Brian Panowich's gritty, riveting follow-up to Bull Mountain does not disappoint! Kept me on the edge of my seat straight through to the end.

A phenomenal slice of 'Grit Lit' or Southern Noir, set in rural Georgia. Although I read this second tale (in a so-far trilogy about Sheriff Clayton Burroughs and his crime-infested family) first, it was easy enough to pick up the strands of what had gone before, and just made me want even more to go back and read BULL MOUNTAIN, the first story. Panowich is a stylish writer, with a strong voice and a great sense for people and place. This is a hard-hitting, compelling family drama and crime tale, wonderfully written.

Among my very best reads of the past couple of years.

Here's the good news: You don't have to read the first book to read the sequel. I understood everything perfectly. I enjoyed this book because the characters were interesting, and the events kept me guessing. Picture a family in the South who doesn't get along, a sheriff who is part of the family, and throw in some drug dealing to boot. It makes for a great book.

I wouldn't recommend this book to my middle school students, but I would recommend it to my friends.

Brian Panowich has released the long-anticipated sequel to his successful Bull Mountain, and the action shows up the fallout which takes place after the smoke clears.

In his latest offering, Like Lions, Panowich sticks with all the aspects which made the initial offering in the series so special; a setting he brings to life and makes breathe with reality, a plot which unfolds in a seamless manner, and characters who are mirrors to the flawed world they live it, but each have motivations and internal battles which ring true and allows Panowich to present characters who are real, authentic, and make you give a damn.

Sheriff Clayton Burroughs is living with the physical, emotional, and psychological scars of the events from Bull Mountain. His marriage is strained by these ramifications, and he is struggling to find his place in a setting he has always called home. He finds himself presented with an opportunity, one he knows he should walk away and he plans to, but when the truth and reality which the past will force him to confront, his decision won’t be as easy as he hopes it will be. Burroughs finds himself forced to confront relationships, ghosts, and heartache in places he wishes he could avoid.

With a remarkable touch, Panowich creates a world seeped in an eternal truth; the weight of the past can hold you down and drown you, or it can anchor you to a place where you belong. This novel does a wonderful job presented both sides of this razor which can cut both ways.

Overall, this book has a lot going for it. Readers who are new to Panowich will be able to jump into this without having read its predecessor, as Panowich drops just enough information to keep you up to speed on the events of the past, but he does it in a way in which readers who chose to do so, could read the first book without getting the “been there” feeling.

Readers who enjoyed Bull Mountain will find the long wait for its sequel was well worth the time. Panowich can expect a lot of attention from this book and lots of new eyes on his work. With a new bunch of intriguing characters and characters which continue to grow and evolve throughout this book, Panowich leaves lots of ground to further explore should he chose to make this a trilogy. I for one, would love him to pen a prequel to Bull Mountain and let us bear further witness to the actions and events which originally created the Burroughs clan rise to the top of Bull Mountain.

While some authors put great words on a page, Panowich puts emotions on the page and paints a masterpiece for the world to enjoy. This book is something special.

Highly Recommended.

Brian Panowich will forever hold the title as one of my favorite authors! He is absolutely brilliant and I loved Like Lions just as much as Bull Mountain. It was very gritty, had my heart racing and I devoured every word!

I want to start off by saying that I think I would have enjoyed this novel immensely more if I had read Bull Mountain first! But that being said, I think that Panowich is an incredibly talented crime fiction writer. This book was really intense and incredibly gripping. It was gutsy, and character focused, and full of grit and true mystery. I really enjoyed this one, I just wish I would have known there was a book 1 before diving in! I think I would have liked it even more then.

What a superb follow-up to what I already considered one of the most debut novels I've read in years. Panowich is one author I will be eagerly awaiting more content from.

Like Lions by Brian Panowich
I did not realize when I got this book that it was a sequel to Bull Mountain that I have not read but am going to.
I really enjoyed reading this story about Clayton the Sheriff and what is going on on his mountain, while he is still dealing with being shot and having troubles with his drinking and pain pills, his marriage is suffering and he has got drugs being made on the mountain that he needs to put a stop to...lots going on that really held my attention and made this a great read for me. Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this book and leaving my review.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
This sequel returns us to Bull Mountain a year after the incident that left Sheriff Clayton Burroughs injured and his brothers dead. Clayton is just a shell of his former self, relying on alcohol to relieve his guilt, putting a strain on his marriage to Kate. And with the criminal family taken down, and hints of a large amount of money left behind, trouble will soon return to Bull Mountain.
This book is action packed and full of hillbilly justice!

