Born The Same

Antony Dunford

Publication date: 9 May 2023

Publisher: Hobeck

My Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

SYNOPSIS

Colm Reid, a disillusioned Irish journalist, is invited by Norwegian conservationist Kennet Haven to cover a story in the remote Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Colm joins Kennet, Kennet’s sister Jane, Belgian journalist Fatou Ba, and the rangers of Garamba on an expedition into the park to look for the last surviving wild northern white rhinos on the planet.

Kennet neglected to mention one thing: the park is in the middle of a war zone.

MY REVIEW

Colm’s idea of being a journalist and getting into dangerous situations, then being able to shout ‘don’t shoot I’m a journalist!’ was not exactly being realised. He was interviewing a doctor about an old bone. A very interesting twelve and a half thousand year old bear bone, but none the less a bone. 

But be careful what you wish for …

The article he writes about the bone from a bear, which was hunted to extinction in Ireland, leads him on to his next big story. Huge story. He is to travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to Garamba National Park where he will join one of the rangers, Kennet, to track down the last living white rhinos. They are believed to be extinct but Kennet is convinced there are still a few alive.

So with 5 hours notice he gets on a plane heading to Africa. He arrives and is picked up by rangers with guns, who take him and another journalist to the ranger station at Garamba. This area is home to poachers, rebels, murderers, kidnappers… he has no idea what is in store for him and how many times his life will be at risk.

The rangers who work to protect the wildlife from poachers need to be constantly on guard as they never know when their station will next be attacked. There are many dangerous groups in the jungle at war with each other, and they do not think twice about killing anyone to get their hands on such valuable commodities elephant tusks.

Colm finds himself bang in the centre of a war between The Soldiers of God and The Brotherhood of Souls. 

I absolutely loved this book. What a page turner. The danger the rangers face every day, risking their lives to protect what they love, is astonishing. It really brings it home what a dangerous place The DRC is, and the risk innocent animals face from poachers and extinction. We read stories and watch films about poachers and wars, but this book takes us to the heart of the fight.

Colm is a great character, taking everything in his stride even though he has never experienced anything like it. However, the real stand out character for me is Jane, Kennet’s sister, a teacher from Norway. 

I am looking forward to reading more about Jane in Hunted which is already out! I hope there will be many more in this series. 

Thank you Rebecca at Hobeck for having me along on the blog tour.

BLOG TOUR HOSTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Antony is from Bradford in West Yorkshire in the UK. He has studied history, literature, and creative writing. He became interested in the fate of rhinoceros after reading Douglas Adams’ & Mark Carwardine’s “The Last Chance to See”, and seeing the 20 year anniversary follow-up with Stephen Fry.

Hunted, his first novel, was long-listed for the 2020 Grindstone Literary Prize, short-listed for the 2019 UEA Crime Writing Prize, and published by Hobeck Books in January 2021. The opening of the yet-to-be-published sequel, Endangered, was short-listed for the 2020 First Pages Prize of the American Library of Paris.

Antony is a member of the Crime Writers Association and the Crime Readers Association.

You can read more of Antony’s work, short stories, and blog, at http://www.antonydunford.com, or follow him on Twitter @antony_dunford.