Into the Heart of Africa: Part 1

It began, as the best adventures often do, with the unexpected.

Thirty-seven thousand feet above the Atlantic, somewhere between Toronto and Amsterdam, I found myself kneeling on the floor of the narrow galley on a KLM Boeing 777, checking the pulse of a fellow passenger who’d collapsed during dinner service. A doctor had already responded, but my three decades as a paramedic kicked in instinctively. Old habits, especially life-saving ones, die hard.

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The man had suffered a vasovagal episode—essentially, his nervous system had overreacted to something (probably the airline food, I joked later) and caused his heart rate to drop, making his blood pressure plummet. The drop in blood pressure and slowed heart rate had quickly reduced blood flow to his brain, and he fainted. Not usually life-threatening, and not particularly worrisome from my perspective, but not ideal when you’re seven miles above the ocean with nowhere to land.

As I monitored his vital signs and helped the flight crew coordinate with ground medical control, I had no idea I was living the opening scene of what would become Blood Oath. But that moment—the sudden shift from routine to crisis, the way training takes over when chaos erupts, the realization that danger can find you anywhere—would later become the emotional core of Alexandra Martel’s most personal mission.

📚✨ Pre-order Blood Oath today and secure your copy! ✨📚

🇺🇸 Amazon US: Order on Amazon US
🇨🇦 Amazon Canada: Order on Amazon Canada
📖 Indigo Books: Order on Indigo Books
🏢 Barnes & Noble: Order on Barnes & Noble
📚 Novel Spot (Local Indie): Order at Novel Spot

💪 Why pre-order matters: Your pre-order helps boost the book's visibility, supports independent bookstores, and ensures you get your copy on release day - November 18th!

👥 Help spread the word! Share this with fellow thriller fans who love heart-pounding Alex Martel adventures. Every pre-order makes a difference for authors like me!

🎯 Don't wait - secure your hardcover copy now and be among the first to dive into Alex's most dangerous mission yet!

#BloodOath #PreOrderNow #ThrillerBooks #AlexMartel

Welcome to Africa

By the time we touched down in Amsterdam, our patient was stable and embarrassed, insisting he felt fine. The doctor and I shared a knowing look—we’d both seen how quickly “fine” can turn deadly. But this story had a happy ending, and after a four-hour layover, Lynne and I met up with her sister Tina (Christina, but family calls her Tina) and her friend Joan for the final leg to Kilimanjaro International Airport.

The moment we stepped off that plane in Tanzania, Africa hit us like a warm, fragrant embrace. The air itself felt different—thicker, infused with red dust and unfamiliar scents that spoke of ancient lands and wild places. This wasn’t just another destination; this was stepping into a different world entirely.

James Urio waited for us outside the arrivals hall, a compact man with an infectious smile and eyes that seemed to hold the wisdom of the savannah. From Wildersun Safaris, he’d be our guide for the next week—though I had no idea then how profoundly he’d influence the creation of Blood Oath. In the novel, James becomes more than just Alex’s guide; he becomes her anchor in a world suddenly turned upside down, her source of local knowledge when everything she thought she knew proves useless.

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The Coffee Plantation

We spent our first night at the Arusha Serena Hotel. The resort set the tone for everything that followed. Situated on the woodland slopes of Mount Meru, the hotel overlooks serene Lake Duluti, approximately 20 kilometers from Arusha—a perfect base for Tanzania’s legendary Northern Safari Circuit. The hotel itself is steeped in a quiet grandeur that hearkens back to its early days as a colonial-era coffee plantation. The main building greets guests with stone architecture, colonial manor vibes, and the kind of welcoming reception that soothes even the weariest traveler. That first night, we settled into our cottage-style rooms, arranged among manicured lawns and lush banks of Bougainvillea.

Though jetlagged, there was no resisting the pull of the bar—a G&T and a plate of hand-cut French fries (the chef peeled the potatoes to order) were exactly what we needed before sinking into bed after so much travel.

