From Goodreads: "The zoo is nearly empty as Joan and her four-year-old son soak up the last few moments of playtime. They are happy, and the day has been close to perfect. But what Joan sees as she hustles her son toward the exit gate minutes before closing time sends her sprinting back into the zoo, her child in her arms. And for the next three hours—the entire scope of the novel—she keeps on running.
Joan’s intimate knowledge of her son and of the zoo itself—the hidden pathways and under-renovation exhibits, the best spots on the carousel and overstocked snack machines—is all that keeps them a step ahead of danger."

Thank you to Viking Publishing for providing me with a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for review! All opinions are my own.

This one came as a recommendation from one of my favorite Booktubers, Books and Lala, as she is someone whose opinion I hold in high regard when it comes to thriller books. She had this on her TBR and suddenly, it started popping up everywhere around me with high praise, so I ended up picking it up on NetGalley. While I had my issues with it, it was still enjoyable and I'm really glad I got the opportunity to read it!

Plot:
Joan and her four year old son are relaxing in their last moments of playtime at the zoo for the day. It's been a good day and the two are happy. But as Joan is making her way toward the exit before closing time, she sees something that makes her turn and run, clutching her son in her arms. For the next three hours, she continues to run, and only Joan's knowledge of both her son and the zoo keep them a few steps ahead of the danger that lurks in the zoo.

This book was a solid "okay" for me, personally. It wasn't really tense or thrilling like I was expecting, but I did find myself wanting to find out what would happen next. I think that the fact that this book takes place over the span of a few hours really allowed me to just sit down and read through this relatively fast. I didn't want to really break the pacing of the book so I found myself turning page after page fairly quickly. Speaking of the pacing, I did feel it moved at a moderate pace, probably trying to build up suspense for the reader. Again, I didn't find this very thriller-esque, but that may have just been because of my inability to really connect with the main character. Fierce Kingdom did change points of view multiple times, but never for very long. I didn't enjoy the other characters as much as Joan, so that also may have contributed to my "okay" feeling on the book overall. I did enjoy the cat and mouse feeling that Joan was experiencing, having to make her way around the zoo while there were men creeping around killing people (not a spoiler, it's pretty obvious) and trying not to get caught. That was a cool experience and I do wish it been expanded upon more because unfortunately, Joan doesn't really...do anything for a large portion of the novel. She does have to focus on keeping herself calm and her son, but she mostly just...sits there. I understand, you probably don't want to move around without knowledge of where the potential killers are, but it just kind of left me bored while reading. There were a few things I took issue with, but the overall story was decent with, as I said above, moderate pacing that was easy to just kind of fly through.

Characters:
First off, I have to say that as I am not a mother, I wasn't able to really connect with Joan as a character throughout this book. She also did a few things that just really drove me nuts while reading, such as refusing to call the police and throwing her cell phone away as a distraction when she had perfectly good rocks she was already throwing. Just...why? I suppose if I was put in a situation like that, I may not make the best decisions either, the ones she made just did not sit well with me. But she did do the best she could under the circumstances, and I guess that's really all one could ask for. She did have to not only try very hard to keep herself calm, but her son as well. Lincoln was very active and did get loud at times, and I feel that if he had seen Joan outwardly panicking, then it would have caused him to act out even more and potentially get them caught. I'm sure as a mother, staying calm under stressful situations in order to keep your kid(s) calm is not an easy task, so again, doing the best she could in her situation. She was a fairly strong character, doing all that she could to keep herself and her son safe no matter what, and I did have moments where I did genuinely enjoy her. I do feel that I would have liked her a lot more had the story solely focused on her and Lincoln instead of switching character points of view throughout, but she was an overall strong character that really did stand out to me and that I enjoyed reading about. I just wish she hadn't thrown away her phone!

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy any of the other characters in this book. They weren't really fleshed out very well but rather were like your typical nondescript side characters. Kailynn was a pretty boring teenager character, not much background on her was given and she only really came into play towards the end of the book. Even then, she wasn't a huge part of anything and I just didn't really like her very much. Also, Margaret felt like she was just there for convenience which will only really make sense if you've read the book, but just like Kailynn, she was a pretty boring character. The side characters really felt like side characters and Joan was more of the main character focus. Again, I wish she had been the only point of view that I got to read from as I think that she could have been developed more and I think at that point, I would have enjoyed the book a lot more than I did.

Writing:
I believe I stated this above but Fierce Kingdom was a fairly easy book to just sit down and read through. I genuinely think that with the entire book taking place over a few hours really allowed me to just sit down and read through it without stopping. I felt like I didn't really want to break the pace of the book by putting it down, so I just wanted to read it in its entirety. The writing was very easy to follow, though not as suspenseful as I had hoped for. But Gin Phillips did do a good job at drawing me in and making me want to read more about Joan and Lincoln. I wasn't able to connect or really care about any of the other characters, but I feel that they may have been written that way on purpose? Almost as if the author wanted you to focus on Joan's story but also have a few different points of view to see the situation from. If that was the case, the author did a great job at that. One thing I did have a problem with was the abrupt ending! I had gotten very into the story, especially by the end, and then just as things kind of picked up and got intense, the book ended. I was left feeling somewhat empty and like the true ending was almost stolen from me, if that makes sense. It was just a very sudden "this happened and then this and the end" without much warning and it definitely had me turning the pages back to make sure that it really was the end and that I didn't miss anything. It was an interesting place to end the book at, that's for sure, and I suppose we as readers are supposed to kind of draw our own conclusions as to what happens. There were some lose ends that didn't get tied off but again, I guess we're supposed to kind of create our own ending. I did enjoy Gin Phillip's writing enough to where I would consider checking out her other books, so that was a definite win for me!

Overall, I did enjoy this book despite it just being a relatively alright read for me. I think that the main character will be easily relatable for mothers (or even fathers!) that read this book as the main plot point of the story is a mother protecting her child. It wasn't the most A+ thriller I've read this year, but was still an enjoyable read and was pretty easy to get through in one sitting. Despite the issues I had, I would recommend this to anyone looking for a decent thriller that's fairly quick to get through!