I really enjoyed this authors first novel Bull Mountain. I was excited to see he was coming out with a sequel. This picks up pretty much right were Bull Mountain left off. Clayton is the sole survivor of the Burroughs clan. He has to learn how to balance his responsibilities as sheriff with those of being a father, husband, and heir to Bull Mountain. Like Bull Mountain, hillbillies, drugs and guns are ever present.

I still feel that Bull Mountain is the better book however, this is a solid follow up. Some of the "twists" are predictable but all in all this novel is thoroughly enjoyable. Panowich is a gifted storyteller and I look forward to reading what he comes up with next. Thank you to NetGalley for providing and ARC for review.

Clayton Burroughs survived the shootout that almost ended his life, but there are
remnants of both physical and psychological damage, causing him to lean on painkillers
and booze. The death of his brother Halford, Bull Mountain's drug lord, has created a power vacuum and nature, like good fiction, abhors a vacuum. Beyond the valuable meth ring, there is also a long-standing rumor that the increasingly paranoid Halford buried millions somewhere on the Bull Mountain. It's no surprise then, when three inept thieves from South Georgia try and take down a bar known to be under Burroughs protection, it ends in disaster for them. When they turn out to be part of a tweaked-out gang of meth heads, it's the beginning of problems for everyone.

Because almost everyone in Bull Mountain is killed off, Panowich introduces a new cast in Like Lions. Interestingly enough, women seem to be more at the center of the action. If not in power, then at least pulling the strings behind the scenes. Standing in front, though, is Clayton's wife, Kate. She closed Bull Mountain with a bang (literally) and now with a young child to protect has little patience for her husband's problems. Standing in opposition, is an outsider named Vanessa who seems to be part of the new generation of drug smugglers-converting dirty money to clean and staying as far away from the violence as possible. Except, she's got a past of her own that she can't run away from.

Once again, Panowich writes a tight, explosive story in Like Lions, but this time it seems as if he felt he needed to ratchet up the violence even further. Random, impetus shootings (which are rough enough), become scenes of torture and gruesome deaths. The more interesting psychological maneuverings that kept me fixated in Bull Mountain are largely missing. Like Lions comes down to hillbillies killing hillbillies and even though there's a twist at the end, it's not enough. I really hope Panowich has finished with this series because it feels played out and his writing is so good I'd like to see him turn to something new.

LIKE LIONS
Brian Panowich
Minotaur Books
ISBN 9781250206947
Hardcover
Thriller

I have been waiting for the return of Brian Panowich to the bookshelves. LIKE LIONS, his sophomore effort, demonstrates that the pause between that worthy effort and BULL MOUNTAIN, his debut novel, has been worth it. LIKE LIONS is as dark and brooding a slice of rural noir that one is likely to encounter this year, an engrossing read that is impossible to digest quickly enough.

LIKE LIONS picks up some months after the conclusion of the events of BULL MOUNTAIN, with the repercussions from the events of that work echoing through to the present day. Clayton Burroughs remains the sheriff of Waymore Township, Georgia, but continues to feel the aftereffects of the injuries which he sustained in the brutal encounter with his family. LIKE LIONS find him self-medicating to ill effect, leaving him sloughing off on his law enforcement duties as well as his familial obligations to his wife and son. When the attempted robbery of a local bar ends badly for the doers, Burroughs’s attempt to administrate a bit of rough justice on one of the survivors goes unintentionally off of the rails. It does not help matters when he lets a local teenager slide on a legal infringement, resulting in a tragedy which haunts him long after it occurs. Burroughs’’s major difficulties occur, however, as the result of the actions of his dead father, a criminal kingpin in the area who was rumored to have left an ill-gotten fortune hidden somewhere near the mountain. Burroughs is also troubled by the return to the area of a former flame of his wife --- there is still a live flicker or two going --- as well as a proposition from a drug runner who wants to continue a business-as-usual arrangement transporting drugs through Burroughs’s county. Burroughs is badly bent physically and emotionally but still struggles to maintain a moral core, which in turn puts him at odds with old acquaintances and adversaries of his father who now bear a grudge against him for killing one of their own. Revenge takes all the participants to some unexpected and fatal places, with the result being that not everyone who is present throughout the first half of LIKE LIONS is left standing at the end.

