The Night Ranger by Alex Berenson

Gwen, Hailey, Scott, and Owen are recent U Montana grads. Looking for an adventure? Delaying their entry into the ‘real world’? Nothing better to do? Scott’s uncle is the executive director of WorldCares, an aid organization and suggests they do a tour at a camp for Somalia refugees in Kenya. 

The uncle, James Thompson, is a wiz at fundraising. Has to be to support his $800K salary. WorldCares is also near the bottom when it comes to how much of the money actually gets to those in need. His upcoming book should help bring in more money.

Twelve weeks in, the foursome is in need of a break. Scott and the camp’s fixer (a guy who cuts through the red tape of Kenya) convince the others that this small island off the coast would beat the typical safari favored by what tourists get to Kenya. They all take off for a long island weekend.

And get kidnapped. Here begins “Taken: Africa”(but I don't see Liam Neeson in the role of John Wells)

John Wells’ long estranged son, also a U Montana student, calls from out of the blue.  He knows Gwen’s family and is there anything he could do. Wells is a man who always needs a mission (and a need to reconnect with his son) and heads off to see if he might be able to help out.

The kidnapping of 4 young, good looking American aid workers is worldwide news. The Kenyan police are sure that al Qaeda remnants in Somalia did it. Wells hires his own fixer and between the two, they interview Thompson, the day-to-day camp director, and other volunteers; get the necessary permits to travel freely (so to speak) in the bush.  Thompson puts on a performance at a press conference in Nairobi that is so convincing that even the jaded Wells is reaching for his checkbook.  

On the plains of the Kenya-Somalia border, warring gangs are at each other’s throats, always in need of money. The four kids are being held near the border. One undermanned and underfunded gang learns of the hideout and kidnaps the kidnapped.

The press is having a field day. Pressure is mounting on the President. Send in the SEALs, invade Somalia (payback for Black Hawk Down catastrophe?), bury this nonsense in Somalia once and for all. What started out as a garden variety kidnapping in Africa could end up as a full scale invasion and war.

Wells has only a few days to find out why this particular kidnapping took place, who stands to benefit, and whether war is the answer.

Berenson’s 7^th John Wells book takes a different path than the earlier books. Wells isn’t saving the world, he’s responding to a plea from his son and would do anything to help repair that relationship (book #8?). We learn about Wells’ first kill and the guilt that still plagues a man who kills without mercy. While the body count in this book pales in comparison with the earlier 6 books, this story puts Wells in unfamiliar territory where his past experiences are of little help in eastern Africa. But he does have a skill set and a degree of treachery needed to survive and succeed where traditional police work fails. Of particular interest is that during the various takedowns, Wells is on his sat phone to Langley with Shafer, his mentor, giving instructions to Augustine Tomaso, a CIA drone pilot (guessing we’ll see more of Tomaso in the future; hope so) who broadcasts real-time video back to headquarters while preparing laser-guided bombs and hellfire missiles to support Wells; a takedown coordinated in real time half a world away.

Berenson rocketed into my personal power rotation with The Faithful Spy and has stayed there consistently. The Night Ranger assures me that he and Wells remain firmly fixed amongst my favs.

East Coast Don