Dead on the Delta

Alexa Williams has accompanied her boyfriend Reese, to Botswana, where he’s filling in for an Africa Trust colleague, a group dedicated to wildlife research. Alexa is thrilled to be helping out in the bush with the lion study and, she’s also participating in a commission dedicated to creating better anti-poaching legislation. Her law background and work on sex trafficking enforcement have given her access to some interesting Botswana personalities as a result. Everything is going well until poachers begin targeting Botswana’s elephant population. At Noka Camp, where Alexa and Reese are working, they get a first-hand look at the devastation the poachers are causing, making Alexa more determined to help the commission pass appropriate laws to curb such violence. But Botswana politics may not be as straightforward as they appear, leaving Alexa vulnerable to unseen forces.

Dead on the Delta presents an accomplished female character who is professional, curious, and passionate about her work, and at the same time vulnerable in a way that made me want to get to know her. I found myself rooting for her the whole way through this story. I also loved the fact that the author examined lots of social and environmental issues and the challenges African nations, especially Botswana, face trying to balance the needs of its people and its wildlife treasures. And to make it all the more exciting, she was able to incorporate adventure and a bit of romance to make this a fascinating, well-layered story. The landscape descriptions were marvelous and so well written that I felt I was almost there. In fact, that was one of the things I appreciated most about this book. I was right there in the thick of things, not just with Alexa and Reese but with the other characters as well.

I think chapters twenty-two and twenty-three made this book really work for me. By the time I had read this far, I was starting to wonder if Alexa and Reese would discover anything about the real poachers, although I was having my own suspicions by this point. But, the unexpected events that happened in these chapters propelled the story forward and made my heart beat a little faster. The further unexpected twists and turns that came with two of the main characters were simply icing on the cake for me. I have to say that one of the main reasons I was drawn to the book was for the African setting. The fact that it had a great cast of characters and a fantastic female lead meant that I not only loved it but, now I want to read the other books in the Alexa Williams series as well, even if they aren’t set in Africa.