Kidnapped on Safari: A Thriller (Mbuno & Pero #5) by Peter Riva

Kidnapped on Safari: A Thriller (Mbuno & Pero #5). Peter Riva. Skyhorse Publication. January 2020. pb, 288 pp.; ISBN #: 9781510749009.

Mbuno is an expert safari guide and Pero is a wildlife television producer.  They are presently filming wildlife hunting on Lake Rudolph in Nigeria.  After a successful filming day, Mbuno receives word that his nephew, Ubo, has been kidnapped in Tanzania.  Ubo’s past is troubled as his father was involved in some illegal business and died during that conflict.

This is an expose of a realistic news story, the capture of young girls by Boko Harem.  The group is involved in running a lumber mill where forests are cut down, cocoa is grown for drugs, the drugs are stored in the logs of lumber and transported out of Tanzania.  It also involves the business arrangement of receiving Russian gold for the drugs and money from the sale of drugs.  It becomes an international incident because it involves Russian and American top security and defense administrators.

Those running the mill are responsible for kidnapping Ubo because they thought he had films that could expose their illegal activities.  Those who team up with Pero and Mbuno risk their lives to rescue the thirty young girls.  It also winds up in some fighting and dying, a massive railroad accident, climbing through muddy swamps and fields, and living in the most wild and uncomfortable conditions.  Fortunately, many of the members of the team have antiterrorist positions and experience.  There are many references to past activities of these individuals in Iraq and elsewhere. 

The growth of the deforestation program in Africa is highlighted with little being done to stop its progress.

Kidnapped on Safari… is full of multiple characters, riveting adventures and danger, and strong individuals determined to preserve a moral good over the threats of negative terrorist activities.  Africa remains a changing, threatened continent with different countries vying for domination economically and politically.  Exciting and compelling read!