developed, and O'Connell uses a first-person narrative. Catherine is
a white American wildlife blogger who has been living and working in South
Africa. She's grieving the recent death of her fiancé. O'Connell imbues her
with a lot of depth and emotional complexity. In the opening scene, after
her truck breaks down on a remote, dry road in the sub-Saharan African country
of Namibia, Catherine stumbles on a horrific murder scene. She has traveled to
Namibia under the guise of doing an elephant census, but Catherine's actual
purpose there is to substantiate evidence and put a stop to an ivory
trafficking ring. As a woman reader (and writer), I appreciated that
O'Connell wrote this scene, using the first-person, without giving any initial
indicators of whether the narrator was a man or a woman. Speaking from my previous experience as a "book scout" for a producer at Warner Bros., this thriller would make a riveting film adaptation which, with the right screenplay, could give an actress a pivotal career opportunity.
The pace is breakneck, yet the stylish writing
allows the reader to absorb a lot of fantastic (and horrifying) content and
facts about ivory trafficking, and about Namibia. The scope is
international and yet the action and the details are of a very specific place.
The villains are terrifying precisely because they are portrayed in all
their humanity and greed. Catherine may even have a new romantic opportunity
with the Minister of Conservation, Jon Biggs. Their vexatious
conversations barely conceal the sexual chemistry between the two characters.
Then, of course, there are the elephants. Scenes with the elephants were
so galvanizing, and could not make a stronger case for why poaching is such a
reprehensible crime. O'Connell's thriller leaves no room for debate that
it is a moral imperative to stop and prevent ivory poaching. Trafficking
seeps its evil into everything and everyone it touches.
Caitlin O'Connell is an ecologist and a scientist, a world-renowned expert on elephants and vibrotactile sensitivity (vibrotactile
means "Relating to or involving the perception of vibration through
touch."). She has been documenting elephants in Namibia for the past twenty years as a writer, photography and filmmaker. Her nonfiction science memoir THE ELEPHANT'S SECRET SENSE
was an internationally acclaimed work. This Renaissance woman may now add
"expert thriller writer" to her resume. I eagerly await the
sequel to Ivory Ghosts.
Thank you to Alibi, an e-originals imprint of
Penguin Random House, for the opportunity to read the digital copy via
NetGalley.
Wow! What a review! Definitely one to read. It's such an important topic, and the author's credentials make reading it sound all the more worthwhile. I can think of a few environmentalists who would like to buy this book. Thanks for such an exciting review. I hope someone takes up your movie suggestion - your comment on a strong female role is valuable, and interesting that gender of protagonist was not revealed initially. Lots of interest in this one! Thanks!
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