Fierce Kingdom
A Novel
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3,9 • 30 notes
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- 11,99 $
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- 11,99 $
Description de l’éditeur
An electrifying literary thriller introduces an unforgettable mother and son, whose simple trip to the zoo one afternoon is transformed into three hours of terror and survival after gunshots ring out. What would you do to protect the ones you love?
After school on a late October day, Joan has taken her four-year-old son, Lincoln, to one of his favourite places on earth: the zoo. Just before closing time, as they need to go home, she hears some loud pops like firecrackers. Not thinking much of it, they head for the exit...until Joan realizes the eerie human emptiness means danger, then sees the figure of a lone gunman. Without another thought, she scoops up her son and runs back into the zoo. And for the next three hours--the entire scope of the novel--she does anything she can to keep Lincoln safe.
Both pulse-pounding and emotionally satisfying, Fierce Kingdom is a thrill ride, but also an exploration of the very nature of motherhood itself, from its saving graces to its savage power. At heart it asks how you draw the line between survival and the duty to protect one another? Who would you die for?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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 out turning 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 prey both human and animal with 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.
Avis des utilisateurs
Interesting Concept
Saw an add for this book on the subway and sounded interesting so I decided to take a chance (advertising works apparently)
Liked the concept of the book and how we got into the theme of the book quickly. However, the writing was strange sometimes, with the way some sentences were written, and the book felt unfinished. Maybe that unfinished feeling highlights the chaos of shootings like this, but it felt more like a student ending an essay early because they ran out of time. Interesting idea could have been executed better.
Fierce kingdom
Overall was a good story but too many loose ends at the end...as a reader I like closure on all characters introduced..don't leave us hanging with the baby and mother! Reunite with the husband and something more could have been done with the teacher/student which turned the story in the end.