Vendetta by Tony Park

Publisher's Synopsis

Captain Sannie van Rensburg and safari guide Mia Greenaway are caught in the crossfires of a decades-old feud between five veterans of South Africa's apartheid-era Border War.

Haunted by the deadly mission that shaped their lives forever, the ex-paratroopers must finally confront their demons, and each other, at the funeral of a comrade in the red dunes of the Kalahari Desert.

But their scars run deep, and as the truth emerges, each man must ask himself: When serving your country, what makes you a hero and what secrets are worth dying for?

My Review of Vendetta by Tony Park

Vendetta is the 6th book in the Sannie van Rensburg and this time we visit the Kalahari Desert in Namibia via KwaZulu-Natal in a thriller that is filled with tension and resentment. 

After the events of Blood Trail, Sannie van Rensburg is back at work, but she has now moved to the coastal town of KwaZulu-Natal, hoping for a change of scenery to help erase the bad memories. Vendetta once again presents us with a possible best and worst picture of South Africa reminding us of the wild beauty of the land mixed with the most dangerous animal living there - man.

Adam Kruger is a former paratrooper, having fought in the war in Angola during the Border War. These days he works as a car park attendant at the local shopping mall, earning himself enough money to fund his university studies plus the occasional beer after work. He’s reluctantly thrust into the spotlight when he heroically involves himself in a shooting incident in the car park.

It’s this incident that thrusts Sannie into his life as she investigates the shooting. He quickly moves from a “person of interest” to an interesting person as she finds herself drawn to the quietly spoken man.

Mia Greenaway, the game park guide and experienced tracker also returns from Blood Trail. She’s now a firm friend of Sannie’s and finds herself caught up in the intrigue that’s brought to her game park in the Kalahari. While out on safari she comes across the body of a fellow tracker and good friend. It appears he has committed suicide.

The dead man had served in the same troop as Adam and he feels compelled to travel to the funeral to honour his friend. Sannie jumps at the opportunity to visit Mia by offering to drive him to the funeral in Namibia. His only reservation is the prospect of meeting up with several of his service comrades, some of whom he now hates.

Queue the flashback chapters that take us back to 1987 and the war in Angola where Kruger is part of a squad tasked with locating a downed chopper. Lieutenant Tony Ferri was the commanding officer for the mission and Sergeant Frank Greenaway (Mia’s father) was also a key figure. The events that unfold during this ill-fated mission prove to be very important to the present day events and we’re fed the details in small, appetite-whetting chunks.

These days Tony Ferri is an up and coming politician who is being touted as the next big hope to win the leadership of his party. His popularity is high enough that he may one day even have a chance of becoming the country’s president.

However, it’s safe to say that Adam Kruger is no fan of Ferri’s, having experienced all of the man’s deficiencies while serving under him in Angola. From what we can gather, Frank Greenaway also had issues with the man before he died too.

Although this is a Sannie van Rensburg mystery, the detective plays a more minor role, offering a bit of police presence at vital moments as things unfold. Her story continues to unfold and we learn small snippets about her that were previously untold, but much of her backstory is only mentioned in passing. Adam Kruger is the story’s central character and is the nearest thing to the hero of the piece and he proves to be quite the complex character.

Something happened in Angola in 1987 and those who were there are dying in mysterious circumstances. Tony Park has devised a complex mystery and given it 30-plus years to fester before coming to a head in spectacular fashion. The action ramps up as old scores are settled in a thriller that manages to surprise with a couple of unexpected twists by story’s end.