Thanks so much to the publisher and to NetGalley for giving me access to this book. I love mystery/thrillers set in a private school setting. This book really reached me in my favorite setting/theme. I enjoyed the author's writing style very much. I will be recommending this book to my patrons.

I'm clearing out books that I requested ages ago and have been on sale for years! I really enjoyed this title.

What in the world just happened? This book started off strong and I was excited to find out the mystery. Then...bang it turns into a train wreck! So unbelievable. If you’re looking for a bit of “dark academia” keep looking.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

Sometimes a novel grabs you right from the start and this was one of those grabbers for me. Most of the story takes place at a private prep school, which is not something I have experienced, but that didn't stop me from it feeling real to me.

An incident mentioned at the start may or may not be what sets the whole story line into play. Most of the main characters were students or faculty, so as an educator, I did relate to the faculty as well as the students. Towards the end I felt it was not as plausible as it could be, but otherwise a good read. Thank you NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

While the central mystery of this book -- what happened to Fritz, a boy who went missing from a boys' boarding school -- propels the plot, the growth into adulthood of the boy he left behind, Matthias, serves as the true center of the book. Matthias carries a heavy weight of guilt as he returns to the school as a teacher and picks up the investigation into Fritz' disappearance. There is a great deal of collateral damage among the boys and the families involved, and corporate intrigue plays a suspenseful role. Swann provides us with flawed characters who make mistakes, causing their own pain and causing others to suffer as well. In the end, those who can be saved find redemption that satisfies the reader.

This was a true literary novel. Well written, intelligent and easy to read too! Loved it. Looking forward to more!

This was a good mystery full of twists and turns set in a boarding school written by a debut author who is himself an English teacher. A well-written, superb literary mystery.

Ten years ago, Matthias graduated from the prestigious Blackburne boarding school, shortly after his best friend and roommate Fritz disappeared. Matthias and Fritz had had an argument about the school’s strict honour code, after which Fritz took off into the woods and was never seen again. While a search for the young man was conducted, he was eventually declared legally dead by his family – a decision that destroyed Matthias’ relationship with Fritz’ sister.

Ever since Fritz disappeared, Matthias has carried the guilt for his part in their argument. Living in New York City as a successful novelist, Matthias' career has stalled and his most recent relationship has ended. He is at his lowest, feeling like a failure as a writer and as a man. He never wanted to return to Blackburne, but when he is offered a job teaching English there, it suddenly feels like a lifeline.

Two stone lions guard the gate of Blackburne school, and when Matthias passes under them, all his old feelings return. Once he is back on campus, he quickly gets wrapped up in an investigation into Fritz’s disappearance – meanwhile, he is pulled into faculty politics and the tragic death of a student. Matthias’ search also leads back to Fritz’s wealthy and powerful family, who may know more about the past than they let on.

Shadow of the Lions is a coming of age story that takes several dark and surprising turns – it shows that sometimes growing up means leaving the mysteries of the past behind. While I found the novel perhaps relied too much on the readers’ previous knowledge of life at a boys’ boarding school – which I do not have – I think the story was strong and the character development was impressive. The plot kept me mostly intrigued, although it could have been more concise, and the ending was kind of random and implausible. It wasn’t all that suspenseful or surprising, but that wasn’t really the point – it was more about Matthias’ growth through these unusual experiences. While Fritz was the boy who disappeared, the impetus of the novel is Matthias’ search for his own lost youth and ultimately for his place in the world.

I received this book from Algonquin Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Y’all know I’m a sucker for boarding school novels. But, I’ve had read some stinkers over the past few years. Shadow of the Lions is NOT one of the stinkers! It’s been described as a “literary thriller,” which I’m not sure I agree with. I’d say it’s more of a literary “mystery” than a “thriller” because it doesn’t have all the heart-pounding franticness that a thriller brings to mind.

The story begins with a wistful feeling as Matthias returns to campus and reminisces about his time there as a student and Fritz’s disappearance. And, it gradually picks up speed as Matthias decides he wants to find out what happened to Fritz once and for all. This is also a story about male friendship…the kind of bond that can only be developed in extremely close quarters with shared experiences (i.e. living together in dorms, in the military, etc). Shadow of the Lions is one of those books that you don’t have to think too hard about (I need these sometimes!), but that has enough depth to keep you interested…and is the final book I’m adding to this year’s Summer Reading Guide!

Excerpt from full review: “Lions” dutifully supplies the subgenre’s required tropes — unconventional instructors, intense friendships and fatal betrayals — but goes rogue during an unpredictable finale.

