In the early 1990s I found myself in the middle of Africa surrounded by elephants, lions, and angry farmers plagued by crop-raiding elephants. I was privileged to have worked for the Namibian government as an elephant researcher in the Caprivi region of Namibia, and it was Jo Tagg, our supervisor and mentor, whose dark wit kept me sane and inspired the heart of this story more than twenty years ago. A huge set of thanks goes out to Jo and his team of dedicated rangers and staff who put their lives on the line day and night to keep the wild places of Caprivi wild.
I am most grateful to my Random House team at Alibi for bringing this book to light. A very special thanks to Senior Editor Dana Edwin Isaacson, for falling in love with this story and providing several incisive sets of notes that led to bringing my editor, Anne Speyer, and me together. The two of them held my hand through to the finish line. I’d also like to thank Randall Klein, whose early notes and encouragement got Dana’s attention. I am also deeply indebted to Anne for her patience and support during final revisions, and for the enthusiasm of my PR team, Heidi Lilly, Kim Cowser, Katie Rice, and Gina Wachtel.
I am indebted to my first agent, Karen Nazor, as my first book, The Elephant’s Secret Sense, was born of her faith, John Michel’s hard work, and Free Press’s (Simon & Schuster) Leslie Meredith’s passion for elephants. Later, my agent John Michel encouraged early versions of this fictional story, followed by Andrew Paulson. I am grateful to Amy Berkower and her editorial assistant at Writer’s House, Genevieve Gagne-Hawes, for their encouragement, and to thriller editors Marjorie Braman and Patricia Mulcahy. I also thank Sharon Straight at National Geographic and Jeff Kleinman at Folio Literary Management for their support.
I’d like to acknowledge Stanford University Continuing Studies Creative Writing program instructors Jacob Molyneux and Marvin Diogenes for encouraging early drafts of this story. I’d also like to acknowledge the University of California, Davis’s Art of the Wild Writer’s Conference grant that allowed me to workshop early versions of this story and, particularly, Al Young and fellow conference mate Christie Brigham. Early drafts were read and commented on by two writing groups: Ann Davidson, Rob Sparr, Martha Hoops, Brian McCauley, and later, Allie Akmal and Gabby Nabi. I am also most grateful to a second group of readers: Melanie Rusch, Karla Wagner, Laura Furness, Tracy Elfring, Tanya Meyer, and my sister, Siobhan O’Connell Scro. Last-minute much-appreciated reads came from Thelma Alane, Vera Neuhaus and my mom, Aline O’Connell. My continued gratitude goes out to my parents, Dan and Aline O’Connell, who have always been my biggest fans. Finally, my perseverance was supported by the enthusiasm of my husband, Tim Rodwell, whose confidence in my ability to turn obsession into story and his many patient critiques led to a much stronger narrative in the end.