Rumors of Savages

by Carrie Regan

" RUMORS OF SAVAGES By Carrie Regan Six months ago, world-renowned anthropologist Lawrence Julian Thompson set off on an expedition into a remote African jungle with one to locate the legendary “lost tribe” of the Bambada and bring back proof that they exist. He wasn´t the first--countless Western explorers have attempted to track these mythical people over the centuries, and with good reason. According to legends, the Bambada guard a vast fortune and possess the improbably power to read minds and see the future. Yet they’re also rumored to be fierce, bloodthirsty, and hell bent on staying hidden from the world. The evidence speaks for for centuries, nearly every adventurer who´s chased the Bambada—and their treasure—has come to a grisly end in the process. When Thompson fails to return from his expedition, it appears that the same fate has befallen the esteemed anthropologist. Meanwhile, in the urban jungle of Manhattan, network executive Bill Warner faces a thorny challenge of his to resurrect his ailing television network, the Adventure Channel. It seems there are only so many programs viewers will watch about another Everest summit or expedition down the Amazon before interest starts to wane. Ratings are sagging, and Adventure’s owner is threatening to transform the channel into a home shopping haven. Warner has one last hope. It’s Max Carrington, a rugged old explorer and host of the Adventure Channel’s flagship show, Adventure!. If anyone can brave the malaria-ridden jungles of Africa, rescue the missing anthropologist, and bring back a blockbuster that will save the network, it’s Max. Yet with a bad back, demanding young second wife, and critics who think he’s out of touch with today’s younger audience, the fading star may end up sinking Adventure’s ship instead. Accompanying Max on the adventure is his colorful AJ, the womanizing cameraman; Liz, the overqualified, under-appreciated associate producer who´s also AJ’s spurned ex-lover; Buddy, the chubby soundman and AJ’s sidekick; and Troy, the incompetent producer, recently-minted film school graduate, and, coincidentally, nephew of Adventure’s CEO. As the crew battles the disease-infested jungle in search of the missing anthropologist, Adventure’s executive producer seizes the opportunity to spin their daily videophone dispatches into the media sensation of the moment. Instantly, ratings for the Adventure Channel skyrocket. But when members of Max Carrington’s team start disappearing, and an ambitious young researcher uncovers evidence that the lives of the entire crew are at risk, the focus of the story shifts, and the media machine turns on itself... "

Genres: Mystery, Adventure, Suspense, Fiction, Thriller, Action, Africa

206 pages, Paperback

First published April 10, 2007

About the author

"Rumors of Savages" was inspired by Carrie Regan's own adventures working on documentaries for National Geographic Television. Over the course of a decade, she trekked into distant African jungles to track chimps with Jane Goodall, searched for monster pythons in the Congo, camped in the Sahara and on the flanks of an active Guatemalan volcano, and helped locate the "Afghan Girl," subject of the famous National Geographic Magazine cover.

Carrie has also served as a programming executive with lifestyle network HGTV, Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa, and volunteer park ranger.

A fitness buff, she spent 8 years leading early morning Spinning classes and participating in countless triathlons. She can be reached via www.carrieregan.com.

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn't necessarily high literature, but it scratches all the right itches for a middle-of-the-jungle adventure novel. I'd even go as far as to label it horror. I rarely find books or movies to be scary, but this one had its moments, especially when one of the characters finds herself alone in the jungle separated (possibly forever) from her travel companions after having seen proof of bloodthirsty jungle dwellers. When the suspense picked up, I was very reluctant to put the book down to go to sleep. The ending is implausible but still interesting if I allow myself to suspend belief a bit and just go with it. 5 stars for enjoyability.

[ᒪᗴᗩᕼ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad for a freebie Kindle eBook…

Genre: Suspense Thriller
Setting: African Jungle
Source: Kindle eBook Freebie that I've had for a long time.

⇝Ratings Breakdown⇜

Plot: 3.8/5
Main Characters: 3.3/5
Secondary Characters: 3/5
The Feels: 3.8/5
Addictiveness: 3/5
Theme or Tone: 4/5
Flow (Writing Style): 3.8/5
Backdrop (World Building): 4.5/5
Book Cover: 3/5
Ending: 4/5 Cliffhanger: Nope.
Steam Factor 0-5: 3 (A very low steam 3)
Total: 3.7/5 STARS - GRADE=B


⇝My Thoughts⇜

Rumors of Savages has been sitting on my Kindle for a long while and when I figured out that it would work for a reading challenge of mine, I decided what the heck, I'll give it a whirl. I wasn't disappointed at all. The African setting was very well done, and the supernatural element to it was woven in without feeling like a paranormal book at all. It started out rather slow but picked up at about the halfway mark.

⇝Will I read more from this Author?⇜ Doesn't look like she's written anything else.

[Carrie Regan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really, I loved it! But I suppose I'm biased.

Thanks all for reading it!

[Katya · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Rollins adventure - the noble scientists + reality TV = Rumors of Savages.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amateur, but not the worst I've read. What drew me to this book was the title, which I thought was promisingly literary for an adventure story. The book itself is a bare step or two above fan fiction. Cliches and stereotypes abound, and throwing in a few gory murders didn't make it any more interesting. Some things struck me as just plain wrong: If a motor boat is moving upstream against the current, how is it possible for passengers to jump off and frolic in the water without being separated from the boat, since they would be moving in opposite directions? And are there really wild rabbits living in the deepest African jungles? Quibbles, yes, but the rest of the book was not good enough for me to forgive this kind of incongruity.

[Susan Keefe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I literally read through the night because this book was so good.

Reading afterwards that this author had real experience was no surprise, after reading the amazing descriptions of a world most of us will never know.

Rumors of Savages follows a TV Adventure channels attempt to 'rescue' a lost anthropologist, the twists and turns make for a fantastic adventure story.

Move over Indiana Jones and Congo, this must surely be a film makers dream come true!

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very satisfying read. We discover the truth behind the legends of a lost killer tribe in Africa, and have a pretty good adventure along the way. It was a good journey, expedition, lost tribe book with a minor let down at the end, but all in all much more satisfying than most of the genre.

[Mark Polino · Rating 4 out of 5]

We written. Rumors of Savages reminded me more of something by Preston and Child than by James Rollins but it has similarities to both. If you're a fan of any of these types of thrillers, this shortish book is worth the read.

[Richard Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always enjoy a good jungle adventure, and this one didn't disappoint. The book was chocked full of mystery, intrigue, greed, and danger, with believable characters to keep you entertained. The plot kept me reading beyond my point of sleepiness. Enjoy!

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was sooo good! It was suspenseful, well written, and I loved every frickin second of it. Must read!!

[Brettany Sumpter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had definetly kept me on the edge of my chair, at moments I think I found myself falling out of my chair in disbelief. This is a must read.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adventure Plus

A great read. The adventure of a life time for a film crew, whether they wanted it or not. A famed archeologist goes missing and a film crew from an ailing show is sent to try and find him. Despite all warnings the film crew delves into an uncharted jungle and before long the porters bail and crew members disappear. A really great plot with string characters. All depths of Human emotion and psyche are present in this fantastic tale.

[William W. Sutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly enjoyed reading this book! Nice change of pace from the books I have been reading where the characters are chasing down some historical mystery with world changing implications, and some equally mythical organization is out to stop them or beat them to the prize. In this book it's just man\ woman versus nature and their own imagination until a stranger wanders into camp.

[Mystic Miraflores · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this exciting adventure story. I could hardly put it down. I hope Ms. Regan writes a sequel to the book for another Liz and AJ adventure, perhaps in Central or South America. The only thing that prevented me from giving it a 5 was that there were some writing errors (such as typos or misspellings) and formatting errors in my Kindle edition.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really 3.5
Good pacing & plot. Kept me interested.

[Melissa Herman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Read!!

[Doug Hartshorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rumors of savages

I really liked this book and will read it again in a few months. The only thing I didn't like was the lack of sleep, as I found it difficult to put down. I would recommend this book to anyone!

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining and Different

Lawrence Julian Thompson, middle aged explorer, disappeared five months prior in the central African jungle seeking the legendary Bambada people reputed to be small in stature, savage, havinb knowledge and power that surpassed all of Europe and a vast treasure of jewels and gems. These people lived along the Nburu River in the heart of the Nburu jungle. After his disappearance, his bloody gear was found and later four skins stretched out on reeds, believed to be humans skinned by the Bambada. The skins were a warning to stay out of their territory or suffer the same fate.