LIKE LIONS, as with BULL MOUNTAIN, is complete in itself, but a question (or two) is left hanging at the conclusion. The book does resolve one issue that is more or less unstated but that some (though not all) will see coming and will perhaps even predict the outcome. Even if that is the case, however, LIKE LIONS is a dark and violent ride that will make your hair stand on end in spots as Panowich slowly and inexorably ratchets the suspense quotient up to eleven. He does this without sacrificing plot and character development. With regard to the latter, Panowich has the rare ability to make each character, even the most minor ones, well-defined and unforgettable. Anyone reading either BULL MOUNTAIN or LIKE LIONS will look forward to seeing more or them, and Panowich, in the future. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait quite so long next time. Very strongly recommended.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
© Copyright 2019, The Book Report, Inc. All rights reserved.

I was pumped to get this, then realized there was another one before it. I had to go back and read Bull Mountain first, loved it, and moved on to this one. Great story telling with desperate scenarios.

I also love the title of this book.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I read this sequel as a standalone and feel you have no problem picking up very quickly on just who these backwoods, heinous people are. It didn't take me long to get the prickly apprehension vibes and the tension stayed elevated throughout the narrative which begins with a chilling and compelling prologue hook.

Clayton Burroughs, county sheriff of this small north Georgia location, is still recovering from the major, near-death injuries of a year ago. His family and the legacy left by his father and brothers are never far from the tumultuous crime-ridden surface. It's Burroughs territory and they reined heavily until that confrontation. Their deaths and his lack of desire to take over the helm of the dynasty has begun to open the door for new and even darker gangs or clans.

There are unseen and powerful forces building a dreadful foreboding of the war to come. These factions play for keeps and when moonshine took a back seat to the drug trade, millions of dollars as well as the territory went up for grabs.

"Pride will kill you faster than a bullet."

This is a gritty, southern lit, hick lit, hillbilly noir or whatever you want to call it and I'll warn you, it's rude, crude, and socially unacceptable. The characters are raw, open, and come off totally real. Kate, Clayton's wife, is wonderful, strong, decent. She loves her man. But the man is damaged and he's drinking. He has a number of "family" who will cover his back--well, most that is because this is also a story of loyalty and betrayal. His office gal slash dispatcher, Cricket, is a great support character. Other characters have names like Scabby Mike and Nails McKenna, JoJo and Coot Viner. You'd expect that...

The conflict and turmoil have you reeling from the gut punches and flipping pages, unsure what will happen next. The plot moves with gathering speed until the explosive climax. Wow, is this guy a storyteller or what?
And just when you think it's over, the epilogue! OMG!

I received this uncorrected digital galley from the publisher and NetGalley and totally, absolutely found it electrifying; a shock of a book that you can't put down. Totally recommended for all you thriller fans; deep, dark, noir fans.

The below 4-star review was posted to Hillbilly Highways, Amazon, Goodreads, and the Gravel and Guts Facebook group on 5/1/19:

“Like most of the people who lived in the foothills of McFalls County, the dogwood tree did whatever it d___ well pleased.”

In the sequel to his sprawling, multigenerational crime drama Bull Mountain, Panowich not only manages to exceed his first work but also to produce new and shocking Burroughs family revelations without undercutting Bull Mountain.

Like Lions opens in the aftermath of the events of Bull Mountain. The king, Halford Burroughs, is dead and his assets seized, but his Bull Mountain criminal empire has not been dismantled. It is nominally headed by his former lieutenant, Scabby Mike, but everyone now looks to Halford’s killer and brother, McFalls County sheriff Clayton Burroughs, as the new king of Bull Mountain.

