From the best selling author of The Flight Attendant, this new novel will appeal to both suspense and historical fiction readers.

Chris Bohjalian’s newest novel, The Lioness, is a fast paced historical fiction about a Hollywood movie star and her entourage on safari in the 1960s. Katie Barstow and her new husband decide to bring their closest friends on their honeymoon to Africa for an all expense paid safari. The “Hollywood Lions”, their self proclaimed nickname, are expecting to see wild animals in their natural habit with days spent on adventures and nights spent sipping cocktails at their luxurious campsite. Their plans quickly change as they are kidnapped at gunpoint, herded into Land Rovers and driven into the Serengeti.

Bohjalian uses his expert writing and details to transport the reader into Africa. From the descriptions of the setting to the detailed, and sometimes gory, actions of the wild animals, the author makes you feel like you are there. A historical fiction with suspense and thrills, this novel is sure to be another best seller.

Thank you to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this title before it’s release.

Another riveting novel by Chris Bohjalian. I could imagine this as a movie as I was reading it. His obvious research of the Serengeti and safaris is evident.

I was so excited for this one, and I came up a little disappointed. I needed this to move at a faster pace for the murdering frenzy that it was set up to be. The story jumps back and forth between present day and the past, and it slowed the story down way too much for me. I really did not enjoy the past portions of the book. They could have been so much smaller, and it would have made the book better.

Chris Bohjalian never disappoints. Here we are in Africa on a swank safari. The group is headed to Tanzania in 1964 --a big Hollywood star is in the group as well. But all is not well, Russian soldiers invade their camp and take them hostage. The book alternates the terrifying reality that is occurring in Africa with glimpses of their lives in Hollywood. The kidnapping continues to go wrong on multiple levels and the reader is left with an obvious feeling that this adventure may end in a terrible terrible end for everyone, Bohjalian has an amazing imagination and perfect timing --as always.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced reading copy of this title.

Ughhhh. I am so disappointed. I wanted to love this book so much. But guys, I just couldn't do it.

When I read the description of this book: Hollywood starlets in the 1960's on an African safari, where they are fighting for their life and they all start dying off, I was in! Sign me up! But it was so hard for me to get through certain sections of this book. We flip back and forth from the past to present. Honestly, the present sections of the book, where they have been kidnapped and are fighting for their life in the safari, is what saved it from being lower than a 3 star rating for me.

The flashbacks to build our understanding of each character was often times too boring to hold my attention. And that leads me to my next major issue with this book! Too many characters! We have the nine main Hollywood characters, who have joined this photo safari in Africa. Plus the five supporting characters, who are their safari guides, and I couldn't keep some of them straight leading me to be too distracted to focus on the story. I even flipped back to the guide at the beginning of the book often to help remind me.

If we had stayed in the present time and not flipped intermittently in every chapter, which is a different character's POV, the pacing would have stayed high enough for me to enjoy this book, because I really did enjoy the intensity of the current situations of each one trying to survive! It was well written and kept my interest. But then we would just stop abruptly and flashback losing all the momentum. It was so frustrating. And don't get me wrong! I love alternating timelines, but the frequency and placement in this book was off-putting for me.

I think as a movie or TV series, this book would be great. However, I wouldn't recommend this book.

**Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced copy of this book and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion. I am posting this review to my Goodreads account immediately and will post it to my Amazon & Instagram accounts upon publication.

Name of Book: The Lioness
Author: Chris Bohjalian
Publisher: Doubleday Books
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pub Date: May 10, 2022
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.4 Stars

Setting: Tanzania, Africa ~ 1964
Story starts when starlet Katie Barstow and new husband David Hill invite seven Hollywood friends on an African safari. They nicknamed themselves “The Lions of Hollywood” although everyone know that Katie is the lioness in charge of the pride.

This story is definitely character driven. There are so many characters in this story; I found it helpful to write down their names.
Besides Katie and David the Safari Guest includes:
Billy Stepanov ~ Katie’s brother and his wife Margie
Felix Demeter: screenwriter, Carmen Tedesco: actress, Terrance Dutton: actor,
Reggie Stout: Katie’s publicist, Peter Merrick: Katie’s agent
Safari Staff: Charlie Patton; Owner, Emmanuel Sykes: head guide, Muema Kambona: second guide, and Benjamin Kikwete: porter/guest liaison

The idea is for this adventure is that the guest would take pictures of the animals and the scenery during the day and in the evening dine on excellent food and drink. In other words, a normal celebrity ‘get-away’!
On the morning of the Safari as they are getting started, they are kidnapped at gunpoint by Russian Mercenaries.
Story alternates with the POV of the characters listed above.

