Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Book Review - The Lioness; Chris Bohjalian

 

The Lioness; Chris Bohjalian
Doubleday and Random House Audio
May 2022

It's 1964 when Katie Barstow, an A-List Hollywood actress marries David Hill, an art gallery owner. The couple decides to invite Katie's brother, Billy Stepanov, who is also David's best friend, Billy's pregnant wife, Margie, and some other wealthy Hollywood actors and friends on a Serengeti safari honeymoon destination.  As the guests settle into their home base enjoying the beauty and taking photos, the day after isn't anything they could have anticipated. Pretty quickly, the much anticipated adventure turns into a nightmare when Russian mercenaries arrive at the home base as they are about to set out on safari and kidnap the Americans and their safari guides.

The story pulled me in and I liked the adventure, suspense, time period as well.  The beautiful setting, the descriptions of the beautiful animals in the wild was vividly described.  There were some gory parts but nothing too hard to take. I found the background info on Katie and Billy's childhood at the hands of their Broadway theatre parents interesting and felt for Billy who was often abused while sister Katie was groomed for the stage/screen. 

The audiobook was excellent and narrated by: January Lavoy, Grace Experience and Gabrielle DeCuir.  I also had the eGalley which came in handy while waiting for an oil change and at a doctor's appointment last week.  Even though the audio was addictive, there were far too many characters for me to be able to fully appreciate whose POV I was getting at various times.  I found that a bit confusing and frustrating even though the audio and eGalley lists the characters at the beginning of each.  Overall, I enjoyed this story and the wrap up was satisfying. I did think it would make a good story for the big screen.

Rating - 4/5 stars

NOTE: Thanks go to Doubleday, Random House Audio and NetGalley for allowing me access to these electronic downloads in exchange for my unbiased review.

15 comments:

  1. Ooh I like that premise, and the 60's Africa setting as well. Sounds good.

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  2. It's been a while since I read Chris Bohjalian! This sounds like a good story, but I know what you mean about too many POVs in an audio production. January Lavoy is a great narrator though.

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    1. All (3) narrators were very good; Grace E is the author's daughter but just too many POVs on audio.

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  3. Oh wow. I had no idea the direction this story took. This sounds pretty darn good and who doesn't enjoy Bohjalian?

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    1. I do enjoy this author. I've only missed a few of his books - the historical ones.

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  4. I have to wait for the library to get hold of this book. Can't wait. Nice review. I'm looking for ward to descriptions of setting and place.

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  5. Glad to hear you liked this one. Bohjalian is a good writer, though I have to admit I'm mostly drawn to this one because of that African safari setting. :)

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    1. I like the author and have read most everything that he has read but, yes, the setting was unique.

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  6. I like the idea of the African setting. I think I might read this one.

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  7. As I read your description, I thought it would make a good movie!

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  8. It sounds suspenseful in a good way, but I heard it has too many characters to keep track of. Still a thumbs up?

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