Last Survivor (A Pretoria Cycad and Firearms Appreciation Society Mystery) by Tony Park – Review

• Title: Last Survivor
• Author: Tony Park
• Publisher: AJP on August 1, 2020
• Genre: Mystery Thriller
• Pages: 416
• Format: Paperback & Digital
• Rating: 4/5

Many thanks to Emma at Damppebbles Blog Tours, Tony Park, and AJP for providing me with a digital copy of Last Survivor in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

Trigger Warnings: Gun Violence, Warlike Situations

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Last Survivor Blurb

A priceless plant, a rare African cycad thought to be extinct and prized by collectors, has been discovered, then stolen.

Joanne Flack, widowed and broke, is the prime suspect for the crime. While supposedly hiding out in London she single-handedly foils a terrorist plot, killing a lone-wolf gunman.

Former mercenary turned CIA contractor, Sonja Kurtz, uncovers a link between the missing plant and the terrorist who tried to kill Joanne. The US Government thinks that if it can find the missing cycad it can foil an attack to rival 9-11.

Hot on Joanne’s trail is retired US Fisheries and Wildlife Department special agent Rod Cavanagh who knows his plants and knows his target – he’s her former lover.

Joanne is a member of the Pretoria Cycad and Firearms Appreciation Society. She, Sonja and Rod enlist the help of this group of ageing gardeners and gun nuts to find a plant worth a fortune and the traitor in their midst who is willing to kill for it.

Provided by AJP

My Review

Tony Park delivers a stunning, action-packed mystery thriller in Last Survivor. I have to admit that I have no idea why I chose to read this book. But I sure am glad I did! I was on the edge of my seat through the whole thing and kept guessing right until the very end.

I am emphatically against the use of weapons of war used for fun or sport. This book would have been perfect without these references. Not to mention much shorter. This novel is long at 416 pages and drug in some parts. Especially when describing the make and model of every gun fired. I do not need to know that the characters keep a Glock such and such model in their purse. This oversharing is useless information, in my opinion.

But, that said, the book is excellent. It is well-written and exciting. When I started this book, I didn’t want to put it down. It was so engrossing that I skipped a few meals and conversations with my family because it was so intense. The different backstories meshed together well in the overarching theme of the book.

I enjoyed getting to know all these characters, and I was a bit sad to let them go at the end. The ending was superb, with a daring showdown and a surprising twist when I least expected it. And, I also have to say that my guess for the culprit was wrong, even though the story led me to believe that I was right. That was a tricky move on the part of Tony Park.

I am happy to award Last Survivor 4 out of 5 stars. This novel ticks a lot of boxes for those who love thrillers with a big mystery tie-in. I enjoyed this book and recommend it to all those action fans out there.

About the Author – Tony Park

Tony Park was born in 1964 and grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney. He has worked as a newspaper reporter in Australia and the UK, a press secretary, a PR consultant, and a freelance writer. He also served 34 years in the Australian Army Reserve, including six months in Afghanistan in 2002. Tony and his wife, Nicola, divide their time equally between Australia and southern Africa. He is the author of eighteen thriller novels set in Africa, with more on the way. His latest novel, Last Survivor, was the number one bestselling adult fiction title in South Africa.

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