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Fierce Kingdom

A Novel

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
One of the New York Times Book Review's Best Crime Novels of 2017
“Warning: you'll finish this in one sitting.” —TheSkimm  
“Expertly made thriller . . . clever and irresistible.” —The New York Times
An electrifying novel about the primal and unyielding bond between a mother and her son, and the lengths she’ll go to protect him.

The zoo is nearly empty as Joan and her four-year-old son soak up the last few moments of playtime. They are happy, and the day has been close to perfect. But what Joan sees as she hustles her son toward the exit gate minutes before closing time sends her sprinting back into the zoo, her child in her arms. And for the next three hours—the entire scope of the novel—she keeps on running.
 
Joan’s intimate knowledge of her son and of the zoo itself—the hidden pathways and under-renovation exhibits, the best spots on the carousel and overstocked snack machines—is all that keeps them a step ahead of danger.
A masterful thrill ride and an exploration of motherhood itself—from its tender moments of grace to its savage power—Fierce Kingdom asks where the boundary is between our animal instinct to survive and our human duty to protect one another. For whom should a mother risk her life?
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from May 1, 2017
      In this harrowing thriller from Phillips (Come in and Cover Me), set at a zoo in an unnamed city, one second Joan is pressing her four-year-old son, Lincoln, to pack his action
      figures so that they can get out by closing time, and the next gunshots ring outâturning their pleasurable afternoon routine into a parent's worst nightmare. Over the next three hours, Joan struggles to keep her tired, cranky preschooler quiet as she attempts to find a safe hiding place or escape route. She discovers that others are similarly trapped, and that there are apparently multiple shooters, who regard their preyâboth human and animalâwith no more compassion than if they were targeting Lincoln's plastic heroes and villains. In passages of unexpected beauty, Joan flashes back to earlier moments in her relationship with her son. In one poignant scene, a colobus monkey seemingly mourns its slain comrade ("standing so close that its long white fur mixes with the fur of the dead one, and Joan cannot tell where one stops and the other starts"). A searing exploration of motherhood at its most basic, this all-too-plausible horror story may haunt even readers with steely nerves and strong stomachs. Author tour. Agent: Kimberly Witherspoon, InkWell Management.

    • Kirkus

      Starred review from May 1, 2017
      A deadly game of hide-and-seek is set inside a darkened menagerie.Joan and her 4-year-old son, Lincoln, are playing with action figures in the Dinosaur Discovery Pit when several small explosions echo through the zoo. Joan is puzzled by the noise, but it's nearly closing time and she doesn't want to get locked inside, so she ushers Lincoln toward the exit. Near the gate, dead bodies litter the ground, and an armed man is entering the women's bathroom. Joan grabs Lincoln and flees into the heart of the park, searching the shuttered buildings for a place to hide while attempting to explain the situation without frightening him. The duo hunkers down, but it's not long before stress and hunger take their toll. With at least one active shooter on the hunt and an increasingly cranky child in tow, Joan faces a series of heartbreaking decisions. Phillips' (A Little Bit of Spectacular, 2015, etc.) latest is expertly structured to maximize tension and emotional impact. The siege unfolds in real time, with each chapter noting the hour and minute. Joan's inner monologue provides the bulk of the narration, her thoughts a rolling storm of tangents that relate history and inform motivation while governing pace and tone. Phillips' characters are exquisitely rendered, her prose is artful and evocative, and the restraint she practices with regard to on-screen carnage grants weight to every shot fired and corpse discovered. Poignant and profound, this adrenaline-fueled thriller will shatter readers like a bullet through bone.

      COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 2, 2017
      Phillips, whose last two books were written for preteens, has produced a taut thriller with Lincoln, a precocious four-year-old, and his remarkable mother, Joan, at its center. Their plight is the focus of this almost minute-by-minute replay of events that take place one evening at the local zoo, as Joan attempts to protect her son from two gunmen who have opened fire. The reason for their rampage, and how Joan valiantly attempts to protect her child from them, keep the reader going as the tension ratchets up. Narrator Cassandra Campbell, who recreates all of the characters’ voices and inner monologues —including those of the gunmen—has a remarkable ability to project a range of emotions with ease. She helps the reader imagine Joan, Lincoln, the shooters, and the handful of other characters who circle each other in the three or so hours during which the drama plays out. Listeners feel Joan’s fear and anger as she talks her son into keeping himself together in the face of horrific violence. And most of all, Campbell reveals the bond between mother and son, as each tries to be brave for the sake of the other. A Viking hardcover.

    • Library Journal

      February 15, 2017

      Phillips opened her career with The Well and the Mine, winner of the Barnes & Noble Discover Award, then followed with the atmospheric dream piece Come in and Cover Me. Changing tack again, she offers a literary/thriller blend about a mother who's hustling her young son out of the zoo at day's end when she spots something that sends them both on the run. An LJ Editors' Spring Pick, p. 27.

      Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Library Journal

      May 15, 2017

      Joan has brought her four-year-old son Lincoln to one of their favorite places, the zoo. Joan doesn't think too much about the distant popping noises she hears as she wrangles Lincoln and his toys in order to start heading out. As she nears the exit, though, she sees bodies and a man with a gun. Grabbing Lincoln and running in the opposite direction, she heads for a hiding place in the animal exhibits. Faced with multiple agonizing decisions over the next few hours, Joan tries to keep her son quiet and safe. But what about the teenagers they ran by and the baby she keeps hearing cry? Flashing back and forth among Joan, other trapped zoo visitors, and one of the three gunmen, the story sustains its intensity while also exposing the characters' inner thoughts. Phillips (A Little Bit of Spectacular; The Hidden Summer) skillfully captures the terror of the situation but also the beautiful minutiae of our everyday lives. This literary thriller encompasses three terrifying hours in the lives of some zoo visitors and the gunmen hunting them, movingly conveying much of the action through the viewpoint of a mother and her young son. VERDICT This would be an excellent book club pick. Also recommend to those who enjoy Rosamund Lupton's suspense novels. [See Prepub Alert, 1/23/17; "Editors' Spring Picks," LJ 2/15/17.]--Melissa DeWild, BookOps, New York P.L.

      Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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