There is no doubt Chris Bohjalian did an amazing amount of research on the Serengeti. In fact, in his acknowledgements he mentioned the materials used. He does his homework!

BTW: I love reading the author’s “Acknowledgements” learning the inspirations for their stories. In this case, Mr. Bohjalian tells us that this story was born in a movie theater. He got the idea to use vintage Hollywood and East Africa as the both were in transition. He however, does cover a lot including Russian and American politics.
He also tells us that he started this at the beginning of the pandemic and writing during that time kept him sane.
Personal note: Reading during that time kept me sane!!

This is my thirteenth author, Chris Bohjalian I enjoyed and liked most of his novels ~ there were a few novels that were disturbing reads ~ still great! My favorites were two earlier novels " The Midwives" and "The Double Bind" and more recently "The Flight Attendant".

This is an interesting story but there is a lot of violence ~ not a relaxing enjoyable bedtime read! I have to admit the “Prologue” did give me a big clue that this wasn’t going to be a fun read.

Chris Bohjalian is an amazing writer. He appeals to many readers who have different reading genres….He can never be accused of “Formula Writing”!
I do look forward to my next adventure with him!

Want to thank NetGalley and Doubleday Books for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for May 10, 2022.

As always, Chris Bohjalian managed to write an incredibly well researched novel with an enticing plot that keeps you turning pages to see what will happen next. Star-studded 1960's actress Katie Barstow decides to take a group of family and friends on her honeymoon African safari in the Serengeti. The group of high profile actors, actresses, screen writers and agents know that Africa has it dangers but are confident that they will be well cared for by their guides and porters. They plan to see elephants and zebras by day and drink gin fireside by night. Everything is going as planned until Russian mercenaries storm their camp, killing guides, and capturing them at gunpoint. The dynamics of their relationships will be tested, and not everyone will survive.

The Lioness, set in the 1960s, is a novel of Hollywood stars who travel to Tanzania to celebrate A-lister Katie's wedding.
The vacation is supposed to be a photo op and one of luxury.

The novel takes an ugly turn as they are kidnapped and the realities of the dark side of Tanzania pull these folks apart and puts them to the ultimate test.

A novel of intersectionality, it examines race, fame, love and life on the eve of a changing world.

"The Lioness" was my first Chris Bohjalian novel, and I can say with certainty it won't be my last. The setting alone for this story was incredible--beloved hollywood movie star Katie Barstow and her small, close-knit entourage embarks on a guided safari in the Serengeti in the 1960s. What begins as an idyllic escape into the African wild for Katie and her guests quickly (and I mean within the first few pages quickly!) anything but.

Right off the bat, "The Lioness" will command any reader's attention with how fast the action kicks off, and what ensues is a tense, emotional, and beautifully-written story of survival against not only the African elements, but much more, that never loses its plausibility. Each chapter focuses on just one perspective of the safari guests (Katie included), and bounces back and forth between past and present; in this way, Bohjalian masterfully builds his characters even as the present action is taking place so that while the story unfolds, readers will (likely) feel a strong emotional attachment to them. He paints just enough back story and humanness into everyone that in a way, he writes two stories at once.

What I loved most about this title was that from the first page to the epilogue, it felt as though I was reading a screenplay. Perhaps more so than anything else I've read this year, this story would translate beautifully to the big screen because of its dazzling setting in the 1960s Serengeti, its intriguing cast of characters that Bohjalian occasionally ties to real-life stars, and the suspenseful layers to its action. This is so much more than a "Hollywood tour group vs. African wildlife" story, and it made for a really fantastic read.

At certain points, I felt the pacing of the story could have been quicker, as it dragged on for me a bit toward the end. My ultimate rating here is 4.5 stars.

Katie Barstow is hosting a safari vacation for her closest friends and family on the Serengeti when things go terribly wrong. Kidnapped by violent criminals and broken up into groups, they must struggle to survive the night.

The premise of this book is so exciting – old Hollywood glamor meeting the bleakness of Ernest Hemingway. I’ve not read this author before (though I have his Hour of the Witch) on my TBR, but seeing all the great reviews of this one got me pretty excited.

Unfortunately I feel a little let down. I mean, I did enjoy a lot of things in the story – the vivid and complex characters, the depiction of the beautiful but pitiless savannah. I felt as though I was present there with the glare of the sunlight and the buzzing flies. Despite the plethora of characters, no one sounded alike and I was invested in everyone’s fates.

However, the story was slow despite it being supposed to be a thriller, and things aren’t helped by the copious flashbacks that pepper the story. The flashbacks may reveal things about the characters and the era they lived in – but for the most part I kept wanting to return to the dangerous present. I also found the revelations about why the group had been kidnapped to be underwhelming, and the end rather rushed up on us.

All in all, I have mixed feelings about this book, but I thought it was well-written and will give more books by this author a try.

Chris Bohjalian is, by far, one of my favorite authors. He's one of those authors that I know will always pull me out of a reading slump. The day I was approved for The Lioness, I legitimately squealed with excitement. While I wanted to start reading immediately, I had other books I needed to get to first.

I finally got around to reading The Lioness and it was everything I had hoped for. It's action-packed, mesmerizing, powerful, and up there as one of my favorites from Bohjalian. As I read, I could already see this being made into a TV Show or feature film. It's so descriptive and atmospheric.

Highly recommend.

4.5/5 stars

HUGE thanks to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

It’s 1964 and movie star Katie Barstow just got married. For her honeymoon she’s taken her husband and an entourage to an African safari. They don’t expect a kidnapping gone wrong to occur.

This book was really exciting and the small chapters added to the excitement. I loved the different perspectives and all the characters. It was almost a countdown seeing what would happen to each of them. Oftentimes something exciting would happen and then it would jump to a flashback. This was frustrating while reading it but looking back, it only added to the anticipation.

“That was the difference between a horror film and a real horror. No one was going to appear out of nowhere on the horizon - the cavalry coming over the hill- and rescue them.”

The Lioness comes out 5/10.

In 1964, Katie Barstow, one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, has just married. What better way to celebrate the wedding, than with an all-expense paid safari (courtesy of Katie) for her dearest friends and family on an African Safari. This is a precursor to those glamping safaris for the rich who photograph animals, eat well and have all their basic needs attended to by handpicked guides and porters. What could possibly go wrong? Everything!

Bohjalian spends the first part of the book examining the relationships between Katie’s friends and giving background to their upbringings and achievements. Now that the main players are known, it’s time for action, unrelenting action. Not everyone survives – there are a lot of ways to die in Africa: the environment, the animals and even other people with agendas beyond the Hollywood sphere. Courage, cowardice and perseverance is revealed. Thrilling, action-packed and tense unexpected scenes, as character focus changes and advances the story. Wow! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this title.

Bohjalian’s new book brings the tense thrills he’s perfected in Red Lotus and The Flight Attendant to an African safari.

Everything bites on the grasslands of the Serengeti.......but not as fiercely as the piercing of human canines.

Chris Bohjalian has spread his storyline broadly from the expanses of the Hollywood movie sets to the plains of Africa in the 1960's. We will meet a group of people who have earned their fame and also those who cling to the hem of the elite and the successful.

Katie Barstow is a young starlette who has made a name for herself in Hollywood. But that Barstow name was never hers. Katie was born Katie Stepanov to the Broadway duo of plays and musicals, Roman and Glenda Stepanov. Katie and her brother, Billy, grew up in the strangest household where Billy took the brunt of the abuse. He's now a psychologist and recently married to Margie. But it was Katie who was always destined to be a star.

Katie has just married David Hill, an owner of an art galley. She informs her friends that they will be accompanying the newlyweds on their honeymoon on a safari in Africa.......all expenses paid. Prepare yourself for this group: 9 Americans made up of 6 men and 3 women. The storyline will pick up the pace as we learn the backstories on each. Believe me, each will either sink or swim because of their experiential backgrounds. Like the spider to the flies on an African web of giant proportions. Even Ernest Hemingway from Mombasa to Nairobi to Kenya would never have been equipped to face what this group of travelers will face within these days.

The Lioness is pulled tautly across these pages with nerve endings jangling in the process. Bohjalian has done an immense amount of research for this time period in the 1960's and the interlopers who make their way onto the African continent. I was totally immersed in this storyline with this strange bevy of characters. And at the core we will have non-stop actions and reactions aplenty. Be aware that the telling is detailed for a reason. And it is intense for a reason. I highly recommend this one if you are one to step forward for a taste of adventure. All others may take to the dance floor instead. Congrats, Bohjalian. Well done.

The Lioness kept me riveted right through to the end! It had a captivating beginning and kept my attention while I tried to figure out both what exactly was going on and who would get out alive! I definitely recommend this one to anyone who is interested in an adventurous tale set in the mid 60s. It stars a group of Hollywood stars and their entourage on a photo safari that takes a dark turn. This story focuses on courage, perseverance, and how we as humans all are a product of our experiences.

dnf @40%

I so badly wanted to love this book because it involves Hollywood stars and an African safari which is such a cool concept. However I felt like there was just way too many characters to keep track of. The book is told in alternating POVs and, for example,the first 10 chapters are all told from different characters. It was a lot to keep up with and I felt like some of the characters were distinctive enough to make it easy to keep track of who they were. I can see why Bohjalian is such a popular author - it is well written and he is definitely a versatile author as this book is like 70% historical fiction and 30% thriller - but this might have been the wrong book for me to start with his work.

Love everything by Chris Bohjalian. All of the novels are so different, the characters are very engaging. You never know where the story is going to go. There is nothing formulaic.

Unfortunately I didn't click with this book. The synopsis was everything I could want in a book, but the writing style and I didn't agree. I found the chapters to be very confusing. There is a cast of characters list and I found myself constantly wanting it. I couldn't keep any of the characters straight. Each chapter focuses on a different character, which made them feel isolated. Due to them being isolated I struggled with figuring out how they connected to each other. Each chapter also bounces back between what is currently happening to them and what has happened to them in the past. The way the plot was written made it hard to distinguish between the two. I was about 30% into the book and I didn't feel like I really knew what was happening besides the fact they were being held at gunpoint and that there was some shooting during a honeymoon party. By 30% in I like to have a better grasp on the story. The writing style will definitely appeal to a lot of readers, but as someone looking to get lost mindlessly into a book I was doing more work than I wanted to do while reading.

Striking cover and intriguing premise:

A-lister Katie Barstow takes a small entourage of friends and family on a honeymoon to the Serengeti, where the party will be led by an expert guide on a safari of a lifetime. They'll take photos of the animals by day and at night will relax with gin and freshly grilled meat, prepping stories for their glitzy friends back home.

She knows they'll be surrounded by any number of animals that could kill them; what Katie doesn't expect is to be kidnapped along with her group, their guides slaughtered right before their eyes. But when Russian mercenaries sneak up on them, that's exactly what happens, and it might not even be enough to be Hollywood royalty to survive this trip.

All right, time to be honest. If I had borrowed this book from the library, or even if I had paid for it, I probably would have set it aside about a quarter of the way through. The set up was exciting and as with every Chris Bohjalian book, the writing is beautiful--this author can make a deadly safari absolutely poetic.

But just as things took off, we'd either shift POV (there are SO MANY of them) or go to a lengthy backstory. I was finding it hard to stay interested in the story every time I was ripped out of the present narrative (the one taking place on the safari itself).

As other reviewers have mentioned, I wasn't too fond of the many POVs in the beginning, as it was difficult to connect to any one character, and I started skimming sections of backstory. It's also kind of easy to guess who's behind the kidnapping. Maybe not every facet of it, but guilt points clearly in one direction.

There's a lot going on here too: issues of race/racism and class, child abuse, African politics (notably the independence movements of the mid-20th century), colonialism, big-game hunting, Soviet-US relations , CIA shenanigans. When I requested this book, all I wanted was a mere thriller that took place on an African safari.

I was about to give up, but as I wanted to give a fair review, I soldiered on.

And honestly? I'm glad I did. While I never quite cared deeply for any one character--as there are so many of them we're never allowed to get too close--there was just a point when the book just clicked for me, and rather than being frustrated by the format Bohjalian used, it started working. I can't explain it, but I ended up really enjoying this novel. It's also a great example of an historical thriller that really grounds you in time and place. I think it speaks to Bohjalian's skill as a writer that he was able to tie the issues he chose together in a compelling narrative.

Special thanks to Doubleday Books for allowing me to read ARC of this book in exchange for a review through NetGalley.