“Welcome to Africa!” We toasted, and we all knew we were about to experience something that would change us.

Sitting on the terrace, looking out over the coffee trees with the lights of Arusha twinkling in the distance, that first G&T tasted like possibility itself. Cold, crisp, with just enough quinine bitterness to remind you that this wasn’t just any vacation—this was Africa, where malaria still kills, where the rules are different, where every sunset could be your last if you don’t respect what you’re walking into.

In Blood Oath, I gave that same moment to Alex and her father, General David Martel. Then Alex and Caleb at the hotel bar. Their drinks on that first night represent the last peaceful moments before their world explodes into violence and betrayal.

It’s the calm before the storm, the deep breath before the plunge, the silence before the shot rings out.

The Medical Emergency Connection

As I write this now, looking back on that flight and that first night in Tanzania, I can see how my paramedic instincts shaped every aspect of Alex’s character. The way she responds to crisis, her ability to compartmentalize fear and focus on what needs to be done, her medical knowledge that saves lives throughout the series—all of that comes from decades of real emergencies.

But it’s more than technical skills. It’s the mindset. When that passenger collapsed at 37,000 feet, I didn’t think about the impossibility of the situation or how far we were from help. I thought about what I could control, what I could do right now, in this moment, to help. That’s exactly how Alex approaches every impossible situation she faces.

The medical emergency on our flight also foreshadowed something crucial about Blood Oath: the way ordinary moments can pivot into life-or-death situations without warning. One second you’re enjoying Crimson Tide (my go-to transatlantic movie), the next you’re fighting for someone’s life. One second Alex is photographing leopards with her father, the next she’s applying combat medicine to save a wounded ranger.

Africa teaches you that lesson quickly: respect the beauty, but never forget the danger.

What’s Coming

Over the next seven weeks, I’ll take you deeper into our Tanzanian adventure—the elephants that surrounded our jeep in Tarangire, the lions we watched hunting in the crater, our profound encounter with Sanka and his Maasai family that opened my eyes to both ancient wisdom and modern injustice. Each experience became a building block for Blood Oath, shaping not just the action sequences but the emotional truth at the heart of Alex’s story.

You’ll see how a simple accident (involving a gentleman from Turkey who fell down the lodge stairs) reinforced my understanding of how quickly medical emergencies can arise anywhere. How James’s encyclopedic knowledge of local wildlife, culture, and politics became the template for the characters who guide Alex through her darkest hour. How the vast beauty and lurking dangers of the Serengeti created the perfect backdrop for a story about family, loyalty, and the prices we pay for both.

Most importantly, you’ll understand why Blood Oath is the most personal story I’ve ever told. It’s not just a thriller set in Africa; it’s a love letter to a continent that teaches you what really matters, written by someone who learned those lessons firsthand.

Next Thursday, we head into Tarangire National Park, where elephants the size of small buildings will teach us about family bonds—and where the seeds of Alex’s most dangerous mission will truly take root.

Asante sana for joining me on this journey. The adventure is just beginning.

Steve Urszenyi

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Blood Oath releases November 18, 2025. Discover the true story behind Alexandra Martel’s most personal mission.

📚✨ Pre-order Blood Oath today and secure your copy! ✨📚

🇺🇸 Amazon US: Order on Amazon US
🇨🇦 Amazon Canada: Order on Amazon Canada
📖 Indigo Books: Order on Indigo Books
🏢 Barnes & Noble: Order on Barnes & Noble
📚 Novel Spot (My Local Indie): Order at Novel Spot

💪 Why pre-order matters: Your pre-order helps boost the book's visibility, supports independent bookstores, and ensures you get your copy on release day - November 18th!

👥 Help spread the word! Share this with fellow thriller fans who love heart-pounding Alex Martel adventures. Every pre-order makes a difference for authors like me!

🎯 Don't wait - secure your hardcover copy now and be among the first to dive into Alex's most dangerous mission yet!

#BloodOath #PreOrderNow #ThrillerBooks #AlexMartel

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