3.5 stars

This is a great premise for a novel, and I was completely hooked into the story from the beginning. But I felt Hellenga kept a bit too much distance between the reader and his characters. I wanted to know more about the WHY of what they did, and I didn’t get any answer to that. I was confused about some of their actions … again, WHY did they make certain choices or react certain ways. Instead I got a lot of information and miscellaneous facts – about serpents, or indigenous peoples in Africa, or field dressing a deer. Still the story kept me riveted, and there were twists in the plot line that I really didn’t expect. I would definitely read another book by Hellenga.