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Risk Agent #4
White Bone
John Knox and Grace Chu, the incomparable duo of the Risk Agent novels, team up again in the latest international thrill ride from New York Times–bestselling author Ridley Pearson.
When ex–military contractor John Knox receives a text from partner Grace Chu warning that she fears her cover may have been blown while on assignment, he jumps into action. Knox must locate her overseas handlers, convince them of the threat, and then attempt to retrace the well-hidden steps of a woman who had been attempting to determine how one million euros’ worth of AIDS vaccine disappeared, all while eluding angry poachers on a parallel trail.
Corruption isn’t a “problem” in Kenya, it’s the way of doing business. The poaching of ivory from African elephants, driven by insatiable demand from mainland China, fuels constant blood and slaughter. Knox faces police, national rangers, journalists, and safari companies who are each in their own symbiotic relationship with elephants, both good and bad. As the threat from Al-Shaabab militants interferes with his pursuit of Grace, Knox finds himself pitted against the most savage and suicidal fighters in the world. And there’s this woman, Grace, always in his head. His gut. As Grace watches as her civilized self slips away while abandoned in the bush, Knox races against the clock to find her.
When ex–military contractor John Knox receives a text from partner Grace Chu warning that she fears her cover may have been blown while on assignment, he jumps into action. Knox must locate her overseas handlers, convince them of the threat, and then attempt to retrace the well-hidden steps of a woman who had been attempting to determine how one million euros’ worth of AIDS vaccine disappeared, all while eluding angry poachers on a parallel trail.
Corruption isn’t a “problem” in Kenya, it’s the way of doing business. The poaching of ivory from African elephants, driven by insatiable demand from mainland China, fuels constant blood and slaughter. Knox faces police, national rangers, journalists, and safari companies who are each in their own symbiotic relationship with elephants, both good and bad. As the threat from Al-Shaabab militants interferes with his pursuit of Grace, Knox finds himself pitted against the most savage and suicidal fighters in the world. And there’s this woman, Grace, always in his head. His gut. As Grace watches as her civilized self slips away while abandoned in the bush, Knox races against the clock to find her.
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First published January 1, 1998
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About the author
Ridley Pearson
187 books2,106 followersRidley Pearson is the author of more than fifty novels, including the New York Times bestseller Killer Weekend; the Lou Boldt crime series; and many books for young readers, including the award-winning children's novels Peter and the Starcatchers, Peter and the Shadow Thieves, and Peter and the Secret of Rundoon, which he cowrote with Dave Barry. Pearson lives with his wife and two daughters, dividing their time between Missouri and Idaho.
Also writes Chris Klick mysteries as Wendell McCall.
Also writes Chris Klick mysteries as Wendell McCall.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews
November 3, 2022
Fell flat. Basically a rescue story of a woman who is never held hostage. I could not connect with any of the characters, maybe because I haven’t read the books in the series leading up to this one.
Knox goes to Kenya to save Grace. Grace is Chinese and analytical and her uncovering of corruption, counterfeit vaccines, poaching, and terror financing, put her—surprise, surprise—in danger from the bad guys. We are frequently told Knox is tall and white and therefore stands out and feels self-conscious. Grace is missing but bad guy Gulid doesn’t have her.
I think that’s what lowered the stakes for me: she’s not held captive, she’s just on the run. And Gulid is not really the antagonist because this is more of a conspiracy thriller with several bad guys and it’s difficult to pick one to root against. The author clearly did factual research but in terms of character development and plot, it was all way too superficial.
Knox goes to Kenya to save Grace. Grace is Chinese and analytical and her uncovering of corruption, counterfeit vaccines, poaching, and terror financing, put her—surprise, surprise—in danger from the bad guys. We are frequently told Knox is tall and white and therefore stands out and feels self-conscious. Grace is missing but bad guy Gulid doesn’t have her.
I think that’s what lowered the stakes for me: she’s not held captive, she’s just on the run. And Gulid is not really the antagonist because this is more of a conspiracy thriller with several bad guys and it’s difficult to pick one to root against. The author clearly did factual research but in terms of character development and plot, it was all way too superficial.
May 18, 2022
Loving this series
November 8, 2016
The description of a firefight between poachers and vigilante rangers on page six was almost enough for me to stop reading.
"The bittersweet smell of cordite and gunpowder warmed Koigi's nostrils."
Cordite manufacturing CEASED around the end of WW II. Cordite was first developed in the U.K. in 1889 and used in rifle cartridges, tank guns, and naval guns. It is a smokeless propellant and was even used in the detonating system of the atomic bomb but, after World War II, it wasn't used again. Koigi might have smelled gunpowder, but not cordite.
A glaring error so early on remains in the back of the mind and makes it difficult to enjoy the story, because of suspicion that perhaps the rest of the "facts" presented in the story are wrong as well.
