*received for free from netgalley for honest review* didnt care for this book for way too many reasons, could have been good but the writing was annoying

A. J. Tata shows readers just how far men will go to revenge the lives of those they have lost:

When Daruish Parizad was a child, he was a survivor of Iran's Islamic Uprising, and he has risen through the ranks and is now seen as the Lion of Tabas, and he has plans for the Americans who caused so much pain and suffering to him and hi family when he was a Boy. But Parizad is a fan of the long game, of intelligence, interweaving nets and planning, his attack on America will be nothing like the world has seen before. Army Lieutenant General Garrett Sinclair and his Joint Special Operations Command team are assigned to stop terrorist threats and it is just one where they find themselves outside of a cave where everyone has died, except one, and all seem to be eerily holding their cellphone. It is up to Sinclair and his team to piece together what has happened, but even as Sinclair is separated from his team, he will do anything he can to protect the people his family, team and defend his country.

There are many times when you are reading these types of books where you wonder if the author is able to add something new in to the genre, there are only so many international enemies of the USA that the author can pull from or ways that they can attack America. I will say that chemical/disease warfare that Tata uses here is not knew, however, the disease that is in this book, Demon Rain, is extremely scary.

This book starts out pretty faced paced, but around the 20% mark it does slow down and give you background information about Sinclair and Parizad. At the time of reading it I was confused as to what Tata was taking this much time to explain the relationship between Sinclair and Parizad as we had not had a POV yet for Parizad. Now that I have finished reading the book I appreciated that Tata took this time, as it explained Parizad's motivations, as well as his knowledge of Sinclair. It really does set the book up for the Cat and Mouse game that the two have been playing for decades.

Sinclair is the solider that you want defending your Country, not only with his abilities but his moral compass as well. He is loyal to his friends and teammates and is not willing to ask them to do something that he is not willing to do himself. This is not a General who is happy to sit behind a desk, he needs to be in the action. I like that Sinclair is older, he has grown children in their 20s, and I find that this took away from Tata needing to have a romantic troupe in the book, even with his wife dying the previous year. I think that being older gave Sinclair a better mind, and well he could still kick a lot of ass.

Well lets just say this book is downright scary with the idea of Demon Rain, I have no idea if Tata is speaking from personal experience of what he has seen developed in his military career or just a very scary mind. Demon Rain gives the ability of mind control over people using their Smart Phones (which everyone these days has surgically attached to them). It allows them to manipulate what they see on the screen and give them orders as to what to do. So you have a diseases that has the ability to not only control you but it will also kill you in the end. Just scary, and I hope nothing like this is ever developed, but totally a smart concept for the story.

This is the first book that I have read by Tata and it will not be the last. I found the story to be interesting and the two main characters well developed in their Cat and Mouse game. I look forward to checking out his other works.

Enjoy!!!

Wow, with the current state of the world and the Taliban taking over Afghanistan once more this book could not be more on trend. There is also the reference to Covid-19 and the first female president (so close) and now a terrorist attack ready to be perpetrated against America this time at the inauguration. Garret Sinclair and his troops are chasing "The Lion of Tabas" who has a biochemical-weapon. Will they be on time or will they be stopped since they are also hunted and wanted. Fast paced and lots of twists and turns right up to the end.

I had a hard time getting into this one. I started and stopped it a few times, but once I was about a quarter of the way in, I was hooked. I had no idea where we headed and couldn’t wait to find out.

I listened to the audio version and the narrator is great. He brings the right amount of bravado to a military specialist.

I think fans of Vince Flynn and Brad Thor should give this book a try.

In the book Chasing The Lion, author A.J. Tata follows Army Lieutenant General Garrett Sinclair as he works with his team to stop a madman from using a biochemical weapon at the inauguration of the new President of the United States. In the process of chasing down terrorist leader called The Lion of Tabas, he discovers that maybe his wife did not die of cancer. And is there a group involved in all this high in the government?
This was a great heart-pounding, edge of your seat story. I would recommend this book. I received a copy of this audio book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sadly, I only got 15% into this audiobook. I have decided to not finish it. It has a good audio narrator! I’m sure it’s a really good story.
I decided not to finish because it talks so much about Covid-19 and pandemics, that’s just an anxiety trigger for me. I may try to pick this book up later after our own true pandemic is over. But that’s all still too real right now, that I can’t read a book about all that at this time.

Given the opportunity to listen to the audiobook courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

The book semi kept my attention until the middle then it just became too far fetched to buy into

Military/crime thriller mixed with some bio chemical warfare by way of Demon Rain

Many mentions throughout about “back when the coronavirus outbreak happened” that serve no purpose to the story

Futuristic context isn’t necessary and to be honest those floating C19 references became annoying. And predictable.

The story is so far out there and takes the reader on too many tangents. This is where it lost me. Rather than focusing on really driving suspense for one thing they take you down all of these mini stories and it’s a stretch to connect them
It’s a no for me

A briskly paced military thriller based in modern day. Out hero in the story overcomes personal tragedy, and puts it aside in hopes of saving not only the President Elect but the country as well. I find the writing fast paced and engaging, much along the lines of a Vince Flynn style book. Thanks to NetGalley for the early read. I will be picking up more of TaTa’s novels.

This is the first book of A.J. Tata's that I've read, or in this case listened to. This book was fast paced and easy to listen to. I really enjoyed the story and the narrator did a good job. I highly recommend this book and will look for other books by this author.

I love that this is a military book in the first place coming from a military family myself. I love the "no man left behind" mentality that was in this book from first page to the last page. Reading this during the COVID 19 pandemic was another really cool thing as it touched home more then reading it in a peaceful time I think. I cant wait to read all of A. J. Tata's books.

I really enjoyed this book! It was action-packed with no dull moments. I feel that the author did a great job at putting me in the place of the main character. I also had a sense of distrust for the different characters as he was working to finding the guilty party.

The narrator's voice for me was not really a great match for the book, in my opinion, but I greatly enjoyed this book!

Audiobook Review: Chasing the Lion by Anthony J. Tata,
Narrated by Brian Troxell
(A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press, June 1, 2021)

Audiobook: ★★★★★ (4.5 Stars)

What is this unputdownable military and political thriller I just finished from an author I hadn't previously read?

You'd think this were the fourth or fifth novel of a series in the exploits of a favorite thriller writer's protagonist - familiar, fully developed, well-beloved by fans and perhaps raved by reviewers and critics.

And you wouldn't be too far off!

-----

April 1980, Tabas, Iran. "Operation Eagle Claw". The doomed mission to rescue 55 American hostages culminated in a fiery conflagration as a Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter crashes into a Lockheed EC-130 loaded with troops and jet fuel.

Unbeknownst to the US military, staging area "Desert One" was conducted right over Iranian farmlands. The inferno ravaged nearby Iranian farmhouses and killed several civilians.

One of the casualties was little Dariush's father.

The Lion.

Dariush Parizad would later become a symbol of the revolution, named "The Lion of Tabas" by the Ayatollah himself.

In January 2020 Iranian General Dariush Parizad becomes the commander of the IRGC Quds Force following the assassination of Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani. Parizad had never stopped blaming the death of his own father on the USA.

And now they killed his mentor.

Now as commander of the Quds, the "Lion of Tabas" will have his measure of revenge, to be exacted on a day of historic significance for the hated Americans: the day of the inauguration of the first woman president of the United States.

-----

The Eagle.

Army Ranger Garrett Sinclair was one of "Operation Eagle Claw's" strike commanders.

He was instrumental in the October 2019 elimination of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and participated in the January 2020 assassination of the world's deadliest terrorist at time of his death, IRGC Quds commander Maj General Qasem Soleimani.

He is now Army Lieutenant General Sinclair, commander, JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) and is considered the leading candidate for Defense Chief in the president-elect's incoming cabinet.

The 3-star general and his team finds themselves chasing the "Lion of Tabas"; the solitary barrier against Parizad's plan to bring America down on its knees with the death of millions of innocent civilians in the process.

But the JSOC team finds out that the Iranians have developed an unstoppable deadly techno-chemical weapon.

And on top of that, General Parizad has in his pocket the greatest threat a country could ever face:

Powerful enemies from within!

-----

Who is thriller writer Anthony Jean Tata (U.S. Army Brig Gen, Ret'd)?

He's a native Virginian, West Point grad, former Army Ranger and the author of thirteen books in his "Threat", "Capt. Jake Mahegan" and "Reaper" series.

"Chasing the Lion" by the former US general is a finely-crafted fictional suspense thriller partly based on actual events. It is a book that will arouse intellectual curiosity as the reader may take occasion to fire up that Google search engine for names, dates, places and events, and if whether or not a mind-bending iPhone linked techno-drug called "Demon Rain" can actually be developed and deployed.

Bet you dollars to donuts, this isn't going to be the last we'll hear from Gen. Garrett Sinclair and A. J. Tata.

Highly recommended!

Review based on an audiobook galley from Macmillan Audio and NetGalley.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio/St. Martin's Press for the Audio ARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this audio book. I have never read this author before. I thought it sounded interesting (thinking Bourne). Wow-this is a military book-extremely at least in my inexperience opinion. I have literally very little knowledge about tactical movements and the military. So for me, it was overwhelming. I couldn't even keep up with where they were. So for me this was not so much fun. I was looking up locations to see if they were real. If you enjoy suspense, drama, military action, bio terrorist plots than you will love this! For me, I barely survived-I couldn't wait for the end. 3 stars

🎧 The first half of this book felt like a military memoir. I wouldn’t know an AR-whatever from a hole in the ground but from my inexperienced non-military POV I really enjoyed the story! There’s a lot of military-like information but you get to know the main characters and they’re likable! And can you say evil super villain?!

It went from memoir to bananas! BAM! Just halfway or so into the book it took an explosive turn to ACTION! I admit, some of the action may feel improbable (hence BANANAS) but I was hooked. Covid is mentioned frequently so it feels current. Hoping it’s based on fiction. No, really. Yikes!!

Military thriller. Bio Terrorist plot involving the inauguration of the 1st female president & oh so much more! I liked General Sinclair! I’d read another story with him as the MC! Liked his sidekicks & his daughter Rae was perfect!

Thank you NetGalley!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

PS - Hmmm I just noticed the cover. If the author was in the military that explains a lot!! There is extensive military knowledge in this book.

PPS - I’ve never heard of this author before. I chose the book ... BASED ON THE COVER & it was in the thriller category .... if you enjoy a military thriller that feels almost like a believable memoir, I think you’ll like this story, I did!

As a child, Dariush Parizad survived Iran’s Islamic uprising, becoming a symbol of the revolution. Named The Lion of Tabas by the ayatollah himself, Parizad rose through his nation’s military to become a lethal soldier and brilliant tactical commander. Now a general, he leads Quds Force, an extremist terrorist organization targeting America and its western allies.

The United States has just uncovered a biochemical weapon, Demon Rain, developed by Parizad’s group. A psychoactive viral agent, it attacks a person’s nervous system and renders them susceptible to mind control. Parizad plans to unleash Demon Rain within Washington D. C. on Inauguration Day during the swearing in of the country’s first female president to spread fear and chaos, turning civilians into weapons