SHADOW OF THE LIONS is a breath of fresh air in the suspense genre - it is supremely intelligent and definitely lives up to its description as a literary thriller. The prestigious boarding school setting provides a dramatic backdrop for Mathias' story, both as he describes his time there as a student and while he is navigating that same world as a failed novelist returning as an English teacher. Swann's Ph.D. in creative writing shines through clearly in this story as he incorporates first classical literature references, and then in the next page, corporate and military espionage. While not a complete page turner during the first half, I whipped through the second half of the book in one sitting, dying to know just WHAT HAPPENED TO FRITZ. No spoilers, but absolutely loved the ending and how everything turned out.

Swann's essay in THE ALGONQUIN READER gave me a deeper look into his motivation for writing this book and his personal experiences with the world of boarding schools. He learned from reading classic mysteries that he needed "to create a compelling character, and then imagine that character in a situation that demands answers." He certainly did just that in this book, as well as throw us into the world he imagines where a character must deal with the lifelong aftermath of a disappearance. I really love these essays that accompany the advance copies I receive from Algonquin (I know they are also available on NetGalley) - they give excellent insight into the world and people behind the stories.

I highly recommend this book to fans of sharp, literary suspense stories that educate and enlighten as you are trying to unravel the mystery at hand.

Yes it's a novel set largely in a boys' boarding school but it's also an interesting mystery and meditation on adolescents. Swann has made an impressive debut. His writing is clear, there are wonderful literary references (found myself looking a few things up to reminisce), and the characters are believable. Both Mathias and Fritz are realistic young men which is important in this type of novel, which sometimes goes wonky. THere's humor and pathos but never is it twee or overdone. Mathias is so impacted by Fritz' disappearance that you'll be eagerly reading to the end. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is a worthy companion to other boarding school novels; it also appropriate for all ages.

My review is featured in the August issue of Perimeter North Lifestyle magazine. (Link attached, page 34).
Two massive concrete lions have guarded the front entrance to Virginia’s Blackburne School for more than a century. Respected and revered, they symbolize the school’s fiercely held traditions, especially its honor code. After Matthias Glass confesses his honor code violation to his best friend, Fritz Davenport, they briefly argue before Fritz runs into the woods—and vanishes without a trace.

In the decade following Matthias’ graduation from Blackburne, he attends college, grad school, and writes a successful first novel. When he finds himself abandoned by his writing inspiration (and his model girlfriend), he accepts a position at Blackburne teaching English. Upon his return to his alma mater, he becomes consumed with finding out what really happened to his friend all those years ago. While looking for answers, a student death on campus opens his eyes to the dark underbelly of the prestigious boys’ boarding school. Partnering with a local ex-cop to solve the mysteries, Matthias begins to suspect a campus figure may have connections to both the recent student death and Fritz’s disappearance. As he digs deeper, his search turns up much more than he bargained for, including links to the FBI, cyber surveillance, exorbitant bribes, and issues of national security. He also uncovers various Blackburne secrets as well as the dark realities of a powerful Washington, DC, family.

Sandy Springs author, Christopher Swann, creates a complex protagonist and conjures an alluring and ominous prep school setting from his firsthand academic experiences. As the English Department chair of Atlanta’s Holy Innocents' Episcopal School, Swann’s twenty-one years of teaching English are evident in Matthias Glass, a novelist turned English teacher turned amateur detective. Swann also draws on his own four years of high school at Woodberry Forest School, an all male boarding school in Virginia, to transport his readers to the insular community of Blackburne. In true Southern style, Swann also weaves the underlying theme of football into his debut novel. While the unofficial religion of the South offers many metaphors on life, Swann perfectly exemplifies the painfully tenuous transition between adolescence and adulthood with his powerfully detailed descriptions of grueling practices and an intense annual football game against their rival school.

Alternating between Matthias’ student and teacher periods and filled with literary references, Swann’s bildungsroman draws comparisons to beloved boarding school novels The Catcher in the Rye, Dead Poets Society, and A Separate Peace. Like these classics, Shadow of the Lions explores love, loyalty, loss, duty, and betrayal. It exposes burdens of privilege, the desperation to belong, the layered creation of one’s character, and the fact that intense adolescent friendships shape all of our adult lives, for better or worse.

This was on the verge of being really interesting but the big reveal was just such a letdown for me. I still enjoyed this, even though it meandered quite a bit, and it was a fast read. The book started off great - a snapshot 10 years back in time at the boarding school when the MC's best friend just vanishes off campus before graduation. Fritz's disappearance sets of a downward spiral for his family and for Matthias, the MC, which culminates in Matthias coming back to teach at his alma mater where Fritz is constantly on his mind. He halfheartedly begins his search in earnest but it never felt organic to me. Something just felt off and what Matthias ultimately discovered was weird. Not good weird but it felt like the author didn't know how to end the book and to taper from all this build-up and just ended up cobbling a story together. i think this could have benefited from more direction and more editing but I am interested to see what this author writes next.

Shadow of the Lions comes out next week on August 1, 2017, and you can purchase HERE. I would definitely read another book from this author, especially in this genre. You can see some of my favorite books set in boarding schools HERE.

I had always enjoyed reading poetry, although it's a very different thing to teach others how to read it. My students felt that poets were weird, which had actually been true of some of the poets I had known at NYU. They had scared me a little, to be honest--at parties, the poets were the ones swinging from the light fixtures and trying to get the faculty, or their souses, into bed, whereas we fiction writers leaned against walls, drank early, and snuck glances at our watches. That hadn't kept me from sleeping with two of the poets. Beth was blond and warm and wrote Whitmanesque verse about rivers; Giselle was dark haired and dark spirited, with fingernails bitten to the bone, and wrote tight, acidic poems about death and betrayal, as if she were the love child of Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allan Poe. Bethe said I was a lost soul while Giselle called me a fucking asshole, both of which, when you think about it, are pretty much the same thing.

Read this book even if you don't read anything else in 2017! Christopher Swann creates a hypnotizing novel about young men as products of an all boys private high school and coming to grips with the problems involved in growing up.
Matthias Glass enters the hallowed halls of the Blackburne school bent on having a superb high school education preparing him for the finest college he can connect with. He meets and rooms with Fritz Davenport and they become more than friends. But in their senior year in an argument over Matthias' not conforming to the no cheat policy enforced at Blackburne Fritz just disappears. No trace - no signs of, no note; merely the leaving of Fritz' St Christopher medal under Matthias's pillow.
For the next ten years Matthias attempts to find out where Fritz is while making his own way through college and becoming a celebrated author of a well received book with the screen rights already purchased. Mr Swann takes us through Matthias's failed marriage,than a found love with Fritz's sister. It brings him to employment as an English teacher at Blackburne and transition into facing an enigma involving the US government.
Reading Mr Swann's book is by any definition a mesmerizing experience with the definite interest in reading further books by the author as a consequence. The ending is logical, not at all contrived, but obviously the result of the events depicted in the novel. An extremely well done adventure suited for anyone.

This is an okay mystery. Not my favorite, and a bit too male-focused, but enjoyable for what it was.

This book was a fantastic read. The suspense and mystery of the book kept my attention all the way to the end. This book is going to make a great addition to our library collection.

A student mysteriously disappears from a boys boarding school and his best friend, Matthias, blames himself. Even when everyone else decides the boy must be dead, Matthias can't give up looking for his friend. This was an engrossing coming-of-age story with well-drawn characters and interesting twists.

What a book! Really enjoyed! Highly recommend. Perfect book club pick!

Shadow of the Lions by Christopher Swann

The lions sit on either side of the gate to Blackburne School, a boarding school with "fierce traditions" and a fervent belief in its honor code. A code that Matthias has violated. The prologue has Matthias jogging in place in front of the lions, overcome with guilt and trying to justify his actions. The tension from this information already has the reader apprehensive.

Matthias is joined shortly by his best friend Fritz; they argue and in the heat of anger, hurtful words are said on both sides. Fritz eventually turns and runs back toward the school. After a few moments, Matthias runs after him, his guilt escalating as he attempts to apologize. But Fritz is too far ahead and when Matthias gets back to the school, he can't find Fritz. He assumes that Fritz is avoiding him. Fritz isn't in their room; he isn't at dinner; he isn't at study period. Matthias begins to worry and before lights-out, the sheriff is called

Fritz is gone, and a search proves fruitless. There is no body, no trace, no explanation.

Nearly ten years later, Matthias returns to Blackburne to teach English. He had a one-hit wonder novel, but was unable to follow it up. His New York high life has come to an end, and he hopes that a return to Blackburne will give him a chance to start over.

The novel moves back and forth from Matthias' arrival at Blackburne at fourteen and his gradual assimilation into boarding school life, new friends, and rigorous education--to the present and his place as a member of the faculty and his deepening obsession with finding out what happened to Fritz. In the process, he uncovers some other secrets at the school and beyond it.

Suspense, mystery, and coming-of-age intertwine in this debut novel that hooked me from the prologue and kept me on edge thereafter.

read in April; blog post scheduled for July.

NetGalley/Algonquin Books

Suspense/Coming of Age. August 1, 2017. Print length: 368 pages