Official Review: Killing Ground by Phil Bowie

[ccundall2130]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Killing Ground" by Phil Bowie.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Imagine a 63-year-old matriarch enjoying the day with her family. This family is eating and browsing, and the biggest worry is if the weather will hold long enough to finish. Now, imagine this 63-year-old female is the matriarch of a herd of female elephants. None are in estrus, so there are no males around other than a 1-year old calf. In a truly short time, this entire family will be slaughtered by poachers.

This gripping scene is how Phil Bowie begins his book, Killing Ground. The book follows the journey of the perfectly matched tusks taken from the slaughtered matriarch. Her tusks are of special interest because they have uncommon whiteness and texture. However, this book is so much more than a sad story about magnificent elephants. The reader must find the will to continue reading after the horrific scene of the slaughter. This is because it's a compelling story about the unsung heroes that fight poachers. Many heroes die while fighting to save these innocent animals. All of them have accepted this dire risk in the pursuit of what they are passionate about.

The main character, Zeke Blades, is a pilot that has recently been fired from his job to make room for a young but inexperienced pilot in a nepotism play. His ex-wife contacts him because her brother, Ben, is missing and was last seen in Africa. Zeke travels to Africa to help solve Ben's disappearance. Ben is more than the brother to Zeke's ex-wife but was also his flight instructor, mentor, and friend. Zeke is unsure if he will find Ben alive and oblivious of the complicated events Ben involved himself in. He will meet many selfless characters as well as evil ones. Subsequently, Zeke will become involved in a fight that could cost him his life or the lives of those he cares for.

From the very beginning, this book grabbed my attention. I have always found elephants to be incredibly special creatures. I feel the more we know about them and see the similarities between them and us, the more we must work to protect them, and other animals massacred for their ivory. This book fulfills a mission to educate the reader about the illegal ivory trade but is fast paced and an easy read. A little bit of the terminology gets confusing since I do not have any experience as a pilot or in karate. However, there was enough explanation to get the general meaning of the passage. There is a very minor amount of profanity. The scenes with intimacy were more suggestive than actual detail and not graphic at all. In fact, they were usually generalizations of playful caressing leading to heavy breathing. The story is filled with action, sadness, brutality, hope, and love.

The author is a pilot and maritime captain. It is obvious he has experience with firearms and knowledge of military campaigns. His descriptions make the entire book so much more believable. I liked most the details of the countryside and the roads taken as well as the skies the characters flew in. They were so precise, I felt I was a passenger. I also felt I was there when the elephants were massacred or when the poachers were pursued by the heroes of this story. For all the memorable aspects of this story, I rated it 4 out of 4 stars. There wasn’t anything about this story I didn’t like. It is obviously professionally edited because I found only a couple of punctuation errors.

Due to the graphic descriptions of the elephant massacre and the fight scenes, this book should be read only by adults. This novel has educational value in that it tells of the dire circumstances the endangered elephants face. The poaching and illegal ivory trade is a disgusting narrative that still needs to be told. However, this story also has humor and romance. It would appeal to any reader looking for action stories based on true events. The author explains some of the events have been fictionalized. With that said, it is easy to see there would be many parallels in what is known about poaching and this book.

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Killing Ground
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[Cynthia_Oluchi]

The elephant massacre and fight scenes must really be too scary to be read by someone like me who is easily fear-gripped. This, however, is a good review.

[MsH2k]

Reading your review, I realize how much I don’t know about elephants and the poaching of these majestic animals. I think I’ll check out this book. Thank you for a wonderful review.

[NetMassimo]

I read a lot about the problems with poaching, which is dangerously reducing elephants' populations, with park rangers fighting poachers, which sometimes means that there are firefights, so I find this novel's theme compelling. Thank you for your great review!

[Nisha Ward]

There's a lot about the ivory trade I don't like and I have no sympathy for poachers, so I'm really glad that the book is about those who fight them. I do wonder what Ben got involved in and how it's related to that enough that Zeke gets involved.

[Tonika632]

I appreciate the author's work, but I am sensitive about torture and massacres. Great review!