Forest God

by Stephen Boud

Was it chance or destiny that placed Danielle LeClercq, a rainforest conservationist, on a doomed United Nations flight over Central Africa? Seconds before the plane plows into the ground, she hears a voice whisper, “Be brave, he will come for you.” Expelled from a prestigious music academy, John Havenwood joins the United Nations to get out of New York City and leave his troubled past behind. In the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide and with the Congo on the brink of war, the UN airplane he and his fellow peacekeepers are on is hit by an insurgent’s missile. The plane crashes while attempting to land in Zaire. After escaping, John realizes his late father’s guitar is still on the plane. He rushes back to the burning fuselage where he finds the young conservationist trapped under the debris. Danielle’s only memory of the man who carried her from the wreckage is his emerald green eyes. Months later, on a daring operation to rescue a small group of children orphaned by ethnic fighting, their paths cross. Danielle believes destiny brought them together. John has no beliefs and is going wherever chance takes him. John is ordered to escort the group into the heart of the Ituri Rainforest, part of the vast tropical jungle of the Congo Basin. Their destination is an isolated valley located on the Nduye River where a mission and medical outpost has recently been established by Joseph and Miriam Carmichael. The missionary couple escaped Rwanda two years earlier when the genocide began. Fleeing with the endangered staff and children, they made their way across the border and deep into the rainforest where they could start over again, far away from the fighting. Commissioned by the World Health Organization, Dr. Felipe LeClercq takes John and his daughter Danielle upriver to inoculate two pygmy clans from the deadly viruses brought into the forest by warring militias and migrant workers. John discovers the beauty of the rainforest and the simple way of life of the recluse BaMbuti. In the heart of the jungle, he finds a purpose and the love of a compassionate woman. But a dark secret from his childhood makes him feel unworthy. To absolve himself from his past, he returns to the greatest humanitarian crisis of the modern age, the ravenous refugee camps along the hostile eastern border of the Congo. As civil war tears a nation apart, John and Danielle fight to save the innocent, and at the same time save each other. FOREST GOD takes you on a journey through the brutality of tribal war, to the splendor of the African rainforest and the Forest People that make it their home. From the violence and greed of evil men, set out to exploit the riches of the rainforest, to the compassion of those trying to protect the forest and its inhabitants. From a century of ethnic hatred to a love destined to last forever.

445 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 20, 2020

Reviews

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book filled with adventure! Forest God is exceptionally well written historical fiction novel with page-turning action, adventure and romance. The author's descriptive writing is captivating, immersing the reader in a setting deep in the Congo Basin of Central Africa during a violent civil war. This book is filled with accurate historic events that are cleverly woven into the fictional story. As a long-time reader of Wilbur Smith novels, I have to say Stephen Boud's Forest God is up there with the best! I will certainly be reading the next book in the series.