When I started reading this one I immediately regretted requesting the Advance Reader Copy. I almost had to force myself to keep reading...until the gunmen appeared. From that point until the end I was rooted in place, unwilling to close the book because I absolutely HAD to know what was going on. I felt as though I might miss something if I closed the book and came back to it later.

Phillips has created very real characters trapped in the new American nightmare of being caught in the center of a random mass shooting. She manages to convey fear, moral struggles, and the uncertainty of it all; Joan's questioning of every decision and her hope that the decisions she makes will save her son.

This was definitely a thrilling read, and I recommend it to fans of the genre.

Do not read right before you go to bed, or you'll stay up all night devouring this novel. A fast-paced engaging read that tears at your heart. My bet it's gonna be the next big "book club book" this fall.

Throughly enjoyed the wild ride of Fierce Kingdom. Fast-paced thriller which is reminiscent of Emma Donahue's Room (I'm not the first to make this observation, but it's accurate in several ways). The action takes place over just a few hours in the evening when shooters trap visitors to a local zoo. Great summer read!

After reading this in one night, I feel like I watched a movie of myself riding on a roller coaster. From the first page to the end, I could not put this book down. The premise of the story is Joan and Lincoln are quickly leaving the city Zoo at closing time and they witness something which causes Joan to run back into the park. From this moment on, the reader is on a loopy-loop ride of suspense, as Joan finds safety for her son and others trapped in the zoo. Amazing how this author brought me through this horrifying two hour experience where I may now be more concerned about my safety as well as my family when entering a public place. She touches on the frightening events and prejudices which have occurred in America where we do not have control and how these situations can happen to me or anyone at any time.

If you like a "sit on the edge of your seat" nail biting thriller, than put this one on your must read list. Thank you Netgalley.

A mother’s animalistic instincts to protect her child come to the forefront in the latest literary work by Gin Phillips. “Fierce Kingdom” is the fifth novel by this award-winning Alabama native.

​The zoo is a frequent escape for Joan and Lincoln, her 4-year-old son. After visiting the animals, they end most of their visits in Lincoln’s favorite spot under the trees and off the beaten path. It’s a quiet spot near the back of the zoo where his imagination can run wild with his little action figures and his mom can kick off her flip-flops.

​After what has been just another day at the zoo, it’s time to leave. The facility is closing soon, so Joan and Lincoln make their way to the front gate. Like most kids, Lincoln is no hurry to leave, so he dawdles and literally drags his feet as others rush past them.

In a blink, however, fun turns to terror. To describe this novel as “ripped from the headlines” would be an understatement considering recent news events.

​Someone, perhaps more than one, is shooting people. Not only can Joan hear distant shots, but she sees bodies on the ground and blood on the pathways. Her only safe route is to return to the depths of the zoo, a place she knows intimately from their frequent visits, and hopefully wait out the bad guys.

​Mother and son now are entrapped within the same fences that cage the animals. What was once a peaceful place is now a killing field where no human or beast is safe from human predators.

​Joan doesn’t know what’s happening outside the fences. Are the police coming? Do they know the shooters are several young men with a fondness for guns?

She knows her surroundings, but that’s all. Where are the gunmen? Are she and her the only survivors? How many have been killed or injured?

​A mother’s instincts to protect her child are all that Joan has to keep her son safe. For three hours, she runs, often with her son in her arms. Not only does she have to find hiding places, but she must keep her talkative little boy quiet and calm under extraordinary circumstances. Even as they come across a few survivors, including a baby placed in a trash can for safekeeping by another desperate mom, Joan must keep going. Shoeless and injured from falls in the dark, Joan seeks safety deeper and deeper into the zoo’s darkest and guarded areas.

​That sense of desperation comes across strongly in Phillips’ writing. The novel takes place over only a few hours, but the fear and tension feel timeless. With sharp descriptions and attention to detail, this skilled writer gives voice to what definitely is one of a mother’s worst nightmares.

The author gives depth to her characters through her words, but she also allows readers to ponder that animal instinct to survive as well as protect one another. Once a reader starts to read “Fierce Kingdom,” there’s no putting it down until the last page is read.

My apologies - I was unable to finish this book. I am sure it is wonderful, having read excellent reviews, but having lost my own mother recently, I just could not continue with a book on the parental bonds as it was too painful.

