Horn: A Matthew Harkes Thriller

Horn: A Matthew Harkes Thriller

A 2014 National Indie Excellence Award Finalist! Matthew Harkes, curator of large mammals at the National Zoo, is drawn into the dangerous and corrupt world of illegal wildlife trade by the murder of a veterinarian and the slaughter of a genetically valuable black rhino imported from Namibia at the City Zoo in Baltimore. The death of the rhino deals a damaging blow to the managed population of black rhinos in North America. An avid outdoorsman, Harkes travels to Africa to explore the possibility of collecting genetic material from the last free-roaming wild rhinos in the world to use in frozen zoos in a last-ditch effort to maintain the endangered species in zoos and in the wild. Traveling from the deserts of Damaraland in Namibia to the game ranches of Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa, Harkes finds himself pitted against a mysterious enemy: an enemy bent on controlling the global trade in wildlife and destroying the animals he has dedicated his life to protect. Tim was born in the small town of Crowborough, East Sussex, in the south of England. Son of a foreign correspondent and born in the heyday of newspapers, he spent much of his youth traveling, spending time in Russia (then the Soviet Union), Italy, France and the United States, eventually settling in the Mid-Atlantic state of Maryland. Tim has covered the zoo and aquarium industry in North America as a writer and editor for over a decade. His life-long interest in wildlife has led to frequent trips to Africa and many face-to-face encounters with the iconic species that call the continent home.