I love complex, moody, twisty thrillers, and The Safari delivered on all counts!
Join the Babels at their South African resort for the wedding of matriarch Odelia Babel, CEO of the family's sustainable luxury fashion empire, to the much younger Asher Bach, a highly successful designer in his own right. Attending the festivities are Odelia's adult children, Joshua with his wife and their infant daughter, and the younger twins Samuel and Bailey, as well as Odelia's best friend since childhood and personal assistant of sorts, Gwen. Amid game drives and dinners, it is clear that nobody seems particularly happy for the couple, and tension mounts as long buried secrets threaten to come to light. When roads in and out of the resort are shut down by a significant rainy season storm and someone is found dead, the idyllic safari setting turns into a "locked room" situation where the animals outside the electric fence start to seem far less deadly than some of the people within. There were a couple of twists I saw coming, but others took me completely off guard; great read!

This book took me a bit to get through and I’m not quite sure why. I think the dynamics of the family were a bit much for me. It was pure chaos.

There was not much going on until about 60% into the book and it took me a bit to get there. Very slow paced until it wasn’t. After that, I was completely lost on what was happening as twists kept coming.

I adored the setting in this one - it added to the plot and provided coverage for the alienation of the characters. It also allowed for Goldis to talk about the impact of poaching on wildlife (seriously, y'all suck!) This suffered from what I like to refer to as “mwah haha syndrome” - when the killer goes into a whole rambling speech about why and how they did what they did. I’m never really of fan of that so it definitely impacting how I felt about the book.

This was twisty and turny and cheated a bit - we are in the different characters’ heads but they are lying to themselves because there are A LOT of secrets with these people and yet they think around them instead of about them. Still, I read it in almost one sitting because I needed to know who did it (though that was pretty obvious pretty fast) as well as find out all those secrets.

Odelia is the CEO of a popular fashion brand, she took over after her controlling husband died years ago and is now getting remarried to a much younger, but very successful man, Asher. She has convened her family (two sons, her daughter and sister) to a luxury resort in South Africa, one they have been visiting for years. In between the luxurious sarfaris and meals Odelia is murdered. There seem to be so many potential killers because so many people have been wronged by her and have a motive.

I really did not know what to expect with this one but I got very into it very fast (it doesn’t hurt that I have been dying to go on a safari for over 20 years). This is a great atmospheric thriller with many twists and turns. I loved the descriptions of the animals but even more so I loved that I really could not solve the mystery. This is a twisty-turny fun thriller that would be a great beach read. Each character had a rich background story and the dynamics between them was both interesting and uncomfortable at the same time. I didn’t get bored with this book and I can’t wait to read the author’s backlist!

Jaclyn Gold’s Safari is a wild ride—sometimes thrilling, sometimes bumpy, and occasionally a bit lost in the tall grass. Set against the vivid backdrop of an African safari, the novel teases danger, seduction, and secrets with a cinematic flair. You can practically feel the dust and hear the distant roar of lions.

Gold’s writing shines when it comes to atmosphere and setting; the landscape is lush and immersive. But the characters? Not quite as fully fleshed as the wildlife. The emotional stakes don’t always land, and some plot twists feel more like detours than dramatic turns.

Still, there’s something undeniably intriguing about the premise and the simmering tension beneath the surface. Safari has moments of genuine suspense and flashes of brilliance—it just doesn’t always find the clearest path through the terrain.

Worth a read if you’re in the mood for an exotic escape with a side of mystery—just pack a little patience with your binoculars.

What the actual....what!? This book was so messy in the best way. And legit right up until the last page. Family drama, poachers, lion prides, and plenty of murder.

Sizzling secrets, couture claws, and deadly drama—The Safari is luxury meets lethal, and I devoured every twisty, blood-soaked page like it was a five-star meal under the South African sun. Jaclyn Goldis brings the rich mom energy and then drops bodies like haute couture confetti. Scandalous, savage, and oh-so-satisfying. Buckle up—this safari gets wild.

Thank you Jaclyn Goldis, Atria Books, and Netgalley for the advanced copy!

