Shadow of the Lions

September 4, 2017
An unsolved mystery plunges the best friend of a missing person into sinuous intrigues 10 years later in this confidently plotted literary thriller. In 2001, Fritz Davenport, a senior at the Blackburne School in Virginia, vanishes shortly after an emotional confrontation about a cheating incident admitted by his best friend, Matthias Glass. Fritz’s disappearance devastates his family and the lack of closure about his fate casts a pall over Matthias’s life. In 2011, Matthias—recovering from a failed relationship and blocked as a novelist—has taken on a temporary teaching gig at Blackburne. A student’s death rips open old wounds that he seeks to stanch with a renewed inquiry into Fritz’s fate. Exploring new clues provided by authorities and acquaintances, Matthias uncovers familial and institutional pathologies that his younger, guilt-ridden self could never have imagined. Swann renders his debut novel’s prep school setting with an authority that lends credibility to some of the more farfetched twists of its plot. Its melodramatic denouement notwithstanding, his tale keeps the reader guessing until it offers up its final revelations.

In the tradition of Knowles's A SEPARATE PEACE, or perhaps Conroy's THE LORDS OF DISCIPLINE, this audiobook explores the microcosm of an elite boarding school--and the conflicts that dwell, in this case, behind the leonine statuary guarding the front gates. James Foster is an authoritative narrator whose authentic and accessible delivery makes this an easy listen. His pacing and rhythms with both dialogue and narrative are outstanding, as are his renditions of both male and female voices. While the novel's intriguing opening--involving the unsolved mystery of a student's disappearance--is certainly a grabber, it is as much Foster's performance as it is the plot that keeps the listener engaged from start to finish. L.B.F. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine