It is November, 1993. The chaos and lawlessness of Somalia has reached its apex in the wake of the “Blackhawk Down” debacle of a month earlier and the American government struggles with its foreign policy options. In neighboring Kenya a young couple honeymooning on safari are wickedly attacked by ruthless elephant poachers—he is murdered, she is kidnapped. Their fathers, who served together as Army Rangers in Vietnam, agonize over the loss (they and the incompetent Kenyan police believe both are dead) and choke on the certain truth that justice will never be served. That is, until they decide to do what any outraged former special forces soldiers would do ... hunt the bastards down themselves.
John Ruger Forrest, an airline pilot and a former highly skilled and decorated sniper, assembles a team of his old Army Ranger comrades to do what must be done. At great risk to his career, Steven Henry Henderson brings CIA resources to bear to provide Forrest with the support necessary to pose as an elephant researcher while stalking and hunting poachers. But, a mission that begins as an act of pure vigilante justice and revenge becomes something much more complicated when Henderson discovers his daughter may be alive and Forrest falls in love with Africa, the magnificent elephants and a woman whose husband hides a dark secret which has the potential to bring them both down.
This novel is “fiction-as-realism” at its best. Every fact and location has been painstakingly researched and every character and episode is either based on actual events or composites of real people and true stories. It doesn’t get any more “real” than this.
Wildlife
Elephants are a key component of Final Trumpet. Take a look at this video featuring the younger versions of these magnificent animals:
Excerpts
Excerpts from Final Trumpet are now available. Click here for a glimpse into this gripping tale.
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