Blog Tour: Ivory Ghosts: A Catherine Sohon Elephant Mystery by Caitlin O’Connell

In a blockbuster debut thriller brimming with majestic wildlife, village politics, and international intrigue, a chilling quadruple homicide raises the stakes in the battle to save Africa’s elephants.

Still grieving over the tragic death of her fiancé, American wildlife biologist Catherine Sohon leaves South Africa and drives to a remote outpost in northeast Namibia, where she plans to face off against the shadowy forces of corruption and relentless human greed in the fight against elephant poaching. Undercover as a census pilot tracking the local elephant population, she’ll really be collecting evidence on the ruthless ivory traffickers.

But before she even reaches her destination, Catherine stumbles onto a scene of horrifying carnage: three people shot dead in their car, and a fourth nearby—with his brain removed. The slaughter appears to be the handiwork of a Zambian smuggler known as “the witchdoctor,” a figure reviled by activists and poachers alike. Forced to play nice with local officials, Catherine finds herself drawn to the prickly but charismatic Jon Baggs, head of the Ministry of Conservation, whose blustery exterior belies his deep investment in the poaching wars.

Torn between her developing feelings and her unofficial investigation, she takes to the air, only to be grounded by a vicious turf war between competing factions of a black-market operation that reaches far beyond the borders of Africa. With the mortality rate—both human and animal—skyrocketing, Catherine races to intercept a valuable shipment. Now she’s flying blind, and a cunning killer is on the move. – Goodreads

You know, I never thought I’d want to take off to Africa and save the elephants.  I’m more of a save the people in my own city kind of gal. This book kind of made me want to do save elephants instead. And be a pilot.

I really enjoyed the story and plot. There was action, pain, suspense, and little bitty bit of love. Her fiance died the year prior, so there was lots of flashbacks to that—having your fiance speared by a tusked animal in front of you will leave you pretty traumatized.

One issue I had was predictability. I was pretty sure I knew who the head honcho bad dude was for a while, and  I was right. I don’t like to put a book down with that sense of smug “I knew it”.

Catherine is an interesting main character, which I appreciated. Not only is she a pilot, she’s kind of a general badass. That being said, taking a Beetle car into the desert? Even I know that’s a shit idea.

The main issue that the plot centers on is poaching for ivory, a very real and serious issue that is taking place right now. It’s a bloody war for both elephants and humans, one that is driving our elephant population to extinction. Though the novel was fictional, it was great that it shed light on this important topic.

Overall, I rated Ivory Ghosts a 3.5/5. I definitely recommend to those who are interested in animal conservation themed novels.

Huge thank you to TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read Ivory Ghosts and participate in the blog tour! Check out the other tour spots here. You can buy Ivory Ghosts on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.