Random Things Tours: Into the Mouth of the Lion by A.B.Kyazze

How do you like your thriller? Fast-paced, mysterious, with change of fate every single page, or even twice the page? Or rather slowly, as a bud opening little by little, one small pace at a time, but what a full bloom offered at the end, as the price for the patience of following the journey?

Most of the time, I am for the fast-paced adrenaline fueled books. I am in awe of the books that take my breath away and keep me on my reading chair hours after hours, with a coffee break or two in-between, until I am done. Most of the time, indeed. But I do have my weaknesses too.

I was enticed by the original description of Into the Mouth of the Lion by A.B.Kyazze. Most likely, I was expecting some usual roller-coaster action requested by this type of novels, but I was pleasantly surprised to be offered rather the opposite - at least in terms of story rhythm, but despite being the opposite of my regular expectations, this political-humanitarian thriller is of a different, more refined literary kind.

First and foremost, I was curious about a book being mostly set in Angola during the civil war, an event which I don´t remember to ever been mentioned in any noticeable work of English-speaking work of literature. The conflict took place between 1975 and 2002 and created a mass displacement of people of almost 4 million persons. Another dramatic consequence of this war was the high number of amputees - around 90,000 people - due to the intensive use of landmines. 

On this background, two estranged sisters of Portuguese origin, are lost. DJ disappeared during an explosion while doing humanitarian work and her sister, Lena is coming from London to find her. But was DJ still alive ? Did she disappear? Where to? And how? Why there is no sign of life from her or her kidnappers? 

I am used to ask questions after questions and this book provoked my avid brain more than ever. However, the action in itself is enfolding sinously, with partial revelations every couple of pages. Traces are left here and there, the reader just need to pay attention and not give up the search. It´s not the fast pace that keeps you glued to the book but the stirred curiosity of finding out through the game of words. It creates interest not only for the individual story, but also for the larger regional context it is set, based on the simple human curiosity and empathy. ´This is what DJ faced every day, Lena realises. Stories of executions, kidnapping, rape and forced marches. How did she bear it?´

A.B.Kyazze, herself familiar with humanitarian crises from all over the world, created a literary realm offering to the reader a quality endearment that results not necessarily from the genre but because you cannot stop from reading the book. The plot is skilfully created, but the dialogues bring that sparkle of life needed for creating an authentic story. 

The book has many Portuguese expressions and words, which offers a local authenticity to the story. However, the non-Portuguese speaker - not me, as I love this language and can´t have enough of its musicality and romance - would have need eventually require a short translation or dictionary.

Into the Mouth of the Lion is Kyazze´s debut novel which is a pity for me, as I would have been very much interested to delve into more books by this author, one after the other. Hopefully, it will not last too long until her next book.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered part of a blog tour, but the opinions are, as usual, my own