Ambushed in Africa

A Daring Adventure #1

by Peter Reese Doyle

While in Africa visiting his friends Mark and Penny Daring, David Curtis helps them thwart attempts to steal the claim papers to a diamond field and to capture Penny as a hostage.

Genres: Fiction, Childrens, Young Adult

149 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1993

About the author

Peter Reese Doyle is the author of the "Daring Adventure Series" for young readers, published by Focus on the Family as well as the historical series "Drums of War." Doyle writes historical novels "to interest boys and girls in the origins of our American Republic and the principles for which our forefather went to war against Great Britain," he says. "I want to cover the history of the war, using the form of historical fiction, to tell the real story of battles and events in that great struggle for personal liberty under constitutional government."

A graduate of Washington and Lee University, Doyle and his wife, Sally Ann, live in Opelika, Alabama.

Reviews

[Heatherjoy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I held onto this book for years, and picked it up recently to see if I thought it was worth passing on to my kids. Full disclosure: I did not finish it as I felt I was able to evaluate it for those purposes within the first third or so of the book. I’m leaving this review only in case someone else is looking for this perspective as I’ve benefitted from reviews of other childhood favorites in this way.

I will not be passing this book to my kids. Promoting non-violence is important in our house, and I’m uncomfortable with a Christian veneer of praying before flying and reading the Bible at night immediately juxtaposed with packing specific guns and beating up bad guys with no regard for their humanity (even if the “bad guys” are taking violent actions themselves). While this is the primary deciding factor, there are also undertones of colonialism as the plot revolves around a mostly white-engineered, military-protected diamond mining operation somewhere in Africa. In the end, those are the primary factors that tipped me to make the decision I did.

[Morgan's Endless Bookshelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun middle-grade Christian adventure book! Pretty nostalgic, too; I hadn't read it in a while, so it was nice to revisit it.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

David, Mark, and Penny face some rather scary adventures, but they always seem to escape and foil the bad guys' plans at the same time.

[Gibsonj338 · Rating 4 out of 5]

About fifteen years ago, my mom, working at a Christian school/church in the school part, went to a book fair that the school was having to raise money. She saw a package of this book as well as book two and book four, thought of me and decided to buy the books for me to read. At first, I had a hard time reading this book as I had to start over a few times. Once I got over that hurdle, I really enjoyed the book. As you read on in the series, the series gets better and better. If you manage to get through this book, the rest of the series will be a breeze.

[ⓝⓐⓣⓗⓐⓝⓐⓔⓛ♦Depression Sucks♦ · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was GREAT!!!

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Noah ravenously read this upon a friend's recommendation. He declares that it is a great adventure book and he's already half through with the second.