Surviving the Lion’s Den is an ambitious debut novel from Matt Scott. With a solid amount of action and rapid fire chapters, the pacing in this book will have you start and finish in the same weekend.
After meeting with a Saudi ambassador, veteran CIA agent Tom Delang is kidnapped by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as part of a larger plan to destabilize the region and force the closure of an American naval base in Bahrain. Never one to attack directly, the Iranians also blackmail a powerful U.S. Senator with proof of a secret that she thought had been buried long ago.
At the same time, Kirk Kurruthers finds his beloved grandfather murdered at his North Carolina home. With his last breath, the older man provides clues linking the family to the 1953 CIA coup and a single name. When Kirk flies to Iran to seek his revenge, it will take everything he can muster to accomplish his mission. With assistance from his in-country guide Farhad, the only question is will they make it out alive.
For me, this is a fun book that needs to be read with a certain level of suspended disbelief. Like reading a James Bond novel or watching a Fast and Furious movie, the action is entertaining… if not necessarily authentic. There are definitely some sequences that left me tilting my head a bit at their plausibility. Don’t get me wrong, they were cool scenes… but not completely realistic. If you’re looking for a gritty, true to life thriller then this book may not be for you.
Surviving the Lion’s Den is a solid debut and I look forward to seeing what Scott has coming in the future.
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