Fierce Kingdom

This is a spoiler-free review
Read on In The Sheets

I picked up this book on a whim while getting shampoo at Walmart, the cover was rad and I really wanted to read a good thriller. I came home, however, with far more than the thriller and shampoo I went in for (and not because I overspent).

Let me start by saying that Fierce Kingdom is, without a doubt, an edge-of-your-seat page turner. Within a few paragraphs I knew I was hooked and would be reading the book in one or two sittings. What I didn't expect was how deeply it would strike a chord with me.

The book follows a Mom at the zoo with her young son when an active shooter opens fire shortly before closing. The entire book takes place over a few short, terrifying hours.

For the last year, my Mom has been quite ill and battling cancer. Though things are now starting to look up, she's had a couple of close calls. While Fierce Kingdom is a thriller it's equally so, if not more so, a book about the unconditional love of a mother and the ends to which she'll go to protect her child.

Even at my Moms worst in the past year, she's been more worried about me than herself, and reading this book right in the middle of all that really hit home. It's not that I didn't already know my Mom loved me unconditionally, I of course did. Fierce Kingdom just showed it in a way I hadn't considered it before.

I know unconditional love in the sense that I love my parents and my family and my dog unconditionally, but love for a child is different in a way I can't fully understand being a single young male without kids.

During a really rough time in my life, this book made me think about things a little deeper and appreciate my Mom and her unconditional love a little bit more. That's an easy 5 stars in my books. No pun intended.

Note to Gin Phillips if she reads this: Thank you.
Note to anyone reading this: If you can, hug your Mom. Or Call her. Or just take a minute to appreciate the person she was or is.