Fierce Kingdom

I picked up this relatively short and fast paced novel after seeing an online ad for it. It sounded exciting and it turned out to be somewhat less so than expected. The flap doesn't say what causes the mother and her preschool child, at the end of their zoo visit, to “keep on running” for the entire novel. An alien invasion? Flood waters? A lava flow? Since the promoters don't spoil it, I won't either. Suffice to say, what causes the conflict is mainly background to drive a story about maternal love and how much a mom knows and protects her child. Overall, I was generally satisfied with the plot, except for one ridiculous coincidence which moves the story forward, but made me exclaim in disappointment, “Really?” It didn't take me that long to read the book, so this frustration with a plot manipulation doesn't make me regret reading it. Yet, did author Phillips really need to rely on something that would take long odds to actually happen?