Murder on Safari is a unique mystery read with in depth descriptions.

I didn't find this book matched well with me as a reader, but the book is still incredible. Peter Riva creates an amazing tale woven in this novel that is full of mystery in Africa.

For me, I couldn't get into the writing style. Peter Riva paints the story well with his words, but we just didn't mash well. I'd highly recommend this novel if you love a good mystery or tales surrounding another country, but I don't think I'll be rereading this novel.

The pacing builds as the story goes on, becoming more and more intriguing as each page passes. Slowly, the details and mystery unravels to create an epic ending that will leave you breathless. If you pay attention well, you can connect the clues by the end of the story. But, if you'd rather just follow along and have fun, it's easy to get lost in this story that way as well.

Pero and Mbuno are well developed characters who work well together. Some of the best comedic lines come from this duo! You'll find yourself growing to love these characters as each page passes by. Also, the introduction of the other characters felt like it flowed well with the story as well. I didn't find any of these characters were forced into the narrative.

The setting of Africa was truly breathtaking. I'm not sure how accurate it is (since I haven't been there) but it felt real. Other authors could easily learn from Peter Riva's talents in description of a location. At times, I felt it was almost TOO descriptive, but if you like that sort of writing this book might be for you!

Overall, this book wasn't for me. I think it is an incredible read that should find it's way onto more shelves. I would recommend this book if you are a fan of mysteries, love good quality in descriptions, or are looking for a book that is out of the ordinary (in a good way, of course!).

Two out of five stars.

I received a free copy of this book from Goodreads First Reads. ( )

Book Tour: Murder on Safari by Peter Riva Pero is sent to film some wildlife. When they get there and settle for the first night. They plan for a photo shoot in the morning. Things start to get interesting once a truck appears and Pero and Mbuno. They start to run.A terrorist cell intercepts them. When they find  that Simon as landed and is already dead. They start to wonder who killed him. Why are they after Pero and his film crew?I really like this book by Peter Riva has I feel I was part of the story and he captured my interest as to what will happen to Pero and his crew. I have become fond of Pero and Mbuno and Heep. He does a wonderful job and you just want to keep reading. His book is a page turner.It got to twist and turns and surprises on the every page. You may think you know you found the person, but it gets weirder and stranger. The adventure gets more interesting and excited. Can they save Jimmy Threte and Mary and the thousand of Kenyans? Will they stop the terrorist attack? ( )

Pero Baltazar, a film producer, arrives in East Africa, along with his crew, to film a nature show about vultures and giant crocodiles.

Upon their arrival they are met by Mbuno, a top rate safari guide and someone Pero has worked with numerous times.

The plan is for a crew member to fly with the vultures in his hang glider. It’ll be spectacular. Filming goes great. But the crew member never lands at the rendevous spot.

Pero discovers his body, riddled with bullets. He allows the scavengers to mutilate the body so that it will look like an accidental death. This way, the family can collect the insurance money, and whoever killed his crew member won’t know their identities.

The show must go on, so Pero takes the hang glider up for some final shots. He sees an encampment below. They are probably the terrorists who killed his crew member.

If he can see them, they can’t miss him, hanging in the sky like a giant raptor. He rushes to land and the crew load up and get out fast. The plan is to go to the next location, filming crocodiles. Perhaps if they look like they are continuing on their schedule, the terrorists won’t pursue them.

It seemed like a good plan.

The author’s descriptions of Africa are riveting. I’ve always wanted to visit, and hope to do so someday.

The multitude of characters keep you entertained, the plot is intriguing and believable, and the suspense builds, keeping you flipping the pages for the final outcome.

This is my first book by Peter Riva and I’ll be reading more. ( )

Pero Baltazar is a wildlife film producer and this time he is working in northern Kenya, specifically trying to film large raptors and carrion birds. His local expert guide and friend of multiple decades, Mbuno, thinks there may be trouble brewing in the area. When the film crew loses a man in suspicious circumstances, they need to make some decisions and then a hasty exit. Trouble follows them into Tanzania where they are filming large crocodiles with world-renowned crocodile expert Mary. She also happens to be the daughter of a top TV evangelist, Jimmy Threte, and it looks like a terrorist organization may be targeting one or both of them.

