In Talia's world everyone has an angle and no one escapes unscathed
CIA officer Talia Inger may have reconciled with the man who assassinated her father, but that doesn't mean she wants him hovering over her every move and unearthing the painful past she's trying to put behind her. Still, she'll need him--and the help of his star grifter, Valkyrie--if she hopes to infiltrate the Jungle, the first ever crowdsourced crime syndicate, to rescue a group of kidnapped refugee children.
But as Talia and her elite team of thieves con their way into the heart of the Jungle, inching ever closer to syndicate boss the White Lion, she'll run right up against the ragged edge of her family's dark past. In this game of cat and mouse, it's win . . . or die. And in times like that, it's always good to have someone watching your back.
My review:
I have been looking forward to this book since the one it follows, The Gryphon Heist. That was an awesome read, and set up the characters for this team of thieves. Chasing the White Lion picks up where the last book ended, and the author goes into more depth with developing his characters and their personalities. That is something I really enjoy about a series that has the same characters, is when the author further develops the characters. One of my favorite parts of the book was the interaction between the characters, and I chucked out loud several times. I like an author who throws humor into the mix, and Hannibal does that very well.
One thing this author excels at is coming up with a complicated and convoluted plot that is also fairly easy to follow and understand. Granted, one cannot skim over anything in the book or you will have no clue as to what is going on.
Writing about a team of thieves who are working for good has to be challenging, and reading about it is quite entertaining. My favorite character is still Finn, full name Michael Finn. They are all great characters, but for some reason I find myself liking him and his antics the best.
Chasing the White Lion involves among other things, human trafficking. Hannibal wound a great plot around that, and I was turning pages as fast as I could read. It was a difficult book to put down when I needed to do that.
One thing that is prevalent in so much Christian fiction that is not in this book and its predecessor, is romance. There seems to be a hint of it between Talia and Finn, but it is going very slowly if that is the case.
The whole story climaxes in something called the Frenzy, which was absolutely genius with the descriptions of it and what goes on there. Though the reader assumes there is a happy ending, there are a lot of tense nail biting moments there and throughout the book.
Chasing the White Lion is not simply Christian suspense. It is political intrigue and suspense that goes beyond the usual. Hannibal is setting a standard which will be hard to follow. Awesome read that I enjoyed immensely.
I also recommend his super clean and curse free secular series he wrote before starting this series.
And might I add, he is one the most interesting authors as a person whose books I have read.
I was provided a copy of this book for review purposes. All opinions in this review are my own.
About the author:
James R. Hannibal is no stranger to secrets and adventure. A former stealth pilot from Houston, Texas, he has been shot at, locked up with surface-to-air missiles, and chased down a winding German road by an armed terrorist. He is a two-time Silver Falchion Award winner for his Section 13 mysteries for kids and a Thriller Award nominee for his Nick Baron covert ops series for adults. James is a rare multi-sense synesthete, meaning all of his senses intersect. He sees and feels sounds and smells and hears flashes of light. If he tells you the chocolate cake you offered smells blue and sticky, take it as a compliment.
Chasing the White Lion is available from Revell Publishing, part of the Baker Publishing Group.
This book should be read after reading The Gryphon Heist.
