The Cull by Tony Park

Publisher's Synopsis

One mission ... countless enemies.

Former mercenary Sonja Kurtz is hired by business tycoon Julianne Clyde-Smith to head an elite squad. Their aim: to take down Africa's top poaching kingpins and stop at nothing to save its endangered wildlife.

But as the body count rises, it becomes harder for Sonja to stay under the radar and she is targeted by an underworld syndicate known as The Scorpions.

When her love interest, safari guide and private investigator Hudson Brand, is employed to look into the death of an alleged poacher at the hands of Sonja's team, she is forced to ask herself if Julianne's crusade has gone too far.

From South Africa's Kruger National Park to the Serengeti of Tanzania, Sonja realises she is fighting a war on numerous fronts, against enemies known and unknown.

So who can Sonja really trust?

My Review of The Cull by Tony Park

The 3rd book to feature one-time mercenary Sonja Kurtz, The Cull deals with the poaching scourge that continues to endanger the survival of some of Africa’s most spectacular animals. 

Sonja has attempted to get out of the mercenary game, preferring now to mentor women, training them into anti-poaching fighting units. But, try as she might, it seems that she’s destined to be dragged back into combat situations. This time she’s offered a position by local millionaire game reserve owner Julianne Clyde-Smith to track poachers and monitor their movements, reporting back so that other units can engage in stopping them.

She puts together a small but competent team and they set off on their mission. But, rather than being a non-combat excursion, they find themselves under attack and are soon fighting for their lives. In fact, Sonja can’t help but think that their mission was a setup by Julianne and that a battle with the poachers was orchestrated.

Sonja’s love interest throughout the series is Hudson Brand. Brand works as both a safari guide and a private investigator using the skills he picked up in the military. He’s asked to look into the death of one of the poachers by the man’s family. The man died at the hands of one of the members of Sonja’s team and by running his investigation he’s kind of on the other side to hers.

Rhino and elephant poaching continues to be a big problem in Africa and the spurious reasons for taking the horns and tusks are continually pointed out. But the money remains huge and organized crime is backing the activity. These are the people that Sonja, Hudson and their small team come up against with devastating consequences.

The Cull is a fast paced action thriller pitting the small-guy underdogs against a heavily armed militia. On the surface, the aim of the game is to fight poachers and to protect the local endangered species. But there’s more at play here and even when it appears that Sonja has figured out who her enemies are, there’s a twist or two that turns everything on its head. 

As well as adding another entry in following the exploits of Sonja and Hudson, fans of Park’s Sannie van Rensburg series will be interested to know that she also has a part to play in proceedings here.  She comes into play to investigate the death of a couple of poachers from early in the piece. But she also has links to Hudson and their friendship serves to cause some friction between the two main characters. It’s quite enjoyable to see this crossover from one series to another.

But, as always, it’s the vivid description of the African people, their culture, the breathtaking landscape in which it’s set and the wildlife that dwell within to life. We’re given a fully immersive experience as he takes time out from the hectic action to focus in on herds of wildebeest, elephant movements, cheetahs and leopards as they fight for survival on the periphery of the main story.

The Cull is another edge of the seat thriller that continues to establish Sonja Kurtz as a highly competent, deadly mercenary. As a fast paced action story it’s worth the read, even more so for the reminder that there’s still an important job going on to protect our wildlife.