Bill Warner, president of the “Adventure Channel,” a network featuring Max Carrington, a rugged virile sixty-year old mountain of a man, a famous TV explorer of dangerous and famous explorations around the world, but the program was losing ratings, it was getting old and Warner needed something new. Carrington was more of an actor than an explorer and Warner had wanted Thompson in the beginning, but Thompson didn’t want him because he was a serious academic. The idea struck Warner to send Max Carrington along with a TV crew and producer into the Nburu jungle seeking Thompson to bring him back dead or alive and to film cuts of Carrington and the crew each day with live talk from a phone in the jungle.

AJ Paterson was the camera man, Buddy Billings sound master, Liz Lawson associate producer and gofer for the crew, Troy Evans an inexperienced 25 year old city man and shoved on the crew as producer because of his Uncle financing “Adventure.” Liz had the responsibility of getting the crew to Africa, finding an African who could supply a guide named Moe, and porter bearers into the jungles plus purchasing all of the necessary supplies. They had to take more than necessary because of the demands of Troy. The porters and Moe only agreed to go into the jungle until they felt in danger from the Bambada.

Once they landed in Kamkali near the Nburu jungle, each day brought new surprises and dangers and “Adventure” on TV back in the states was drawing top ratings. Each day brought more hardships, more dangers, death, sickness plus the porters deserted out of fear. The story is well plotted, well written and entertaining. It has unusual twists and turns, which make any story good and I think most readers will find it highly entertaining. I recommend it.

[Jeff Shear · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is something out there in the Nburu jungle of Africa -- rumors of otherworldly phenomena, a mysterious civilization (or savages), and a world renown anthropologist who's gone missing. Who will find him, if not save him? An "Adventure" TV camera crew, with it's aging soon-to-be-shown-the-door host, mount an expedition into the deadly jungle in search of the famed explorer and higher Nielsen ratings.

The author of Rumors of Savages , Carrie Regan, knows plenty about the risks in these sorts of video expeditions. (Disclaimer, Carrie's a former colleague.) As an associate producer at National Geographic Explorer, she is the woman who trekked with an all-male camera crew deep into Pakistan to a refugee camp, where bandits and jihadis roamed the fabled Khyber Pass, and took the photograph that ended a 19-year mystery: Who was the stunning Afghan child with the haunting green eyes who appeared on the cover of National Geographic Magazine to world-wide acclaim in 1984?

But , Rumors of Savages turns away from the plunging tan hills of Pakistan's N5, to push into an occult jungle in search of the Bambada, a mythical lost tribe that Regan tells us "Possessed a vast fortune and the power to read minds and see the future." If the "Adventure" team find them -- and lives to film it -- they hope to uncover the secret of the missing anthropologist.

The fate of the expedition rests on the instincts of a young woman, a lowly but lovely associate producer out to prove her worth, but fearful that bravado might turn reckless and end her career and worse, her life and the lives of the crew.

Regan's smooth running prose takes this experienced team of characters through a plot as twisted as the forest, where personalities clash, ambition rules, and greed turns deadly. We recognize the TV explorers in Rumors and step behind the curtain of secrets that drives these incredible journeys. Well paced but occasionally jumpy, the tensions of her story mount on dialogue that is one-part inside baseball and one-part spooky romance. Told in the third person through the point of view of the Liz, the arriviste producer, we see how seemingly well organized "shoots" ride the rails of happenstance, until finally, Regan leaves us content to swallow the secrets of the Nburu and its haunting inhabitants.

[Douglas Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amusing tale of On Location Journalism at its worst. An anthropologist is lost in the rain forest and a travel channel team goes to find him.

