Ivory Ghosts by Caitlin O'Connell + a Giveaway

Hello, all! Today I'm a stop on the TLC book tour for Caitlin O'Connell's Ivory Ghosts. Note there is a tour wide giveaway on this one, so be sure to read through to the bottom for the Rafflecopter.

Catherine Sohon has just taken a new job in Namibia, undercover as a census pilot counting and tracking elephants and elephant mortality. In fact, Catherine is there to spy on the growing poaching and illegal ivory trade in the area. 

Everyone claims there is no poaching issue here - that that's an East Africa problem and that here their issue is in fact wildlife management. But Catherine soon discovers the area's poaching trade is alive and thriving. So much so that even local officials have their hand in the business. Unsure who to trust, Catherine must keep her cover if she is to make it through this job alive. 

Caitlin O'Connell's fiction debut is quite an admirable one - she's created a great lead character, plopped her down in a fabulous setting, and wrapped a plot around a genuine and disturbing world issue. You might think that this last part in particular would be a recipe for a less than successful suspense read but that's definitely not the case in O'Connell's hands.

Africa is a setting that I find greatly appealing in fiction. It's probably the main reason this particular book came onto my reading radar. Unlike the Africa of, say, Natasha Mostert's Windwalker (which is also set in Namibia), O'Connell focuses on the Caprivi Strip. In addition to poaching and wildlife, she does touch on local politics and the affects of nearby countries' politics on the area as well.

Ivory Ghosts is a solid start to what could be a great series - and I do hope we'll get to see more of Catherine.

Rating: 3.5/5

To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here.

And now for the giveaway. As I mentioned, this is a tour wide giveaway hosted by the folks at Alibi. To enter simply fill out the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway