Predators

October 19, 2009
Through parallel stories, Ramsay's clever stand-alone shows the ruthlessness of the business and the animal worlds without resorting to gimmickry. Sekoa, an aging, mortally ill lion, is being forced out by younger rivals and hyenas on the Botswana plains. Meanwhile, Leo Painter, a Chicago energy czar with a bad heart, is up against ambitious employees and greedy relatives. While Sekoa stands up to his rivals, Painter and his entourage come to Botswana to build a resort/casino. Painter's callous nature has alienated him from his stepson, Bobby Griswold, who has “the brains of a guppy,” and Bobby's wife, Brenda, a former stripper. Painter's business plan would leave the Griswolds without any money, but not, the couple learns, if the old man dies first and his will remains intact. Ramsay (Impulse
) matches keen characterizations with an obvious affection for Botswana, a complicated country that's more than Alexander McCall Smith's “quaint mysteries,” as one character observes.

October 15, 2009
Some of the most dangerous animals in the jungle walk on two legs.

Sekoa, an elderly lion ousted as the leader of his pride and dying slowly of HIV, roams the terrain of Botswana. Still dangerous, he claims a human victim in local petty criminal Lovermore Ndlovu, similarly cast adrift by village elders. Nearby, game ranger Sanderson, who's lost her husband and is about to lose her son to AIDS, focuses on protecting her daughter Mpitle. Across the world in Chicago, Earth Global CEO Leo Painter is preparing for a trip to resource-rich Botswana at the behest of the State Department just as his corporation faces tumultuous times. COO Travis Parizzi mulls a hostile takeover, and Leo's shifty stepson Bobby sees his days of leisure numbered now that Leo's gotten over the death of Bobby's mother and moved on to trophy wife Lucille. Unbeknownst to Bobby, his shrewd wife Brenda, a former stripper, is working her own angles to get a piece of the Painter fortune. Luckily, Leo's interests are safe in the hands of his lawyer and confidant Harrah Farrah...or are they? All the above are members of the expedition whose plane lands just as Sanderson gets the order from her pompous boss that the diseased lion must be destroyed. Sanderson knows that he wants her to fail. And when one of the American party is murdered, she receives a dangerous additional challenge.

Ramsay (Stranger Room, 2008, etc.) redeems an uneven plot with brisk storytelling and colorful characters.

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Starred review from September 1, 2009
In this stand-alone, Ramsay, author of the Ike Schwartz series ("Choker"), follows the head honchos of Earth Global, a large conglomerate dealing in mining, energy, and real estate worldwide, to mineral-rich Botswana, which CEO Leo Painter wishes to turn into profitable ventures for his company. His accompanying entourage is greedy and immoral and trying to muscle out the aging Leo. Paralleling Leo's tale is the unforgettable Sekeo, an old, ill lion fighting off younger rivals, and game ranger Danderson, her delightful family, and her friends, who seek to make life something more than a focus on money and power. VERDICT A bit rougher-edged than Alexander McCall Smith's genteel "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series, this mystery will still attract his fans and those who like Michael Stanley's Detective Kubu series (e.g., "The Second Death of Goodluck Tinubu").

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.