I read this wonderful book in one sitting, and was blown away by the beautiful depiction of that incredible bond between mother and young child. Gin Phillips captures that pure love and fierce determination to protect so perfectly. I found this book delightfully original in that it takes what’s unfortunately become an all-too-familiar situation but sets it in an unusual location - the zoo, as night falls. Three young gunmen have entered the zoo, just before closing time, to massacre people. Joan does absolutely everything in her power to protect her child, four-year-old Lincoln; all her mothering instincts kick in as they find themselves in an utterly terrifying situation. Can Joan save Lincoln from these Columbine-style youngsters who are out for notoriety? Gin’s portrayal of Lincoln makes him totally real; his speech, the way he thinks and behaves are absolutely spot-on and I really felt I knew this little boy. As she tries to save herself and her son, Joan faces some horrific choices – at one stage she has to choose whether or not to help a mother with a screaming baby, who might just get them killed. This is a fast-paced read. It spans only about three hours during one horrific evening but left me drained and breathless. 5 stars.

Joan hears gunshots as she is leaving the zoo with her young son; she has no choice but to run back into one of the exhibits and hide. What follows is a real time account of Joan and some of the other people within the zoo during the active shooting situation. Fierce Kingdom is an emotional, high-drama tale of a mother trying to survive for her son. The relationship between mother and son is admirable, and the precise details of the environment (or lack thereof at times) allow the readers to feel as if they are in the zoo with the characters.
While slow at times, the novel seemingly offers a real-world depiction of what this situation would be like; Joan has scattered thoughts and a sense of fear in every action. Readers will engross themselves in this contemporary thriller.

It took me a long time to come back and actually write this review after I finished the book. Although I think the writing is excellent, it was too tense a story for me to give more stars. My heart would literally pound the whole time I read this. It is the story of a mom and her young son trapped at a animal park while some young active shooters are running around killing everyone in their path. They literally are hunting people down like animals. I was so upset and tense throughout. The book vaguely delves into the shooters mentality, but does not focus on them too much. Then the book just ends. After being so emotionally drained from reading this story, I was even more upset to not have a conclusive ending. Too much for me.
I received a complimentary ebook from the publisher in exchange for a review.

Be prepared to skip meals, avoid chores and read late into the night! This is an intense and thrilling story! Imagine you are at the zoo with your 4 year old son. The zoo is closing shortly so you are both on your way home after a long and tiring day. You hear gunshots, see bodies on the ground and realise a gunman is shooting people at random. You hide, but what do you do now? How can you protect your son and yourself?

Fierce Kingdom, by Gin Phillips
Joan is leaving the zoo with her four-year-old son at closing time when a series of gunshots interrupts the quiet. For excruciating hours, she struggles to protect her restless child from the gunmen. A beautiful exploration of maternal love, as moving as it is suspenseful, on shelves July 25th.

So I've just finished this, like really only about 10 minutes ago, so I think my feelings may change over time, but wow. WOW!

It was intense, and boring at the same time. And I don't mean boring in a bad way at all, I mean in a mundane, this might be the end of your life "is this really fucking how I die?" kind of mundane. A real life mundane. I hear the complaints about there not being more "action", and I do get it, especially in the age of grip-lit and fantastical twists, but I just loved how real this felt.

The scenes with Robby and Mrs. Powell, where he's just another little boy who notices things like that his teacher cuts her orange peel, the way they bring him a personality, a humanity. The way there isn't some grand reason for what is happening, there isn't some revenge plot, it just...sucks. I think that's a lot more common than we think, and we try and avoid thinking about it because then we know that we are more vulnerable. That it might just happen to us and not someone else, who was being unsafe, or making bad choices or hanging out with "the wrong crowd". It might just be stupid bored teenagers while we go on a playdate with our kid.

I loved the ending, I loved that we have no idea what happened to basically, everyone. But I want to know what you think happened...

This book was just okay for me. While it had a good plot line, it just didn't grip my heart and emotions like I felt it should. It is a story of a mother out with her son on a normal trip to the zoo when gunmen come in and start "hunting".

I was given an eARC by the publisher through NetGalley.

