Play Book Tag discussion

The Lioness – Chris Bohjalian
Book on CD read by January LaVoy, Gabrielle De Cuir, and Grace Blewer.

3***

Adapted from the book jacket: Tanzania, 1964. When Katie Barstow, A-list actress, and her new husband, David Hill, decide to bring heir Hollywood friends to the Serengeti for their honeymoon, they envision giraffes gently eating leaves from the tall acacia trees, and herds of zebra storming the sandy plains. Their glamorous guests will spend their days taking photos and their evenings drinking chilled gin and tonics back at camp. The wealthy Americans expect civilized adventure and plenty of stories to tell over lunch back on Rodeo Drive. What Katie and her entourage do not expect is a kidnapping gone wrong, their guides bleeding out in the dirt, and a team of Russsian mercenaries herding them into Land Rovers, guns to their heads.

My reactions
I’ve read a number of Bohjalian’s books and, in general, I like his writing. Some of his books were stellar reads, but this isn’t one of them … at least not for me.

First off, he had a lot of characters, and he varies the point of view amongst them. As they are isolated by their kidnappers, each of them has only a piece of the puzzle, and so the reader has only disjointed pieces to try to fit together. We do know from Prologue that not all of them will survive, but we don’t know which of them will emerge from their ordeal, and which will be left to the hyenas and vultures. One central character disappeared for most of the book, and I kept asking (sometimes aloud) “What about ….?”

It's certainly a roller coaster of a ride, and it held my attention, but it didn’t really capture me.

Bohjalian wrote this during the Covid pandemic. I think his own isolation during that period was part of what made this so dark.

I will say this, though. He managed to put me right in the heart of Africa with his descriptions: the animals, the heat, the dirt, the vast emptiness of the savannah (except for those predators who are so expertly camouflaged by Mother Nature). This is a very atmospheric read. In several chapters, I found myself quite thirsty, craving water, and turning the AC down to 70F!

It'll be interesting to hear what the rest of my F2F book club thinks about it.

The audiobook is narrated by three talented voice artists: January LaVoy, Gabrielle De Cuir, and Grace Blewer. I have no idea which voiced which chapters, though. I did have to abandon the audio about half-way through due to other real-life factors and finished the book in text format.


(Book finished on 24 Sept 25)

LINK to my review