Customer Reviews

Mrs. Pollifax on Safari

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Mrs. Polifax is a lovable charector. Her adventurs have always been mystifying and this one is no exception. Her African adventure is exciting. Plus her mission seems sweet and inocent. Take photographs. Soon however it turns for the worst. Her film is stolen, police make a surprise visit, and then she is Kidnapped. Whats next? Well.... no sorry that would give away too much. Sit down and read this masterpiece. You won't regret it.

(Based on the audiotape, no longer available (?) )

Mrs. Pollifax is called upon by the CIA to undertake another mission, this time to photograph members of a safari, one of whom is an international assassin, nicknamed Aristotle. She innocently posts an ad in the local newspaper trying to contact her old friend Farrell from the first book. This leads to major complications as Farrell is involved with the freedom fighters across the border and has made some enemies. Another entertaining outing and with a bit of romance as a fellow traveler takes a fancy to Mrs. Pollifax. Barbara Rosenblat does another excellent job reading, coming up with clear, distinct, and identifiable voices for a myriad of characters.

Carstairs has gotten intel that the assassin Aristotle is going to be on a safari in Zambia to arrange his next hit. Since no one even knows what he looks like, Carstairs knows this is a great opportunity to gather information. He immediately calls his favorite innocent tourist. Mrs. Pollifax's mission is to take pictures of the other people on the safari. The CIA will use them to figure out who Aristotle really is.

But the first night of the safari, Mrs. Pollifax discovers that her film has been stolen. Suddenly, things are personal, and she decides she will not only take the pictures but figure out who Aristotle is. Can she do that when her fellow travelers seem so nice? What secrets might they be hiding?

It's been years since I read this book, so I had forgotten most of it. I was surprised to find how slow I felt the book started. There is also a bit of background, but this time it didn't seem as much a part of the story. Once she arrives at the safari, things pick up. There are some fun moments along the way as well as a couple of great twists and a reunion with a character from another book. Mrs. Pollifax is her usual resourceful is slightly naive self. And several of the others characters are equally charming.

The book might not be quite as enjoyable as I remembered it, but it will still please fans of the series.

Fun, easy to read adventure/mystery book. Highly recommended as an entertaining way to spend a boring evening at home or a rainy day. Dorothy Gilman certainly has a gift of description: I could just smell and feel all the aspects of the safari she was describing. There's just one thing that bugged me, though:
WARNING - SPOILER BELOW! WARNING - SPOILER BELOW!



I found it rather silly that Mrs. Pollifax - a woman who has done CIA work in the past - would advertise for her friend in the local NEWSPAPER! Even though the man was supposedly retired, she should have realized that he'd still have contacts and enemies everywhere. She should have known better than to a) blow his cover and b) endanger her mission and her life by casually advertising for him in the newspaper. Yikes, Mrs. Pollifax. That's the only thing that kept me from giving the book 5 stars. It just didn't ring true that clever-as-a-fox Mrs. Pollifax would make such a careless mistake.

Other than that, it was a delightful little book.

Both my husband and I love Mrs Polifax. I have almost read every one, it is now becomming difficult to get the few that we haven't read yet at our library as they are so popular. Are there any adventures that Mrs Polifax hasn't been on yet?

Delightful as ever! I have to admit that I've pictured a safari as hiking through jungles, so this was a true-to-life account of what one is like. So I am getting to travel vicariously and have fun "watching" the amazing Mrs. P.

Mrs. Pollifax, intrepid gardner and karate expert, is asked to go on another assignment for the CIA. This time, she's asked to go on an African safari in order to take pictures of the participants, one of whom is a dreaded assassin named Aristotle.
She takes the pictures, and then is chagrined to learn that they have been stolen. Thereupon there is a kidnapping, a reunion with an old friend and even a bit of romance to liven up the proceedings. As usual, Dorothy Gilman populates her book with interesting characters, and a fascinating glimpse at an exotic setting. This is a must-read for Mrs. Pollifax fans, new and old.

I've been re-reading the Pollifax books again for the first time in several years and I've enjoyed them all immensely. "Mrs. Pollifax on Safari" is truly a high watermark in the series as Emily finally finds romance and a love that will last. The plot is also full of twists and turns and, like Mrs. Pollifax herself, the reader just isn't sure whom to trust. Another phenomenal entry in the Pollifax canon!

As a yarn goes this novel is tolerable but I write this review as a warning to anyone who has actually spent time in Africa - this book will irritate you.
The characters are all lazy stereotypes which is tolerable until we come across 'freedom' fighters being portrayed as such.
Having had family in that part of the world it is just too much to read about them as they are portrayed here. These 'freedom fighters' were terrorists and yet they were the darlings of the bleeding hearts. It is nauseating to read this novel when you know that the author had the opportunity to do a bit of research but chose to reinforce the fluffy stereotypes instead.
Am I wrong? See how things have turned out in Zimbabwe.

Whenever Mr. Carstairs of the CIA needs an innocent tourist, his first thought is of Emily Pollifax, New Brunswick, NJ. Now he has information that an international assassin-for-hire is going to be part of a guided safari in Zaire, and he wants photographs of all the participants to share with Interpol in hopes that they can put a face to his code name. So off goes Mrs. Pollifax to the not-so-dark continent. But as always, her mission acquires unexpected complications--Cyrus Reed, a retired judge who shows more than a mild interest in her; his grown daughter, who seems attracted to two of the young men in the group; and Mrs. P's newspaper ad for her old Albanian prisonmate, John Sebastian Farrell, which attracts first a police inquiry and then a sinister trio of kidnappers. Mrs. Pollifax's delight in her first visit to Africa is especially well portrayed ("She would *demand* lions"), and she's lost none of her quick wits and courage. An excellent entry to the series.