If you can suspend your disbelief for the remaining 379 pages, it's an entertaining tale of John Knox trying to find his partner Grace Chu whose cover may have been blown while on assignment. Grace had been investigating how one million euros worth of AIDS vaccine disappeared. Knox has to convince her handlers that she is in danger while he deals with ivory poachers, the threat of al-Shabaah militants, corruption in Kenya, and the Chinese presence there as he races against the clock to find her.
"The bittersweet smell of cordite and gunpowder warmed Koigi's nostrils."
Cordite manufacturing CEASED around the end of WW II. Cordite was first developed in the U.K. in 1889 and used in rifle cartridges, tank guns, and naval guns. It is a smokeless propellant and was even used in the detonating system of the atomic bomb but, after World War II, it wasn't used again. Koigi might have smelled gunpowder, but not cordite.
A glaring error so early on remains in the back of the mind and makes it difficult to enjoy the story, because of suspicion that perhaps the rest of the "facts" presented in the story are wrong as well.
If you can suspend your disbelief for the remaining 379 pages, it's an entertaining tale of John Knox trying to find his partner Grace Chu whose cover may have been blown while on assignment. Grace had been investigating how one million euros worth of AIDS vaccine disappeared. Knox has to convince her handlers that she is in danger while he deals with ivory poachers, the threat of al-Shabaah militants, corruption in Kenya, and the Chinese presence there as he races against the clock to find her.
August 13, 2016
John & Grace in Africa. I think I missed the previous book in this series but read the first two and generally liked them (but didn't love them). I'm a huge Ridley Pearson fan from his earlier work, but this international spy stuff does not seem to fit well with the style in which he's chosen to write them.
The standout part of this book is Grace going native. The failure for me was the plotline around John's search for Grace. His results appeared too serendipitous to me relative to his actions. An unseen force (the author's plot) guides him to the outcome. I'd rather see how his actions influenced the outcome. He seems/feels helpless, out of control of events, and yet fumbles through. I'd like more information about the forces behind the eventual success, rather than a wrap-up explanation at the end of the book. Gaaak.
The standout part of this book is Grace going native. The failure for me was the plotline around John's search for Grace. His results appeared too serendipitous to me relative to his actions. An unseen force (the author's plot) guides him to the outcome. I'd rather see how his actions influenced the outcome. He seems/feels helpless, out of control of events, and yet fumbles through. I'd like more information about the forces behind the eventual success, rather than a wrap-up explanation at the end of the book. Gaaak.
May 29, 2017
This narrative plunges the reader into the world of international black market dealings for ivory and rhino horn. The setting-- Kenya-- Nairobi, wild bush country, with references to Mombasa, and Somalia to the northeast-- is the star of the show, with devastating descriptions of bush life and survival therein, as practiced for thousands of years by the Masaii. Vicious Somali poachers vie with brave wild life activists for the future of remaining elephant herds. The humans, in the end, are less poignant than the elephants whose precious selves --stately, primordial, free--are, we know, at this moment in time, so imperiled.
September 6, 2016
My kind of book! I picked it up because it included elephant poaching. The title was a reference to their tusks. To have intrigue take place in the Kenya of corruption and poaching and rangers who care as well as rogue Rangers, was a good read.
This is the first time I have read this author. Because the settings included both the city of Nairobi and Safari environment, for a safari aficionado, this was the perfect book for me to read. Yes, some of it was a bit implausible, but so many of these suspense stories have that element of being over the top.
I found the use of various characters including the kid from the slums as contacts enhanced the story but also made it a bit difficult to keep up with the variety of people.
This is the first time I have read this author. Because the settings included both the city of Nairobi and Safari environment, for a safari aficionado, this was the perfect book for me to read. Yes, some of it was a bit implausible, but so many of these suspense stories have that element of being over the top.
I found the use of various characters including the kid from the slums as contacts enhanced the story but also made it a bit difficult to keep up with the variety of people.
January 14, 2017
This book was the first I have read by this author, and I intend to look for more. The setting of the African bush appealed to me as my son served in the Peace Corps in Africa and his stories of encounters with the magnificent animals that roam there are memorable. This action/survival tale will do nothing to attract tourists, however.
We have one member of a specialized rescue team in danger, alerting another with a cryptic text message that she may be blown. He is quick to respond and meet with bosses to urge immediate rescue. The mission is undertaken and the story follows his challenges in finding her while she faces the most intense survival experiences - all well told.
Another aspect of this story is the battle to prevent the poaching of elephants for tusks.
We have one member of a specialized rescue team in danger, alerting another with a cryptic text message that she may be blown. He is quick to respond and meet with bosses to urge immediate rescue. The mission is undertaken and the story follows his challenges in finding her while she faces the most intense survival experiences - all well told.