This was a pretty interesting book for several reasons. We have the whole setting, which was done pretty well. The author didn’t gloss over the cultural differences, the good, or the bad. Then there is the wildlife, which my inner biologist thrilled to hear about. The characters, for the most part, were multi-dimensional and interesting. The plot, while it slowed in a few places, was well thought out and there were some surprises tossed in there.

The setting was multi-layered and complex. We have a lot of cultures and some interesting history that has shaped both Kenya and Tanzania. While we see the entire story through the eyes of Pero, he has filmed in these two countries before over the last few decades and has friends and pseudo-enemies (or at least, people he has to bribe upon sight) in the area. He’s not ignorant of the local languages and customs, but nor is he an expert. He relies heavily on his good friend Mbuno, who is the expert. that friendship and trust becomes pretty important during the story. Mbuno gives us a look into local culture while also still being able to relate to it. He’s a tracker as well as having contacts in nearly every city, town, and village. More than once, his abilities keep the crew alive.

Obviously, Pero and Mbuno are the stars of this book. I felt the most connected to these two. The author also did a good job of making side characters personable or, at least, memorable. Plenty of characters had both good and bad traits. For instance, a lot of folks expect or even demand bribes and yet that is how things work. Normally, I would put bribery in the bad category, but several characters rely on this type of transaction in order to get things done. It was very interesting to see how that worked in practice.

Our first female character, a vehicle rental business owner, doesn’t make an appearance until perhaps 1/4 of the way into the book. She was a minor character, even if she had lots of personality. Then finally we get Mary well into the book, perhaps as much as 1/3 of the way. She has a great personality and gets a scene or two to show us readers her biology expertise. There’s a few more female characters here and there, all minor. The ones who get to talk are written well and so I don’t know why the author is so shy in using female characters. Additionally, Mary is the only character through out the book that shows some skin, unless you count Pero’s comedic medical issue at the very end. Also, the women cry, need comforting, and occasionally faint. So, yes, in general they are interesting and well written, and yet the author still sometimes falls back on cliches.

The plot held my attention for most of the book. We start off basically on a safari with a knowledgeable film crew and I simply enjoyed soaking in the atmosphere. Then we have the mysterious death that sets off all the other events. We learn very early on that Pero has historically done very small jobs for interested governments – such as dropping off notes or making note of whether or not a certain political figure stayed at the same hotel as himself. In this tale, Pero’s role and, hence, his contacts will come into the big picture. This kind of spy stuff was a nice added touch to the plot and it totally worked with the terrorist plot that takes over the second half of the book. There were some twists and turns I didn’t see coming and those were exciting problems to see the crew take on and conquer.

So my one complaint with the plot is that sometimes it got too into the details and sometimes the dialogue repeated the same concepts again and again. I can see how the author was trying to bring in some reality, and sometimes that worked very much in his favor, but sometimes it went a little over and my mind would drift as the characters rehashed the same thing they had been rehashing for the last 10 minutes. Still, the book over all is worth these little bumps for the thrill of the ride. The ending was a wonderful nail-biting last hour and left me feeling very satisfied.

I received a copy of this audiobook at no cost from the author (via the blog tour company iRead Book tours) in exchange for an honest review.

Narration: R. D. Watson did a pretty darn good job. He had to pull off a lot of different accents – which he did quite well. His female voices were also believable. During times of excitement, stress, or sadness, he imbued the scenes with emotion. Nicely done! ( )

I got the audio version of this book. Which by the way narrator, R.D. Watson is really good. I have listened to some narrators that have a monotone voice that could put you to sleep, no matter how good or bad the book is written. Then there are other narrators that being the story to life. This is what Mr. Watson did for this book. To be honest, while I liked listening to this book, if I had been reading it I might have given up on it. There were points that even while listening to Mr. Watson reading the story that I felt it droned on and the story slowed down and lost some of the excitement and action. Yet again, it was for Mr. Watson that I did stick with listening to this book. Well this reason and I did feel that Mr. Riva could tell a good story. He made East Africa come alive. It was like I was instantly transported to East Africa and could see the movie of this book playing out in my head. While I may not have loved this book I would check out other books by Mr. Riva and also listen to more audio books narrated by Mr. Watson. ( )