We are in America. Joan takes her four year old son Lincoln to the zoo regularly. She knows the layout, the areas, the animal enclosures and roughly how long it takes to leave the play area and get to the exit as the zoo closes. On this day she hears what she eventually discovers is gun fire. She sees bodies and runs, carrying her son. She is aware the porcupine died and the zoo had not yet replaced him so his pen is empty. An ideal hiding place and so it proves to be until the boy wants supper and Joan goes to the snack slot machine to feed him. The tension up to this point is tight but once she meets others the tension ratchets up to breaking point. This is a terrifying read, compulsive from the start. The publishers blurb has indeed prepared us for horror, what we discover is a couple of crazed gun men, interesting characters, bent on killing anything that moves be it elephant, monkey or child. How to stay alive is the problem. This is truly frightening stuff, highly recommended. ~ Sarah Broadhurst
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?