Another aspect of this story is the battle to prevent the poaching of elephants for tusks.
August 10, 2016
It was all the book jacket promised, but it was just OK for me. Perhaps I should have read the 3 previous ones to have an interest in #4. But I was thinking they would all survive and the world would continue on with good and bad people.
January 22, 2019
This book was better than The Red Room, the prior book in the series.
John Knox has to deal with corruption, double dealing, and other forms of treachery as he hunts Grace Chu after she disappears in the wilds of Kenya.
Similar to the storyline in the The Red Room, there are multiple reasons behind what Grace is doing in Kenya – tracing missing vaccines or stolen ivory and rhino horn or poachers or their ill-gotten gains. The reasons are tied together but the constant flipping back and forth between them makes the plot hard to follow.
The relationship between Grace and John shifts here, too, as they both realize they’ve become more than professional partners to each other.
Several chapters following the climax stop short of revealing the outcome of the action in that chapter. The reader is left to assume the outcome was positive.
I will be disappointed if this is the last book in the Knox & Chu series but not really surprised. Pearson ended both his Lou Boldt and his Walt Fleming series with the characters in limbo, leaving the reader (this reader at least) wanting more, wondering what happened next. I have the feeling that’s what Pearson plans here with Knox & Chu.
I hope I’m wrong about that. And if I am, I’ll grab the next book in all 3 series as soon as I can get my hands on them.
John Knox has to deal with corruption, double dealing, and other forms of treachery as he hunts Grace Chu after she disappears in the wilds of Kenya.
Similar to the storyline in the The Red Room, there are multiple reasons behind what Grace is doing in Kenya – tracing missing vaccines or stolen ivory and rhino horn or poachers or their ill-gotten gains. The reasons are tied together but the constant flipping back and forth between them makes the plot hard to follow.
The relationship between Grace and John shifts here, too, as they both realize they’ve become more than professional partners to each other.
Several chapters following the climax stop short of revealing the outcome of the action in that chapter. The reader is left to assume the outcome was positive.
I will be disappointed if this is the last book in the Knox & Chu series but not really surprised. Pearson ended both his Lou Boldt and his Walt Fleming series with the characters in limbo, leaving the reader (this reader at least) wanting more, wondering what happened next. I have the feeling that’s what Pearson plans here with Knox & Chu.
I hope I’m wrong about that. And if I am, I’ll grab the next book in all 3 series as soon as I can get my hands on them.
September 7, 2022
The 4th (and last - at least for now) of the Knox-Chu series. The books in this series have gotten better as Pearson got deeper into the characters and as Knox & Chu worked together longer - this one I could hardly put down. He does a nice job of continuing to reveal more about the characters - and it helps the reader make a connection to them. In this adventure, Knox & Chu are fighting (mostly separately) to stop animal poachers/ivory hunters/smuggles from killing elephants in Kenya. As she always does - Grace's computer and accounting skills help her to get the bottom line of the operation and mystery of who and what is responsible for the current situation.
Knox, for his part, runs at the bad guys, avoiding both good and bad as he finds a way to eliminate threats - to himself, the elephants and Grace. If Pearson would decide to pick this series up again, I'd take the Risk - and read the next installment of the Knox-Chu saga.
Knox, for his part, runs at the bad guys, avoiding both good and bad as he finds a way to eliminate threats - to himself, the elephants and Grace. If Pearson would decide to pick this series up again, I'd take the Risk - and read the next installment of the Knox-Chu saga.
August 24, 2024
An international thriller, "White Bone" (1998) starts when British agent John Knox receives a possible distress message from his partner Grace Chu, who has been undercover in Kenya trying to find out how a vaccine laboratory was compromised and its possible relation to an ivory-poaching ring with connections to Kenyan politicians and Chinese investors.
Verdict: Part survival adventure, part international spy thriller, and yes, part preachy animal rights stuff, "White Bone'' checks a lot of odd boxes. Pearson's immersion in both the corruption-laced backwards police-state slums of Nairobi and Chu's adventure surviving by herself in the African safari-lands read authentic and tense for a thrilling chase and investigation novel.
Jeff's Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: R
Verdict: Part survival adventure, part international spy thriller, and yes, part preachy animal rights stuff, "White Bone'' checks a lot of odd boxes. Pearson's immersion in both the corruption-laced backwards police-state slums of Nairobi and Chu's adventure surviving by herself in the African safari-lands read authentic and tense for a thrilling chase and investigation novel.
Jeff's Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: R
March 9, 2020
Unfortunately, this library load Audio CD set had a defect: the 2nd CD was unplayable, despite several efforts at cleaning, repeated tries on my home audio system CD player and then on another CD player I have. Which meant for a bit of a gap in the story.
