Golden Fox: A Novel
Golden Fox: A Novel book cover

Golden Fox: A Novel

Mass Market Paperback – November 1, 1993

by
Price
$8.99
Publisher
Fawcett
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0449149065
Dimensions
4.19 x 1.22 x 6.75 inches
Weight
9.6 ounces

Description

From the Inside Flap ating...Stunning...Seduction and betrayal. Politics and treachery. Wilbur Smith's THE GOLDEN FOX combines these elements and more with the beauty and violence of the African continent.... Compelling."THE FREE LANCE-STAR (Fredericksburg, VA)The Courtney family blood has long run hot--as hot as the passion and turmoil boiling in war-torn South Africa. When one of their own succumbs to the worst kind of evil, those ties are put to the ultimate test.Isabella Courtney, dazzling daughter of South Africa's ambassador to England, is passionately obsessed with Ramon, the Marques de Santiago y Machado--also known as the Golden Fox, one of the world's most ruthless terrorists. When she secretly bears his child, Ramon kidnaps the boy and persuades powerful, yet reluctant, Isabella to betray South Africa and her beloved family...until the truth at last comes out, and the explosive Courtneys rally to her side and strike back with a raging vengance.... "Fascinating...Stunning...Seduction and betrayal. Politics and treachery. Wilbur Smith's THE GOLDEN FOX combines these elements and more with the beauty and violence of the African continent.... Compelling."THE FREE LANCE-STAR (Fredericksburg, VA)The Courtney family blood has long run hot--as hot as the passion and turmoil boiling in war-torn South Africa. When one of their own succumbs to the worst kind of evil, those ties are put to the ultimate test.Isabella Courtney, dazzling daughter of South Africa's ambassador to England, is passionately obsessed with Ramon, the Marques de Santiago y Machado--also known as the Golden Fox, one of the world's most ruthless terrorists. When she secretly bears his child, Ramon kidnaps the boy and persuades powerful, yet reluctant, Isabella to betray South Africa and her beloved family...until the truth at last comes out, and the explosive Courtneys rally to her side and strike back with a raging vengance.... Wilbur Smith was born in Central Africa in 1933. He was educated at Michaelhouse and Rhodes University. After the successful publication of When the Lion Feeds in 1964, he became a full-time writer, and has since written 30 novels, all meticulously researched on his numerous expeditions worldwide. His books have been translated into 26 different languages. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • "Fascinating...Stunning...Seduction and betrayal. Politics and treachery. Wilbur Smith's THE GOLDEN FOX combines these elements and more with the beauty and violence of the African continent.... Compelling."THE FREE LANCE-STAR (Fredericksburg, VA)The Courtney family blood has long run hot--as hot as the passion and turmoil boiling in war-torn South Africa. When one of their own succumbs to the worst kind of evil, those ties are put to the ultimate test.Isabella Courtney, dazzling daughter of South Africa's ambassador to England, is passionately obsessed with Ramon, the Marques de Santiago y Machado--also known as the Golden Fox, one of the world's most ruthless terrorists. When she secretly bears his child, Ramon kidnaps the boy and persuades powerful, yet reluctant, Isabella to betray South Africa and her beloved family...until the truth at last comes out, and the explosive Courtneys rally to her side and strike back with a raging vengance....

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(1.1K)
★★★★
25%
(894)
★★★
15%
(536)
★★
7%
(250)
★
23%
(822)

Most Helpful Reviews

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Don't Read This First-- it's the 11th and Last in a Series!

It's also the least of the series-- all others I've read warrant at least 4 stars, and some 5. "The Courtneys of Africa" series is as follows: Birds of Prey, Monsoon, Blue Horizon, When The Lion Feeds, A Sound of Thunder, A Sparrow Falls, The Burning Shore, Power of the Sword, Rage, A Time to Die-- and THEN Golden Fox. So you'd be unwise to start here; I'd even say you could dispense with it altogether, as it's a weak ending to the story. But it ties up some loose ends of the 20th century version of the clan-- Centaine, born with the century, and her son Shasa, and his four children, Sean, Garry, Isabella, and Michael. The story runs from 1969 to the late 70s, and is rife with minor anachronisms-- Smith wrote this in the early nineties and forgot that kids didn't have videos to pop in and watch back then, etc. The plot is turgid romance and espionage, and the weakest book I've found from Smith-- start anywhere else but here. "Birds of Prey" is a solid adventure story, and will serve as an entree to the Courtneys, if you've a mind to get to know them....
30 people found this helpful
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Dissapointing

I really like all the Wilbur smiths books i have read except the 7th scroll. And even that was much more readable than this. Wilbur Smith writes yarns so I am not looking for a plausible storyline but this just reeks of a childish romance novel. the first 100-150 pages of this novel are so unremarkable that I had completely forgoten I had read this book before untl the entrance of the inimitable character of Centaine. Sasha just seems a shadow of his former self. As someone who likes this author(River God, Warlock, Monsoon, Birds of Prey, The Delta Decision, Rage are all incredible books), I would like to advise new readers, please dont form opinions based on this. Everyone is entitiled to a bad book.
6 people found this helpful
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Very disappointed.

