C.L. Manning

Rhodesian Doll Hunt: A Backpack, a Doll, and Genetic Espionage in Africa

Craze and Mad Dog carry information wrapped within the walls of African nesting dolls that will help Rhodesia’s Prime Minister Ian Smith deploy a gene editing technology which, if successful, will help him win the Rhodesian Bush War. Winston, the Chief Research Officer of an elite group of scientists in Liberia, has told them that the information details a Nobel Prize winning technology that will eradicate malaria. Craze, a scientist from Boston, is pleased to help deliver the information and is tempted to take a job at the research center after his travels. Mad Dog, his conservative friend since childhood, is skeptical of Winston’s motives.

Travis, founder of the United Freedom Front, a radical organization in the United States, infiltrates the Selous Scouts, the special ops unit of the Rhodesian army, as a double agent, and passes information back to Joshua Nkomo’s army, one of the two factions fighting Smith’s government. His handler asks Travis to kill the two Americans and destroy the dolls, but when Travis sees Craze standing on the shores of the Zambezi River he can’t do it.

Why will people kill in order to destroy the dolls? Craze and Mad Dog resolve to determine the true purpose of the technology wrapped within the dolls and team up with unlikely partners in a journey that culminates on the ledges of Victoria Falls in Rhodesia.

Book Status: Hardback and paperback published and available on Amazon. eBook availability coming soon.

Note: This book is a work of fiction. Though inspired by real events, technology, and life experience, references to historical events, people, and scientific discoveries are intended to provide some authenticity to the work. The plot, characters, actions, discussions, and incidences in the novel are purely drawn from the authors imagination.