Since I visited Kenya six times in the previous decade and knew several of the places where the action in this story occurs, I enjoyed those reminders, especially the scenes involving seeing wild animals in the bush. To be honest, the crimes that were eventually resolved in the story took a back seat to my Kenyan memories of Nairobi, many national parks, the roads, the animals, and the trip I also took to Tanzania. The windup was a bit confusing, but a mox nix given my nostalgia focus.
Since I visited Kenya six times in the previous decade and knew several of the places where the action in this story occurs, I enjoyed those reminders, especially the scenes involving seeing wild animals in the bush. To be honest, the crimes that were eventually resolved in the story took a back seat to my Kenyan memories of Nairobi, many national parks, the roads, the animals, and the trip I also took to Tanzania. The windup was a bit confusing, but a mox nix given my nostalgia focus.
October 29, 2018
This book was recommended by Stephen King. I have mixed feelings about it. The subject of protection of wildlife in Africa, especially of elephants and rhinos who are killed for their horns, is very dear to my heart. But the violence in the book is disturbing and there are a lot of machinations for getting people out of impossible situations which seem improbable. One thing in particular was upsetting, the idea of shooting an elephant in able to be rescued although that did turn out not to happen.
May 9, 2017
I was fortunate to receive a copy of this book for reading/reviewing. Located in Africa with characters from China and America, this book kept you reading with its fast paced plot. Many African animals played center stage where the reader felt human fear from their size, beauty, and killing. Elephant ivory was important to the plot and the reader felt sympathy and admiration for these huge mammals in their treatment by people protecting them and wanting to tusk them.
July 13, 2017
Good story all around. Complex characters driving a complex story in a realistic fashion, good dialog, good descriptive prose, action and exotic intrigue and love and skulduggery. What more do you want? I got this one inexpensively and when I finished it I immediately bought the first book in the series at a much higher price.
January 26, 2018
This is a compelling read about ivory poaching and corruption in Kenya. The main characters are very engaging and the plot keeps you catching odd moments so you can read another chapter to find out what happens next. There are more in the series and I will definitely look them up. Ridley Pearson just gets better!
July 8, 2018
I needed a last-minute beach read and found this book in the back corner of a CVS. It was the only book besides the Megyn Kelly memoir that didn’t have a barechested man on the cover.
Desperation aside, I genuinely enjoyed the book; it was fast-paced, technologically modern, and the women were badass. It made me want to read more of his books.
Desperation aside, I genuinely enjoyed the book; it was fast-paced, technologically modern, and the women were badass. It made me want to read more of his books.
August 14, 2024
Excellent; Continuing characters: John Knox and Grace Chu; just as they realize they have deep feelings for each other, Grace is kidnapped in the African wilds and John does everything in his power to find her and finish her work in exposing a vaccine catastrophe and the illegal harvesting of tusks and horns
June 9, 2017
mystery combined with gritty, complicated backstories that addresses numerous topics, from corruption and political instability to mother-daughter dynamics and other illegal trades like prostitution. It was really interesting to empathize with the leader of a prostitution ring...
January 23, 2018
It took me a while to get interested in the plot. I am not sure if I had read previous risk agent
series but you should read them first. RP seems a different person when he writes the risks
with John and Grace.
series but you should read them first. RP seems a different person when he writes the risks
with John and Grace.
January 23, 2020
4-2020. Starting to pick up my reading pace this year. Mr. Pearson is a fine writer across several genres. This is in his Rutherford Risk series, and our hero and heroine fight nature and bad guys to do some good. Justice seems to have been done. Entertaining read.
June 10, 2020
I really enjoyed this book. I had a hard time putting it down. I have been to Africa about 6 times and I felt like I was back there again. It is so disheartening concerning the poachers and their lack of care that these animals may disappear and their own greed.
June 25, 2021
I really enjoyed this story set in Africa Dealing with poaching and the struggles with smuggling of ivory along with corruption on all levels Once again Ridley Pearson takes on a subject that is real world / realm time and does it well
March 4, 2024
The plot was different from the "usual" and the interpersonal stuff added a lot to the storyline. Enjoyed the read more than expected, may check out more of Pearson's, although going back in the series may be less entertaining now.
August 30, 2025
3.0 overall decent book. .5 bc the subject interests me. It didn’t wow me like Clive Cussler but at the same time I didn’t get bored of reading White Bone. I may give Ridley’s Risk Agent series a read.
December 23, 2016
Interesting story with a complex plot. The story keeps moving. It was rather amazing how the key female lead kept herself alive. Worth reading.
May 3, 2017
Way better than I expected. Very well written, informative and exciting. Deals with ivory poaching in Africa.
May 27, 2017
This is my favorite (so far) of the Risk Agent series probably because of the fascinating Kenyan setting and the author's obvious passion for the plight of the wildlife there.
June 4, 2017
Good thriller about elephant and rhino poaching in Nigeria
Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews