Eclipse - Hardcover

Cox, Richard Hubert Francis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312139667 ISBN 13: 9780312139667

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1996

Synopsis

When a ruthless gang of Somali poachers begins a killing spree in Kenya, the Cawston settler family enlists the help of a beautiful American diplomat to preserve the endangered animals that roam freely on their farm.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

A sprawling but sporadically engrossing ecothriller from old- pro Cox (Park Plaza, 1991, etc.). Here, Somali poachers who've been wreaking systematic havoc on Kenya's protected wildlife plan a climactic coup during a rare total eclipse of the sun. Sally Facetti, a handsome young consular official at the US Embassy in Nairobi, has a full plate. Colonel Tom Keen, the legation's military attach‚, has shown her satellite photos detailing the damage done indigenous elephant herds by the armed and dangerous gang of ivory hunters; meanwhile, a Peace Corps volunteer with an influential mom has gone missing in the bush; and Sally's been assigned to wetnurse an American astronomer in country with a demanding tour group for the eclipse. The stargazer is slated to set up camp at a hinterland farm owned by the Cawstons, a settler family with troubles of their own. With the patriarch (once a white hunter) dying, his son Rory and widowed daughter Sophie can't agree about whether to turn the vast acreage into a commercial game preserve or to keep raising cattle on it. Helpful Sally devises a mixed-use plan that could attract funding from environmental groups and support from the Kenyan government. The resourceful scheme gains her the respect of manly Rory, but Sally must still deal with a Wildlife Minister whose venal half-brother is in league with the well-equipped raiders who've been pillaging the poorly policed interior. Though tracked by Rory and Keen, the poachers reach their primary objective, a herd of rhinos temporarily penned up on Cawston property, slaughtering the animals for their horns at the height of the eclipse. A manhunt ensues, and only one marauder escapes the dragnet. Withal, Sally gets Rory (whose unhappy wife leaves him at a decidedly opportune juncture), and there's a sense that First Worldlings can save Kenya's treasures from a feckless populace. Cox keeps the pot boiling merrily until the disappointingly tame close, when he seems in a hurry to depart the exotic locales he's so vividly rendered. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly

Neither leopards nor rhinos nor elephants prove to be Africa's most dangerous mammals in this sturdy environmental thriller from Cox (The Columbus Option). An impending solar eclipse is causing excitement in Kenya, but conservationists and some government officials are more concerned about the vicious band of Somali poachers cutting a swath through the countryside. These predators are heading toward the game-rich lands of the Cawston family, who have hired American diplomat Sally Facetti to come up with a plan for their property that will balance environmental and financial needs. Meanwhile, a young Peace Corps volunteer has gone missing; his socially prominent and politically connected mother has flown to Africa to find him, joining the group of astronomers that has arrived to view the eclipse. As the moon begins to cover the sun, characters and plot lines come together at the Cawston ranch, leading to a tense climax with a twist. Crisp characters, a solid plot and spot-on insights into the nature of political and familial maneuvering add up to a satisfying, informative yarn.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0312139667
• ISBN 13: 9780312139667
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 337