Golden Fox

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Summary: my review
Review: A KGB officer, born in Spain but educated in Cuba, sets up a South African woman to become her spy against her will. The tool he uses is against all human decency....

Once again Wilbut Smith has written an excellent novel. The plot keeps the reader hooked until the very end and you can never guess what the outcome will be. The characters are incredibly real. The writing is excellent and the description of every scene makes you feel as if you were present in the room!

This is a very good novel and a very entertaining read!

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Summary: Wilbur Smith's worst
Review: After enjoying the saga of the Courtneys, I found Golden Fox to be entirely out of character. It had all the appeal, and sadly the dialogue and story line of a poor romance novel. Frankly I couldn't finish it, preferring to leave the Courtneys as they were after A Time To Die. An extremely poor finish to a good series.

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Summary: Great Book! Captures the complexity of the human condition
Review: Cheers to Wilbur Smith for writing this great book. It has everything one could want in a book, strong story, great character development, and a gripping climax. I would start out reading the first book of the Courtney series called the "Burning Shore". The reader will get a lot more out of the book if they are privy to the Courtney legacy. Definitely recommend this book

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Summary: African "Dynasty" sans Joan
Review: How can I write a book about a bunch of shallow, avaristic, name-dropping money-grubbers and make them appear to be heroic and noble? Let's set it in Africa and draw it out so boringly and lenghtily that the reader will completely loose interest in it after 25 pages. Let's also make it totally implausible and drop every advertiser's name in the affluent world of priviledge like Cartier and Bentley... Well, you get the picture. After the glorious Monsoon and River God, this broke my heart.

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Summary: Great read but flawed
Review: I agree with many of the comments already made. This is an exciting, readable book but the central premise is flawed. Given how close Bella is to her family and how unrebellious she appears, it seemed totally out of character for her to betray her country and family in this way. Also I found the rescue far-fetched. Smith has written many better books (personally I prefer his non-Courtney books anyway) but I think if you like action and family drama this will still prove difficult to put down.

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Summary: I rank this one 5th in my Wilbur Smith collection
Review: I am a huge Wilbur Smith fan. "River God" is the best novel I have ever read. My second favorite Smith book is his newest: "Monsoon", then "Men of Men", then "The Sunbird", then "Golden Fox". This is part of the Courtney series. If you have read all the Wilbur Smith books like I have, you'll yearn for more, but it takes him years to come up with a new book these days. You might look at "Churchill's Gold" by James Follett after you have read all of Mr. Smith's books. It is very similar in style and quality to "Golden Fox".

Rating:
Summary: I rank this one 5th in my Wilbur Smith collection
Review: I am a huge Wilbur Smith fan. "River God" is the best novel I have ever read. My second favorite Smith book is his newest: "Monsoon", then "Men of Men", then "The Sunbird", then "Golden Fox". This is part of the Courtney series. If you have read all the Wilbur Smith books like I have, you'll yearn for more, but it takes him years to come up with a new book these days. You might look at "Churchill's Gold" by James Follett after you have read all of Mr. Smith's books. It is very similar in style and quality to "Golden Fox".

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Summary: Not like Smith
Review: I really like all the Wilbur smiths books i have read except the 7th scroll. And even that was much more readable than this. Wilbur Smith writes yarns so I am not looking for a plausible storyline but this just reeks of a childish romance novel. the first 100-150 pages of this novel are so unremarkable that I had completely forgoten I had read this book before untl the entrance of the inimitable character of Centaine. Sasha just seems a shadow of his former self. As someone who likes this author(River God, Warlock, Monsoon, Birds of Prey, The Delta Decision, Rage are all incredible books), I would like to advise new readers, please dont form opinions based on this. Everyone is entitiled to a bad book.

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Summary: Don't Read This First-- it's the 11th and Last in a Series!
Review: It's also the least of the series-- all others I've read warrant at least 4 stars, and some 5. "The Courtneys of Africa" series is as follows: Birds of Prey, Monsoon, Blue Horizon, When The Lion Feeds, A Sound of Thunder, A Sparrow Falls, The Burning Shore, Power of the Sword, Rage, A Time to Die-- and THEN Golden Fox. So you'd be unwise to start here; I'd even say you could dispense with it altogether, as it's a weak ending to the story. But it ties up some loose ends of the 20th century version of the clan-- Centaine, born with the century, and her son Shasa, and his four children, Sean, Garry, Isabella, and Michael. The story runs from 1969 to the late 70s, and is rife with minor anachronisms-- Smith wrote this in the early nineties and forgot that kids didn't have videos to pop in and watch back then, etc. The plot is turgid romance and espionage, and the weakest book I've found from Smith-- start anywhere else but here. "Birds of Prey" is a solid adventure story, and will serve as an entree to the Courtneys, if you've a mind to get to know them....