Easily the least impressive example I have yet read of Hamilton Innes' work. It meanders, especially at the start. There is little focus. The characterization is hazy at best. And the story simply cannot get itself started. Even the title, The Big Footprints, is an awkward failure. Innes' motivation for the novel was his 1972 trip to Lake Rudolf (now, Lake Turkana) in Kenya, where he became obsessed with the mindless slaughter of African elephants, which threatened their extinction. It's a laudable cause. But Innes sacrificed his usual storytelling skills in a fevered attempt to convince his readers of the rightness of his theme: saving elephants, stopping poachers, and ending the trade in ivory. As a result this work languishes, almost forgotten.

There are a couple of good moments. The escape up Mt. Kulal and through its gorge is memorable. For a few pages, it seems that Innes might save his story. But things quickly ebb back into meaningless speculations about the abilities and motives of elephants. Telepathy? Really? His protagonist, Colin Tait, is hardly worth mentioning, so little does he have an effect on things. Only his escape, along with that of American cameraman Abe Finkel and Mary Delden, the daughter of an aging conservationist intent on saving the elephants at all costs, whether by sabotage or killing his opponents, carries the usual Innes stamp. Their struggle against the wilds of desert and drought make for a few thrilling pages as well. ( )