The Safari

A Novel

You must sign in to see if this title is available for request. Sign In or Register Now
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app

1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date May 20 2025 | Archive Date Jun 03 2025
Atria Books | Atria/Emily Bestler Books

Description

The Safari will have you up all night hungrily hunting the pages for stealthily laid clues. A must read!” —Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author

When a wealthy family goes on a South African safari, a series of shocking murders rocks their exclusive compound in this unputdownable thriller from the acclaimed author of the “rollicking good fun” (The Wall Street Journal) The Main Character.

Odelia Babel, CEO of a sustainable fashion empire, is about to marry for the second time—to a man twenty-five years her junior. Asher Bach is the thirty-something designer of Odelia’s luxury clothing line, the darling of every high-fashion journalist, and madly in love with Odelia.

Eager to celebrate her nuptials with her nearest and dearest, Odelia invites her adult children, her daughter-in-law, her grandchild, and her best friend/assistant to an all-expenses-paid luxury safari at Leopard Sands in South Africa, the Babel family’s favorite vacation spot. In its soil, they have deep roots—and even deeper secrets.

It seems like the perfect trip, but not everyone is thrilled for the happy couple. Amid game drives in the bush and bonfires beneath the desert stars, tensions among the family threaten to boil over. And then, the morning after a big fight with her son Sam—and hours before the wedding—Odelia is found murdered. Sam is immediately the prime suspect, but he claims he has an ironclad alibi—he was with his twin sister, Bailey. Only Bailey is nowhere to be found…

As the heat roils, desperate poachers and ferocious animals lurk, and dark motives fester, it becomes clear that whoever killed Odelia isn’t quite finished yet, and the rest of the Babel family is their prey.
The Safari will have you up all night hungrily hunting the pages for stealthily laid clues. A must read!” —Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author

When a wealthy family goes on a South...

Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781668066959
PRICE $28.99 (USD)
PAGES 320

Available on NetGalley

NetGalley Reader (EPUB)
NetGalley Shelf App (EPUB)
Send to Kindle (EPUB)
Download (EPUB)

Average rating from 94 members


Featured Reviews

Like a luxury safari, Jaclyn Goldis’s enormously entertaining new novel takes readers on a thrilling ride through terrain as brutal as it is beautiful: an imperiled ecosystem of secrets, manipulation, and murder that will leave you breathless. With characters as richly realized as its sub-Saharan setting, The Safari is a transporting page-turner with surprises around every corner. I couldn’t put it down.

Was this review helpful?

This book is insane... and I loved it. The way it was written was semi-unsettling, but it propelled the plot forward because I had to know what happened. It reminded me of being inside of some kind of escape room, and gave off shades of The Veldt, which is one of my favorite short stories ever. It's hard to write a summary without giving anything away, but if you're looking for a unique thriller with a killer setting... this one is for you! Highly recommend! (I need to do a re-read now, knowing what happens!)

I will share more on my YouTube, Instagram, and other social media on release day!

Was this review helpful?

This was such a good read. It started off really dull for me but I ended up addicted a few chapters in and couldn’t put it down. It had a family of perfectly cast characters (super flawed and classically relatable) and a lot of mysterious secondary characters I didn’t figure out until literally the last page (a pleasant surprise). There was lots going on in the plot which I loved, and lots of twists I didn’t see coming. I found there were some parts that languished a bit long but truly a pleasure to finish.

Was this review helpful?

I've always been fascinated by South Africa and have dreamed of going on safari. Thankfully, Jaclyn Goldis has brought that dream to life in her superb thriller, allowing me to feel like I was right there, witnessing the majestic elephants, the fierce lions, the swift cheetahs, and the breathtaking landscape, all while staying at a luxurious hotel/family compound.

In The Safari, an incredibly wealthy family gathers at their opulent hotel compound for a wedding. The occasion is the marriage of the family matriarch, Odelia, to her much younger fiancé, Asher. However, this union is anything but joyous for Odelia's three adult children, whose discontent looms over the event. Tensions rise, secrets come to light, and when a shocking murder occurs, followed by multiple mysterious disappearances, chaos descends. No one knows who they can trust, and the danger lurking in the shadows keeps everyone on edge, unsure of what’s coming next.

Jaclyn Goldis weaves an intricate tale of suspense, betrayal, and family dynamics set against the stunning yet perilous backdrop of the African savannah. It’s a thrilling ride that kept me hooked from start to finish, making me feel like I was part of the adventure — up close with the wildlife, surrounded by opulence, and entangled in the mystery.
#Thesafari #jaclyngoldis
#Atriabooks

Was this review helpful?

This was a fun, fast-paced mystery thriller, that fits well within one of my personal favorite mystery subgenres : rich people behaving badly. This is a pretty typical set-up : an ultra-wealthy family is on vacation in South Africa, celebrating the mother of the family’s marriage to her decades-younger fiancee. There are rifts within the family and secrets among them all and the mother ends up dead. Most of the characters in this are awful, verging on despicable. I did like the way the author built these characters - although they are awful, they’re still written differently than other rich people mysteries I’ve read, with a bit more nuance. I liked the perspective changes with each chapter and the solution to the mystery, even if certain storylines felt a little obvious (I read a lot of mysteries, so this could be a product of that). If you’ve read and enjoyed either “The Chateau” or “The Main Character” by Jaclyn Goldis, you’ll enjoy your time with this. If you like a family drama mystery with a fairly unique setting, this will probably be a hit as well.

Was this review helpful?

Readers who liked this book also liked: