Review of Before Dawn

[Precious Amarachi Nzeakor]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Before Dawn" by Robert E Reeves.]

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3 out of 5 stars

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Kenya is a place to be, with its highlands serving as a natural habitat for diverse wildlife. It is here that Charles Henley, a biologist and college professor, falls in love with Kenyan wildlife, among other things. His interest and passion grow into a safari business that is run by him and his partner, Myles Peterson. His full team consists of two extra natives, Makali and Benga. All is well in Kenya until Charles gets the news that there is a pride of man-eating lions on the loose. He is contacted by Kenya's Minister of Wildlife, Noah, and hired to go after these man-eaters.

Along with his team, Charles sets off on what feels like a suicide mission. In addition to tracking these dangerous animals, he's tasked with the additional burden of trying to capture them instead of killing them so his ex-wife Meredith can have the opportunity to carry out research that would determine what might have triggered these lions to become voracious man-eaters. Will Charles and his team survive this mission? Will they capture these man-eating lions? Can they discover why this specific pride of lions has turned into man-eaters?

Before Dawn by Robert E. Reeves is a story filled with suspense. We are led from what feels like the peaceful country of Kenya to a sudden national crisis involving man-eating lions on the loose. In this story, we explore the themes of courage, friendship, determination, and even family. We see how the occurrence of one event can lead to a chain reaction that can turn out to be horrific. Across each scene, we see a buildup of lessons mixed with suspense, with Swahili phrases littered here and there, making one feel like they are really in the heart of Kenya. I love how the book paints a picture of the wildlife of Kenya in such a way that the readers are almost tempted to pack their bags and visit Kenya.

However, I found a lot of flaws in this book, starting with the storyline. There are different points in the book where it's quite hard to identify the speaker or narrator. There are also a lot of repetitions and unnecessary scenes in the book. An example is the scene where Charles waits for his team to arrive so they can start planning for the lion capture. That scene is packed with a lot of unnecessary details until the point when his team finally arrives and they begin planning. There were also very poor character introductions. I found myself getting confused about some of the characters as well as the role they played in the story. There were also a lot of loose ends in the book. For example, we were never told what became of Helena, Noah's secretary. Finally, I found numerous errors in the book, and although most were found in dialogues, they left the impression that the book was not professionally edited.

I found myself struggling to enjoy this book. So, I will rate it 3 out of 5 stars. If the characters had been introduced and developed properly, and if some of the unnecessary scenes had been trimmed off, I might have given it a better rating. Plus, the number of errors I found was discouraging, to say the least.

However, if you're someone with a lot of love for wildlife and the outdoors, you might find this book a bit interesting as it focuses quite a bit on the diverse wildlife in Kenya. You might as well sit back and enjoy.

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Before Dawn
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[NutellaBanana]

This is an interesting and well thought of book. This is also an interesting and well-written review. This is also a book that I would definitely love to try out. Thank you for this wonderful review.