Last Survivor by Tony Park

Publisher's Synopsis

GREED.

Joanne Flack is on the run - suspected of stealing a rare African plant thought to be extinct and worth millions of dollars.

DANGER.

Sonja Kurtz is hired by the CIA to hunt down Joanne and find the link between the missing plant and a terrorist group hiding out in South Africa.

TREACHERY

Joanne is a member of the Pretoria Cycad and Firearms Appreciation Society who take it upon themselves to track down the plant ... and the traitor in their midst who is willing to kill for it.

My Review of Last Survivor by Tony Park

The consistent theme of the majority of Tony Park’s Africa-based thrillers is the need to protect the continent’s endangered species. And this theme continues in Last Survivor. However, the species under threat is not an animal this time, it’s a plant. A very rare and extremely valuable plant known as a cycad.

The Encephalartos woodii is extremely endangered with the female plant almost extinct. One such plant has recently gone missing, as has Joanne Flack, a member of a cycad fanciers group known as the Pretoria Cycad and Firearms Appreciation Society.

The assumption is that Joanne has stolen the hugely valuable plant from the Saudi prince she was working with. The hunt is on for the would-be thief with the survival of the species on the line. 

Enter Sonja Kurtz, one time mercenary, occasional gun for hire with the CIA and fierce guardian of the endangered animals of Africa. She enters the scene working on a clandestine mission in Mali retrieving a kidnapped senator’s daughter, working alongside Jed Banks, a familiar face from another of Tony Park’s series. Through this decidedly intense sortie we’re given a taste of Kurtz’s capabilities, but not only that, there’s a hint of terrorist involvement in this whole cycad theft ring.

It seems that there are some pretty bad guys looking to take Joanne out for her deviousness. Sonja is hired to find her with the hopes that she can protect her from harm. In true form, she gets to her side just in time and the action takes off with one close call after another demonstrating that there’s more to the story than just a rare plant, no matter how valuable it might actually be.

It seems that not all is well inside the four walls of the Saudi prince’s property. It’s here that the story eventually wends its way to, with an all out battle involving a group of jihadists and the elderly members of the aforementioned Cycad Society. Throw in Hudson Brand, Sonja’s on again, off again love interest, as well as the CIA and other assorted militia.

This is another absorbing action thriller set in Africa that brings rampant gunplay, questionable air attacks and a high body count to bear for our entertainment. It’s fast paced, it skirts the edges of believability much of the time, indulges in brief romantic interludes and even squeezes in a twist ending. Above all, Park includes a stack of interesting detail about the cycad and its perilous plight and I was surprised with just how into these ancient plants I got.

Just a couple of little asides to finish with…

I found the details about cycads particularly interesting and was marveling at just how exotic they sounded. Curious, I googled the plants to get a better understanding of what they were…found a few pictures and it was then that I realised that we have a cycad growing in our front garden. Derrr.

And in a raging coincidence, there was a story only last week (September ‘24) about drones and artificial intelligence being employed in an attempt to locate a female <i>Encephalartos woodii</i> with the hope of saving it from extinction. Could almost have been a plot point from the book.