I have read almost all of the Courtney (and Ballantyne) series, on Kindle. I do not understand why Golden Fox and a Time to Die are not available on Kindle. It is hard for me to read a paperback as my hands hurt and the print is small. Have invested a lot of time and significant $$$ is this family saga, am going to have to really struggle to read these two books. Not happy.
Early writing is extraordinary!
4 people found this helpful
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African "Dynasty" sans Joan

How can I write a book about a bunch of shallow, avaristic, name-dropping money-grubbers and make them appear to be heroic and noble? Let's set it in Africa and draw it out so boringly and lenghtily that the reader will completely loose interest in it after 25 pages. Let's also make it totally implausible and drop every advertiser's name in the affluent world of priviledge like Cartier and Bentley... Well, you get the picture. After the glorious Monsoon and River God, this broke my heart.
4 people found this helpful
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A Courtney All-time low!

I have read through this book of the Courtneys of Africa series wondering just how low these despicable characters could go and surely this book is where they bottom out... I hope. Smith's yarns are spun in ways that make them difficult to put down for the excitement, predictable as it is, but after a while you start looking for something beyond his penchant for describing them in terms of sexual exploits (each and all like something right out of a porn masterpiece: those "books, movies, and other people's" lives kind of experiences); making shady, self-centered business dealings no matter who becomes flattened roadkill in the process; and carrying the whole thing on the back of the most despicable character of the bunch (Centaine the Ruthless), always lurking in the background eying her own family no differently than she would any potential competitor in terms of how manipulative she is willing to be to affect their activities.

If only I didn't think Smith truly liked these people, in the manner Tom Clancy fancies himself the real Jack Ryan. There is just no counterpoint to convince me he isn't enthralled with them. For example, his treatment of racism isn't much different that a mud-puddle-deep person proclaiming some of his or her best friends are black, gay, Jewish, Martians, or whathaveyou.

Oh, yes, the low point? The liberal, gay Courtney, now out of the closet, and sleeping with under-age black boys while pretending to be their friend and savior! Unfortunately, we cannot buy first-class tickets for the lot of them to sail on the Titanic. So far, each chronological book in the series has been somewhat less than its predecessor (not a great sign since I have the next three in queue). If they don't improve (or these Courtneys don't get their comeuppance), damn the Egyptians!
2 people found this helpful
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Golden Fox

I am a big fan of Wilbur Smith, but this book is not good. Slow, tiring to read. The first half, if you can get throught it, will almost make you change authors!
2 people found this helpful
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Wilbur Smith's worst

After enjoying the saga of the Courtneys, I found Golden Fox to be entirely out of character. It had all the appeal, and sadly the dialogue and story line of a poor romance novel. Frankly I couldn't finish it, preferring to leave the Courtneys as they were after A Time To Die. An extremely poor finish to a good series.
2 people found this helpful
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my review

A KGB officer, born in Spain but educated in Cuba, sets up a South African woman to become her spy against her will. The tool he uses is against all human decency....
Once again Wilbut Smith has written an excellent novel. The plot keeps the reader hooked until the very end and you can never guess what the outcome will be. The characters are incredibly real. The writing is excellent and the description of every scene makes you feel as if you were present in the room!
This is a very good novel and a very entertaining read!
2 people found this helpful
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Wilbur Smith Does It Again

This is #12 in the Saga of Wilbur Smith's Courtney Family. The Saga begins with "Birds of Prey" in the mid-1700's and proceeds through thirteen volumes to the mid-1960's. The opening 'scene' in this volume takes place at a Rolling Stones concert in Hyde Park.
If you have never read any of Wilbur Smith's work, now's your chance. You won't regret it.
1 people found this helpful
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The best and Last of the courtney series

I only wish there were more in this 11 book saga....Wilbur Smith is awesome and I will continue to read his other novels....
1 people found this helpful

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