#thesafari #netgalleyarc #netgalleyreview #netgalley #arcreview #arc #arcreader #review #somanybookssolittletime

This was a good mystery with several twists at the end. I do think the .middle dragged a bit and could have used a little more editing.

Looking for White Lotus vibes?
Fan of rich people problems?

The Safari finds readers literally on a swanky safari compound in South Africa. We meet the Babel family whose relationships with their mother and each other are strained for various reasons.

There are secrets, secrets, and more secrets! Everyone’s got them. Some are easy to figure out while Goldis makes readers work harder to solve a few of the others.

This is my third book from Goldis and I continue to love her writing and the stories she crafts. I mean a safari themed locked room mystery? Genius!

I just couldn't get into this novel - it was definitely a more "It's me, not you" kind of thing. I requested it mainly for the setting, and that's something I enjoyed. I gave it sixty pages, but the plot moved much too slowly for my taste, and I didn't feel a connection with the characters. I have no doubt there are other readers who would enjoy this book, but it just wasn't for me.

Finished this one a bit ago and while I found the premise really interesting, I don't think it was entirely for me as a reader. I can see someone else really loving the mystery aspects of this book throughout, as they're pretty solid and can make this whodunnit pretty compelling. The writing itself is also very good!

A captivating closed-room mystery set in South Africa at a safari lodge. A wealthy family comes to the lodge for the wedding of their mother to her much younger paramour. None of her three adult children are very happy about this, nor her best friend. So when she is found dead, we are not lacking for suspects. But is the killer finished?

I liked the way the story backtracks a couple days before the murder so we get to know each of these characters, one by one. Each and every one has a secret they are hiding, even some of the staff. Telling the story from all sorts of different povs did get a bit confusing at times though. Lots of plot twists, right up until the very end, kept the story interesting. I'd enjoy reading more of Goldis's mysteries.

Many thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an arc of this new mystery via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

Within the striking backdrop of Kruger, South Africa, this thriller follows a wealthy Jewish family navigating the complexities of life, loyalty, and legacy amid the matriarch’s remarriage to a much younger man. With great wealth comes deep secrets, cover-ups, murder, and a cast of characters all vying for a piece of the pie; which epitomizes the circle of life brilliantly.
Told from various points of view, you get a complete picture of this family and how each of them fit and feel within it, each with their own issues, and no one is exactly who you think they are. The vivid descriptions of the scenery and safari life transported me, beautifully grounding the chaos of the family drama in a breathtaking setting.The multiple plot twists in this one are sharp and thrilling, and when everything comes together, finally in the bitter end, you see why some people like animals more than humans. I couldn’t put this one down!

The Safari was a winding locked room thriller that told an intense story of wealthy family dysfunction set against the richly beautiful backdrop of South Africa.
From the first chapter it was pure ruthlessness. There wasn’t really a single character I identified or sympathized with, they were all varying degrees of awful. With so many characters it felt as if there was a lot going on at all times and I couldn’t make sense of where things were going for the longest time but I finally figured out the big twist shortly before it was revealed.
As a fan of Jaclyn Goldis’s other novels, I was very excited for this one and enjoyed it as well, especially the cultural insights it brought, both South African and Jewish.
Thank you so much to Atria/Emily Bestler Books for sending me an eARC!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book.

Oh. My. Goodness!! Where do I begin? This book is a MESS!! So many characters, so many stories, so many secrets!! Most of the characters are not happy in the life they live, but don't know why. And many of the characters don't even REALLY know who they are - or who other people really are.

The female head of a fashion empire has fallen "truly, madly, deeply" in love with a man many years her junior and an employee. But none of that matters to Odelia Babel, because her wealth has always guaranteed she gets what she wants. And she wants Asher Bach. It doesn't matter what her three children think of him, nor does it matter what her best friend since childhood thinks. She is going to marry Asher and her entire family, including her daughter-in-law, who is also an employee, and her practically newborn granddaughter, as well as her lifelong friend Gwen, are going to witness the event. And it will be held at Leopard Shores, a safari camp in South Africa owned by the Babel family. Never mind that it is the rainy season. Never mind that the lodge is fully booked. What Odelia wants, Odelia gets.

But on the night before the scheduled wedding, as torrential rains fall and everyone is stilll trying to get their head around the events, what Odelia gets is murdered. WHO did this? The rains have kept everyone else except the wedding party away. Even the police have a hard time getting to the scene of the crime. AND two others in the party go missing by the time the police finally do arrive.

There is so much story, many interweaving and others just out there alone, and so many characters. But somehow, the author manages to tell quite a tale, even if it is totally implausible, but FUN!! Suspend all critical thinking, because it is not necessary and in fact would probably ruin the story!

I was captivated when I encountered the synopsis for *The Safari*. A luxurious safari in Africa featuring a wealthy, dysfunctional family? Count me in! I was delighted to find that the *The White Lotus premise truly lived up to my expectations by the time I turned the last page.

The story revolves around a widow planning to remarry a much younger man, much to the dismay of her three adult children. One daughter remains calm and tries to maintain peace among everyone. On the other hand, one son is quite inappropriate and openly expresses his frustration about the situation. The third son seems to be the aimless wanderer returning home, but also has his share of shortcomings.

The cast includes safari staff, a best friend, and a daughter-in-law. When the matriarch is found dead, chaos erupts, leading to a survival race. More murders and secrets surface, increasing tensions. The final third of the book was unputdownable, making for a fantastic, immersive experience.
Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for access to this title.

I couldn't get into this story at all. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for a review

Well - the two things that popped into my head as I finished this book were “wow, that was one crazy ride!” and “Alex, I’ll take ‘what is the definition of ‘dysfunctional family’ for 1000, please?”

This is the first book I’ve read by Jaclyn Goldis despite seeing I have two others in my TBR list. After consuming this train wreck of a family vacation, I’ll certainly move the other ones higher up on the list!

The second I saw the cover and read the preview of this, I was all in. A wealthy family heading back to their favorite safari lodge in South Africa? The matriarch traveling with her three grown kids—oh, and casually marrying a man 25 years younger? And then boom—the book opens with a body surrounded by vultures inside the electric fence? Ummm… YES. Those are ingredients that lead to great thrillers!

If you enjoy intense family dramas that include wealthy characters, back stabbing, not knowing who to trust, and life altering secrets being exposed then you definitely want to check this out!

Thank you NetGalley, Jaclyn Goldis, and Atria Books for sharing this thrilling, four star read in exchange for a review!

Odelia Babel is 64 years old and the CEO of a fast fashion empire. A widow, she is about to marry Asher, a man 25 years her junior.

Odelia invites her three adult children, daughter-in-law, granddaughter, and her lifelong best friend, Gwen, to Leopard Sands, a luxury safari camp in South Africa, for the wedding. It seems like the dream trip in an exotic locale, except no one is pleased about the upcoming nuptials. Then, the night of the rehearsal dinner, Odelia is murdered.

Tensions run high and there is no shortage of suspects. Unsurprisingly, there are plenty of secrets to be uncovered in this dysfunctional family, and the killer is not quite done….

If you enjoy stories of rich people behaving badly, there’s a lot of intrigue, arguing, bitterness, and bad behavior on full display.

I was hopeful for the exotic locale but found it lacking. Plus tarot cards, a plot device I didn’t care for. And lots of virtue signaling. Yeah I know homophobia, religious extremism, and fast fashion are bad. I don’t need to be hit over the head with it.

It took me to 50% before the story took off. I came close to DNF’ing multiple times. Also, with multiple narrators, each narrating in the first person, it required close attention and flipping back to remember whose chapter it was. Perhaps this would have worked better for me on audio with a full cast.

Unfortunately, there was a kitchen sink approach in the last third of the book with twists upon twists upon twists, that was eye-rolling and silly. The first twist was easily guessed once the reader is given important information. But we aren’t done yet! At 85% I thought the book was over (and it should have been). Literally everyone has to have a BIG DARK SECRET. This one requires a massive suspension of disbelief.

This was the perfect rich people behaving badly thriller.. I really enjoyed how the story unfolded and dissecting the secrets of this wealthy but extremely toxic family..