by: Chris Bohjalian
Goodreads description:
Tanzania, 1964. When Katie Barstow, A-list actress, and her new husband, David Hill, decide to bring their Hollywood friends to the Serengeti for their honeymoon, they envision giraffes gently eating leaves from the tall acacia trees, great swarms of wildebeests crossing the Mara River, and herds of zebra storming the sandy plains. Their glamorous guests—including Katie’s best friend, Carmen Tedesco, and Terrance Dutton, the celebrated Black actor who stars alongside Katie in the highly controversial film “Tender Madness”—will spend their days taking photos, and their evenings drinking chilled gin and tonics back at camp, as the local Tanzanian guides warm water for their baths. The wealthy Americans expect civilized adventure: Fresh ice from the kerosene-powered ice maker, dinners of cooked gazelle meat, and plenty of stories to tell over lunch back on Rodeo Drive.
What Katie and her glittering entourage do not expect is this: A kidnapping gone wrong, their guides bleeding out in the dirt, and a team of Russian mercenaries herding them into Land Rovers, guns to their heads. As the powerful sun gives way to night, the gunmen shove them into abandoned huts and Katie Barstow, Hollywood royalty, prays for a simple thing: To see the sun rise one more time. A blistering story of fame, race, love, and death set in a world on the cusp of great change, The Safari is a vibrant masterpiece from one of our finest storytellers.
Helen says: 🤓🤓🤓🤓
Told from multiple perspectives, this story was a good mixture of old Hollywood, an African safari and a kidnapping gone awry. This author writes about the most versatile subject matter- every book of his is completely different- including the writing style! The Lioness was quite a compelling book-remind me never to take a safari!
Holly says: 🤓🤓🤓🤓
Probably my favorite book of the month – I really liked it, didn’t LOVE it. Agatha Christie, Ernest Hemingway, and Cold War espionage woven into a convoluted story line, and a kidnapping gone way, way wrong. WIth ties to Hollywood and set in Kenya and Tanzania, the somewhat gory tale takes off quickly and keeps the pedal to the metal until the end. And who will make it to the story’s end, you ask? Keep reading to find out – I did, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Not for everyone, but I suggest you give it a go.
Helen and Holly Hit the Books 