Berenson did a nice job of fleshing out the main characters, so much so that I dearly wanted to punch a couple of them in mouth - interestingly enough, they were not the bad guys but rather two of the kidnap victims. The leader of a marauding band, that was central to the story, was a beautifully written young Somali bandit who had named himself Wizard because he felt invincible. I found him to be the most interesting character in the story and his presence elevated the story from very good to excellent. ( )

Good addition to the John Wells series. The series is hit and miss but I really enjoyed this one. Badly run charity gets into trouble in Africa. ( )

Four University of Montana college grads are doing volunteer work in an Africa refugee camp, when they are kidnapped for unknown reasons. John Wells's estranged son calls his father to ask for his help in rescuing them, and seeing a chance to repair a broken family, he heads off to help. Once there, he funds treachery and then has to convince a young African warlord to hand over the hostages by offering money and firepower. Berenson does a good job switching between the hostages, John's rescue efforts, amid hopeless Africa politics. ( )

The hero of Alex Berenson's series is so much more appealing to me than a Dirk Pitt -- deeper characterization, at least somewhat more realistic, operating mostly thru experience & judgment rather than toys or gadgets, and not leaping from one lady to another in each book. I always enjoy reading one of these as a contrast to the nonfiction that can bog me down. Not splashy but highly distractring. ( )

Good book, absolutely recommend reading it ( )