The Delta

by Tony Park

Pan Macmillan. Australian, Thriller. Paperback RRP $32.99

Guest Reviewer – Ian Brown

Australian Author, Tony Park, divides his time between Sydney and Southern Africa. He has written a number of adventure novels set in Africa.

The Delta is set in the Okavango Delta in Botswana. The story is about ex-soldier turned Mercenary, Sonja Kurtz, who, after a failed attempt to assassinate the president of Zimbabwe, hides out in the Okavango Delta, were she spent a large part of her youth. She wants to leave her mercenary life and start anew with her daughter who lives in London.

She is recruited to help save the Delta from destruction. Her job is to halt a dam that will destroy the delta’s swamps and waterway’s. This involves Sterling Smith her former boyfriend who runs a safari camp in the delta, Martin Steele, her mercenary boss, and American TV wildlife presenter Sam Chapman, who is in Botswana doing a reality gone wrong.

Murder, intrigue, action and plot twists make this a book you won’t put down in a hurry. A great read it certainly made me want to search out more of Tony Park’s Africa novels.

 The Reading Stack reviewed Shane Bryant with Tony Park’s War Dogs in September 2010.

 http://www.tonypark.net/

War Dogs

by Shane Bryant with Tony Park

Pan Macmillan. Australian, Autobiographical. Paperback rrp $34.99

Guest Reviewer – Ian Brown

War Dogs is the story of Shane Bryant who works with highly trained dogs in Afghanistan.

Shane has loved dogs since he was a boy, but never thought about working with them. It wasn’t until after he joined the Australian Army as a 17-year-old and saw a photo of an army dog handler, that he knew what he wanted to do.

He became part of the army bomb squad working with dogs. Eventually Shane tired of army life and joined the NSW Police Force where he again worked with dogs.

After leaving the Police Force he did various jobs, eventually joining a private firm through an old army friend. The firm works mainly with the American Army in Afghanistan, in some of the most dangerous areas in the country. Here Shane became involved with the highly trained dogs that search for bombs on the roadside, in towns, and any area that troops are entering. This is perilous work and quite often Shane has been involved in enemy fire.

The conflict in Afghanistan is a very topical subject and a number of Australian soldiers who have unfortunately been killed by roadside bombs. War Dogs provides additional insight from an unusual perspective as well as an interesting story.

http://www.tonypark.net/
http://wardogs-afghanistan.blogspot.com/