As a fan of creature features such as Lake Placid, Rampage and The Meg, the premise of Prey Zone appealed to me immediately, and the book definitely didn’t disappoint. The action and suspense start to build from the prologue, as Dane Mellanby is forced to flee from some mysterious and highly dangerous creature while being observed by an unknown party via a camera drone.
The tone shifts somewhat when the main story starts and Ralph and Robyn Ballantyne are introduced, but it’s all still very intriguing. They’re searching for an elephant that might be starving, and their experience as trackers and wildlife conservators is clear. They stumble upon the existence of a strange predator—one that scares even lions—and their rescue of an injured springbok offers a clue to its nature and origin.
From this point on, the action and danger come thick and fast as the Ballantyne siblings attempt to find out more about the unidentified predator and their investigation leads to them becoming embroiled in a conspiracy to hush up a deadly disease outbreak and a plot to reintroduce big game hunting to South Africa. The more they discover, they more things seem to point to the involvement of their neighbour, billionaire Josef Gerhard.
But what could Gerhand’s ultimate plan be? What kind of predator can take out elephants and lions with no trouble? What is the deadly disease that threatens to ravage the country and is there a cure? And how is it all linked to the popular video game Predasaur?
Prey Zone is an exciting and action-packed adventure story with an appealing setting and an unusual underlying cryptozoological aspect. The heat and landscape of South Africa are used to great effect throughout the story, transporting the reader to the various reserves and highlighting the importance of protecting the natural world. The danger posed by the mysterious predator feels very real, as does the nature of the conspiracy that the Ballantynes uncover.
The tone shifts somewhat when the main story starts and Ralph and Robyn Ballantyne are introduced, but it’s all still very intriguing. They’re searching for an elephant that might be starving, and their experience as trackers and wildlife conservators is clear. They stumble upon the existence of a strange predator—one that scares even lions—and their rescue of an injured springbok offers a clue to its nature and origin.
From this point on, the action and danger come thick and fast as the Ballantyne siblings attempt to find out more about the unidentified predator and their investigation leads to them becoming embroiled in a conspiracy to hush up a deadly disease outbreak and a plot to reintroduce big game hunting to South Africa. The more they discover, they more things seem to point to the involvement of their neighbour, billionaire Josef Gerhard.
But what could Gerhand’s ultimate plan be? What kind of predator can take out elephants and lions with no trouble? What is the deadly disease that threatens to ravage the country and is there a cure? And how is it all linked to the popular video game Predasaur?
Prey Zone is an exciting and action-packed adventure story with an appealing setting and an unusual underlying cryptozoological aspect. The heat and landscape of South Africa are used to great effect throughout the story, transporting the reader to the various reserves and highlighting the importance of protecting the natural world. The danger posed by the mysterious predator feels very real, as does the nature of the conspiracy that the Ballantynes uncover.