First paragraphs
PROLOGUE He’d finally arrived.  After weeks of slashing through the dense, buggy central African jungle, he’d begun to see signs of human life.  Just small signs, meaningless to anyone without a well-trained eye, but to Lawrence Julian Thompson, they may as well have been billboards.  A bent branch here, a vine with a telltale machete slice there, a slight change in the scent of the morning dew, hinting at cooking fires upwind.  And then, his biggest clue yet: a set of stones in the middle of a river, carefully placed to safely guide someone with a short stride across.  They were here, nearby, walking the same elephant trails, sipping from the same streams.   In his career, he’d had plenty of notable firsts and unforgettable encounters, yet he quivered with the nervous anticipation of a schoolboy when he contemplated what lay ahead.  Professionally, personally, it marked the culmination of his life’s labors:  the discovery of the legendary Bambada people.  While his heart and mind willed him forward, Thompson’s body, worn by weeks of trekking, cried out for a break, and he reluctantly complied.  Swinging his backpack onto the ground, he stretched and settled at the base of a large tree.  His pack was relatively small, considering he’d been living out of it for nearly a month.  The meager supplies had to suffice, since local porters wouldn’t venture into this part of the jungle for any price.  No matter.  Years in the field had taught him how to live off the land – which plants he could and couldn’t eat, which would reduce fever or kill a fungus, and which were best for making ropes and shelters. 

Regan, Carrie (2007-04-10). Rumors of Savages (p. 7). . Kindle Edition.

[Bobbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had everything I like, humor, jungle adventure, environmental consciousness, and a dig at the media money machine. A TV crew from a reality Adventure channel heads out to search for a missing anthropologist, lost in the African jungle, while hunting for an uncontacted tribe. The natives, called the Bambada, are associated with numerous terrifying legends from cannibalism to prophecy and locals from the area refuse to enter the jungle. The TV team sends back live feeds from the field and the producers are thrilled. When members of the group begin disappearing, public opinion turns quickly. After numerous scary twists and turns, the mystery of the tribe is revealed in a very surprising and uplifting way. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I thought the plot, characters and tone made for a great read. Another reviewer mentioned Carl Hiassen, and I can see why. Like Hiassen, Regan takes a sensitive cultural –ethological-environmental theme and creates a super story. I would definitely look for more from this author.

[Dava Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really want to give this one 3.5 or 3.75 stars, but not quite 4. It took quite a long time for me to start caring what happened to the characters - probably half or more. Most of the characters are quite unlikeable, although I figured out why by the end.

It wasn't predictable, though, and that is probably the most important thing for a story that is just for entertainment. One chapter told the story from the point of view of each of the characters, and it was pretty interesting. I wished for more of that.

The ending was a little over-the-top, and slightly incongruous with the rest of the story, but definitely not terrible. I didn't finish shaking my head, and I didn't feel like I had wasted my time reading it.

This is a good story for a car trip, a rainy afternoon, or maybe even vacation. It's light, fun, and not awful.

[Sierra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! finished it in a day and half. I thought it had a really unique plot. the book is set deep in the Nburu jungle of Africa where a team of producers from the adventure channel are sent to rescue a famous anthropologist from a savage tribe of man eaters. My only complaint about the book is the fantastical ending that didn't seem to belong. Don't get me wrong it was a great ending but didn't seem to fit the style of the book, seeming to come out of no where in a way. I definitely recommend this book!

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another book I had for a while and finally decided to read. I wish I had read it earlier. It was a fantastic read. I feel that the author maximized their use of description. I was able to visualize the rain forest. I found the characters were well developed and I cared about what happened to most of them, there were a couple I didn't like, but you weren't supposed to like them so it worked. I read this book in a day and couldn't put it down once I started reading it. If you like quick moving books, this one will not disappoint.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was amazed how good this book was, right from the start. Kinda reminds me a little of Congo but not the same. TV crew goes into dangerous jungle looking for missing anthropologist. Love the story, love the characters.

[Jason Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since this came out first I would think it has to be the inspiration for the TV show The River (The book is better). I really enjoyed the book and look forward to reading similar titles from this author.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised by how enjoyable this book was. The plot was quite unique. The characters were not truly relatable or developed, but it was like watching a great action flick. Not that deep, but a good ride.

[Wes baron · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent fun read

a not to serious adventure read. would have been more fun if some characters weren't killed off. not quite Indiana Jones type adventure but serviceable with intrigue thrown in.

[Patricia Bruno]

Totally enjoyable tale!

This was an interesting story that combined some adventure with a mystery while providing a view of greed in America and questionable moral decisions in the name of entertainment.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very creative story and gives a little insight into life in Africa.