The story of the Libyan terrorist and the Corey couple continues. And even if you missed the previous book by Nelson DeMille, like I did, you won’t feel lost because everything is well explained. The problem, however, is that the beginning of The Lion is mostly from the perspective of the scumbag Asad Khalil, who is an even more fanatical terrorist than the usual breed, and cares about nothing but killing. Seriously. Nothing else.
By about a third of the way through The Lion, you start getting fed up with Khalil indiscriminately slaughtering his remaining enemies from the previous book, as well as his own associates to prevent them from identifying him. This excessive caution is SOMEWHAT contradicted by the fact that the mischievous Khalil calls the police for fun to taunt them. Plus, the police already have a ton of files on him.
On top of that, Khalil even takes on a job from Al Qaeda, although he leaves it for last, after dealing with his personal matters. Sure. („Never mind, Khalil”, his comrades at Al Qaeda might say, „take care of your business, it’s no issue if they start a nationwide manhunt against you, 6-star wanted level. No problemo, we can always detonate our bomb later!” – And these poor Al Qaeda guys don’t even realize Khalil has this aversion to witnesses. Thanks a lot for that kind of help!)
Khalil’s musings about Islam also don’t help make Nelson DeMille’s novel more palatable. His conclusions are that every Western state will eventually fall, and Islam will rule in Western Europe and America alike. Well, it’s not exactly pleasant to keep hearing this over and over again.
Thankfully, we then switch to Detective Corey’s perspective, and things get a bit better. The detective is a much more likable character, though the constant forced humor in his dialogue to some extent mars the overall picture, making you feel like you’d love to slap him for his constant goofing around.
Nevertheless, The Lion transitions into a more appreciable thriller, albeit a mediocre one. The basic premise is absurd: which Arab terrorist would go to the trouble of eliminating the members of the police team that previously investigated him, in the most spectacular ways possible, wasting incredible resources while half the country is hunting him?
The manhunt for the terrorist is slow and tedious, consisting of repetitive scenes, barely resembling an investigation. By the time you get to the two knife fights, you’re already rolling your eyes. There’s no terrorist who would take such huge risks for nothing!
The only thing that seems more ridiculous is if you drag your bullet-riddled, battered body out of a hospital bed upon hearing that a GIGANTIC BOMB is about to go off at the other end of town, dragging your wife with you to the scene to cheer on the sweating bomb squad from behind. As if they didn’t already have enough fraking problems!
6.5/10
The Lion (John Corey #5) by Nelson DeMille
437 pages, Hardcover
Published in 2010 by Grand Central Publishing