The Lion’s Paw is pulse-pounding storytelling at its finest. Stephen England’s meticulously researched action thriller puts characters front and center as they steer through the morally gray areas of an urban warzone.
Mossad Field Officer Mohamed Taferi is tasked with going behind enemy lines in the bullet-ridden heart of Syria to gather time-sensitive intelligence about Russia’s brand-new Su-57 stealth fighter deployed for field testing. Going undercover with jihadists to lead the mission against Russians, Taferi sets on his most dangerous mission yet, hunted by Russian Spetsnaz and Syrian Special Forces, with no true ally of his own.
In true Stephen England fashion, the action in The Lion’s Paw is spectacular, constant, and authentic with the revitalization of guerrilla warfare pitting a rag-tag team of rebels against the technologically superior Russian BMPs and helicopter gunships. The low-key approach to warfare brings a refreshing twist to a genre dominated by high tech gadgets and weaponry, resulting in a beautiful cacophony of brutal and relentless violence befitting a violent conflict.
While the action is an important aspect of the thriller, the narrative never loses focus of the key element, the characters. Often, thrillers depicting large scale military conflicts tend to lose focus of the characters on the ground firing the shots. Stephen England cleverly avoids this pitfall and manages to create a multitude of characters, as alive and life-like as in the best of stories that stick with you long after you’re done reading them. There is a large variety of characters, from CIA and Mossad overseeing the operation all the way to the rebels and the Russians and Syrians, and yet each character shines in their roles with unique motivations that readers can relate to even for the vilest and most misguided of characters.
The Lion’s Paw is a heartfelt story that addresses the gut-wrenching conflicts in Syria with a warm emotional core and heavy hitting action, the combination of which creates a rare gem that must be read at all costs.
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