I read this all in one gulp yesterday because it was such a completely gripping book. It's the story of a woman who has taken her young son to the zoo for the day--but as they go to leave, she realizes there's a gunman shooting people, and she has to hide to save herself and her child. And everything with her narration is so intense and compelling--my heart was in my throat for just about every page. The problem really is that there are brief interludes from three other POV characters, who aren't given enough space for a reader to get to know them (the Robby POV, in particular, needed to be beefed up or eliminated completely, because it just raises a lot of questions that felt unnecessary). It kind of took me out of the story. Still, a really interesting read, even if I did want slightly more from the end. B+.

What a great, suspenseful story! You can really feel the tenseness and anxiety all the way up to the very last sentence--I just couldn't put it down!

Make sure you have a nice stretch of free time before you start Fierce Kingdom. Otherwise, you may have to call work to say you need a sick day. Once you get started, you will have to finish. This is extremely entertaining.

A Mother’s Nightmare

Joan and her four-year-old son, Lincoln, are at the end of a long, satisfying day at the zoo. It’s closing time. As they reluctantly head to the entrance, Joan hears pops. She ignores them at first then the grim truth hits her. Men with guns are in the park, and they’re hunting people as well as the animals.

The nightmare begins. They’re trapped in a maze. Joan desperately wants to protect Lincoln and get them both to safety, but the terror mounts.

The story takes place over a few hours, but it’s packed with suspense. In some respects it’s a typical chase scene, but the author does a good job of making the reader feel Joan’s terror. It will keep you on the edge of your seat.

In addition to Joan’s point of view. We get inside the head of one of the shooters. I thought this was a brilliant device. His strange thoughts and memories play out against Joan’s terror and her drive to protect Lincoln.

If you enjoy thrillers this is a good one, but it’s more than that. It explores the maternal protective instinct as well as the fight or flight response to being trapped. I recommend it as a fast moving plot that will make you think.

I received this book from Penguin Random House for this review.

Warning: think hard about reading this if you are currently in possession of a four year old boy…

This book gutted me.

It’s a simple plot, and a (sadly) increasingly familiar one in the headlines. Joan and her four-year-old, Lincoln, find themselves in the middle of an active shooter situation at the zoo. They barely miss being mowed down at the exit as they try to leave for the day. Joan knows the zoo like the back of her hand, and knows exactly where to go to try to give Lincoln and herself the best shot at survival. But four year olds are tricky beasts, so let’s be honest, Joan’s not really calling all the shots here, is she?

The whole book takes place over a couple of hours, and it’s incredibly intense. It’s a short book, and well-edited. It didn’t need to be any longer. In fact, I don’t think I could have handled the stress. With average writing, this book would have still been compelling for the story alone, but thankfully, we get a little more. The writing put me directly inside Joan’s brain. Even when she made decisions I don’t think I would have made, I got her logic and motivations, because I felt like I knew her. And there’s so much more to the book than just the active shooter. There’s also commentary on how we judge each other as mothers, and the lengths a mom will go to in order to protect a child. I’m sure this book was so intense for me because I have a son the exact same age as Lincoln, so every description of her fear, her love, her protectiveness, Lincoln's needs and quirks, really resonated with me.

This is a beautifully written, tightly constructed thriller that will stay with me for a long time.

I had to sit with this one for awhile before I was ready to review. it. Gin Phillips is incredibly talented. Do not start Fierce Kingdom until you are able to devote yourself completely to reading it or you will find yourself resenting any and everything that interrupts you. This title is hard to read due to the senseless killing of innocents, human and animal. Usually that get a book flung against the wall by me but I didn't with this one because I think it's unflinching look at the after-effects of violence will impact readers more strongly with these scenes in. But the scene with the little girl laying by the entrance, the baby, etc, etc, and the grieving monkey--I wish I could get them out of my head! I am not surprised to see this is going to be a movie--the suspense will come across well on screen.

This was a good book, but I don't think I can actually recommend it! The story is riveting and moves quickly, and I read it in one sitting. The bond that a mother has for her child is the strongest element of this story, but the minor characters were interesting and added depth to the narrative. As a teacher, though, I found a story about an active shooter to be disturbing, especially with the "new ideas" here that could be potentially used in real life. After we have a lockdown drill in school, I always have a hard time sleeping; this book had the same effect on me.