7 Tantalizing Thriller Books Set in Africa
Africa is a continent both magical and mysterious. Spanning fifty-four countries and countless languages, it offers more than just vast and vibrant terrain, but a breadth of compelling stories. Thrillers set here often draw on real-world conflict and fascinating cultural layers. My upcoming locked-room thriller, The Safari, joins the excellent company in this category.
The Safari is set at a luxury resort in Kruger National Park, South Africa, where Odelia Babel, a CEO and matriarch, is about to marry for the second time to a man twenty-five years her junior. To their wedding, she has invited her children, grandchild, daughter-in-law, and best friend/assistant. But on the morning before she is to wed, Odelia is found brutally murdered—setting off a shocking chain of events, with a murderer still lurking in the shadows, readying to pounce on more of its prey.
Thrillers thrive on tension, and Africa delivers it in spades in the following books set in South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Tanzania, and Botswana:
Johannesburg teenager Martin Helger has problems of his own. The son of a Jewish scrap dealer, he’s out of place at his elite private school. When an American named Annie comes to stay with his family, Martin becomes transfixed. But as he gets closer to her, he finds himself wrenched from his privileged bubble and thrust into the raw heart of South Africa’s racial struggle.
Meanwhile, secrets from the past begin to emerge and old sins return to tear Martin’s family apart, even as the larger forces of history and politics tear apart the country.
But when Nicole disappears without a trace after a boat trip, the cracks in her alleged perfect life start to show. As the investigation turns up nothing but dead ends, her auntie Claudine decides to take matters into her own hands. Armed with only a cell phone and a plane ticket to Nigeria, she digs into her niece’s life and uncovers a hidden side filled with dark secrets, isolation, and even violence. But the more she discovers about Nicole, the more Claudine’s own buried history threatens to come to light.
Korede’s practicality is the sisters’ saving grace. She knows the best solutions for cleaning blood (bleach, bleach, and more bleach), the best way to move a body (wrap it in sheets like a mummy), and she keeps Ayoola from posting pictures to Instagram when she should be mourning her “missing” boyfriend. Not that she gets any credit.
Korede has long been in love with a kind, handsome doctor at the hospital where she works. She dreams of the day when he will realize that she’s exactly what he needs. But when he asks Korede for Ayoola’s phone number, she must reckon with what her sister has become and how far she’s willing to go to protect her.
From the glamorous actress to the charming businessman, each passenger has a secret to hide. As Poirot digs deeper, he exposes a tangled network of relationships, scandals, and motives that lead him to the killer.
About the Author
Jaclyn Goldis is a graduate of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and NYU School of Law. She practiced estate planning law at a large Chicago firm for seven years before leaving her job to travel the world and write novels. After culling her possessions into only what would fit in a backpack, she traveled for over a year until settling in Tel Aviv, where she can often be found writing from cafés near the beach. She is the author of The Chateau, The Main Character, and The Safari. Check out her new book:
Eager to celebrate her nuptials with her nearest and dearest, Odelia invites her adult children, her daughter-in-law, her grandchild, and her best friend/assistant to an all-expenses-paid luxury safari at Leopard Sands in South Africa, the Babel family’s favorite vacation spot. In its soil, they have deep roots–and even deeper secrets.
It seems like the perfect trip, but not everyone is thrilled for the happy couple. Amid game drives in the bush and bonfires beneath the desert stars, tensions among the family threaten to boil over. And then, the morning after a big fight with her son Sam–and hours before the wedding–Odelia is found murdered. Sam is immediately the prime suspect, but he claims he has an ironclad alibi–he was with his twin sister, Bailey. Only Bailey is nowhere to be found…
As the heat roils, desperate poachers and ferocious animals lurk, and dark motives fester, it becomes clear that whoever killed Odelia isn’t quite finished yet, and the rest of the Babel family is their prey.
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