BookBrowse Reviews The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian

BookBrowse:

The Lioness is a high-octane thriller set in the African Serengeti.

Veteran author Chris Bohjalian's latest, The Lioness, is the tale of a pleasure trip gone horribly wrong. Katie Barstow is 1964's "it girl," a gorgeous, talented actress with a theatrical pedigree that goes back generations. She and her new spouse have decided to honeymoon in Tanzania, and hire a world-famous hunting guide to take them on a photographic safari. It's planned to be a laid-back but luxurious affair, complete with gourmet meals, canvas bath tubs dutifully filled each night by porters, and even a kerosene-powered ice maker ("because, of course, you had to have a proper gin and tonic at the end of a long day on safari"). They convince family members as well as several friends — Hollywood elite — to join the adventure, telling them that "These days, a safari is like a long, elegant picnic. Nothing's going to eat you and no one's going to shoot you." That statement turns out to be wildly incorrect; kidnappers beset the group, with tragic results.

Bohjalian has long been one of my favorite authors. His books are almost always entertaining, marvelously written and well-researched, with great characters; The Lioness is no exception. Setting the novel against the Simba Rebellion (1963-1965), which took place in the region near Tanzania now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the author captures the politics behind the revolt, though its complexities are not a heavily featured part of the story. He also brilliantly illustrates the beauty and danger of the African veldt, as well as the glamor and glitz of the film industry in the early 1960s.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the book is Bohjalian's characters — and there are a lot of them (nine Americans, the guide and his crew of 17, and a dozen or so kidnappers). The chapters rotate between 10 different points of view, which in the hands of a lesser author might have been hugely confusing; Bohjalian, however, manages this large cast with aplomb. Each character has a unique voice and perspective that make them stand out. A snippet from a fictional Hollywood gossip magazine starts each chapter, helping remind the reader who's who, and if all else fails, there's a cast list at the front of the book for handy reference. The author's skill is such, though, that I never lost track of which character was being highlighted — this is further helped by the fact that there are fewer characters to monitor as the story progresses.

Which brings me to my next point: Although the violence isn't terribly graphic, there's a lot of it, it's unrelenting, and the good and the bad suffer equally. Those who are sensitive to people killing each other might want to give this one a miss. But if you don't like books where animals are hurt, you needn't worry; no four-legged beasts are harmed by the humans, other than a couple of hyenas who definitely deserve it.

My biggest concern about this book is that it's such a departure from Bohjalian's earlier works. I'd classify his other novels as literary or historical fiction; this one, however, is sheer over-the-top entertainment. It's far more cinematic and action-packed than his previous novels, to the point where I felt it could have been written with the specific intent of turning it into a summer blockbuster (kind of like Jurassic Park, except most of the dangerous creatures have guns). And, although The Lioness is set in a politically volatile time and place, the author mostly glosses over the particulars, something I feel is a departure from his usual style. I suspect many long-time fans will be disappointed with the book's plot, especially if they go in not knowing what to expect, but that it'll likely be a huge commercial success — the season's first "beach read."

I enjoyed The Lioness tremendously, and thought it was an excellent piece of escapism, exactly what I needed to distract myself from the headlines. I highly recommend it to readers looking for a well-written, engrossing page-turner they don't have to think about too much; in short, it's excellent mind-candy.

This review was originally published in The BookBrowse Review in June 2022, and has been updated for the June 2023 edition. Click here to go to this issue.