Clayton himself may not be interested in playing that role, but nature abhors a vacuum. The vultures are circling. An attack on a Burroughs underground bar sparks a feud with another hillbilly Georgia crime family, the Viners.

It isn’t just ongoing criminal business that is at stake. A whole lot of people think Halford left millions of dollars buried on the mountain, and no one knows where.

Like Lions is again focused on Clayton. Perhaps even more so than Bull Mountain, because there are far fewer flashbacks. Two characters who didn’t get enough page time, Clayton’s wife Kate and Scabby Mike, play a larger role in this book. In addition to the Viner family, Panowich introduces Wallace Cobb, an old flame of Kate’s and a tracker/assassin operating out of Atlanta who has come back home.

More is asked of those other characters, but Clayton took the events of Bull Mountain hard. He’s crawled back into the bottle. It wouldn’t bug me as much as a reader if he wasn’t such a terrible drunk. But cracking open a bottle of whiskey usually leads to a borderline incoherent Clayton half an hour later. A high-functioning alcoholic he is not.

Country noir novels in general, in my opinion, are poorly suited for sequels. And a book like Bull Mountain that so heavily relies on family revelations are tough to follow up with a sequel. Lose the family revelations and you lose a lot of the oomph from the first book. But the wrong revelations can undercut the first book as well, either by reducing the earlier revelations or raising an unanswerable question about why they weren’t already revealed. Panowich avoids all of that, delivering more revelations that only add to rather than detract from those of the first book. This is no mean feat.

Panowich is more to the pulp side than the literary side of the subgenre, but his prose has its moments:

“The orange burn of the evening was slowing lulling the giants to sleep, stealing their details. The ridges and ravines had disappeared, leaving only the Goliath silhouettes towering in the distance. It was beautiful—and telling. That sky would only last a few minutes. It was the perfect example of how fleeting beauty could be up there before everything was swallowed by pitch black.”

Panowich still falls just outside my top tier of country noir writers (in with David Joy below Ron Rash, Daniel Woodrell, Taylor Brown, and James McLaughlin), but I am for dang sure going to keep my eye on him.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of Like Lions via NetGalley.

LIKE LIONS is the sequel to author Brian Panowich’s BULL MOUNTAIN, a darkly beautiful yet violent tale that followed a southern clan in Georgia self-destruct. A year later, one brother survives physically yet is an emotional wreck, uncertain whether to claim or fully reject his birthright. Panowich creates a Greek tragedy of missing parents, sibling rivalry and unrecognized blood relatives killing or maiming one another. Always just missing out on needed intel, these are not folks functioning on just-in-time information. The most reflective of the characters wonder if they’ve brought the bad stuff on themselves. The others just assume that’s their lot in life. This is a fast moving book and the action rarely stops. The book is impossible to stop once started. Panowich is an author that keeps getting better. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

What a story! I just love Kate. Too bad we can’t all be like her, especially in tough situations. Some things in this story made me sad and I’m certainly happy I’m not as jaded as some of the characters. It was a different way of life for them. It’s a great story about mountain folks, but remember it is a story. I was always wanting to see what was going to happen next. I certainly don’t want to give anything away, but I loved some of the twists and turns. I would suggest that you read Bull Mountain before you read this one. I always like to start at the beginning. I hope you’ll check out both books. I received this book from NetGalley, but my opinion is my own.

Having read Bull Mountain and enjoying it, I was excited to read Like Lions and it did not disappoint. It was also filled with all the suspense of the rough Georgia mountain clans, the typical good vs evil. But this one had a pleasant twist that I wasn't expecting. Looking forward to more books from Brian Panowich!

Yikes! That was an intense read. The first chapter had my stomach in knots — one of the tensest opening scenes I ever remember reading. And then it doesn’t really let up. Like Lions is a sequel to Bull Mountain, which I did not read. It’s set in the mountains of Georgia and features a group of people who live by a whole different code of what’s right and wrong. The book opens in the 1970s when Annette Burroughs leaves her husband and three sons in the tensest of circumstances. The story then flashes forward to a time when only the youngest son — Claydon — is alive. Claydon is now the local sheriff and he is recovering from injuries he got while killing his older brother — Hal. Until his death, Hal was the local drug lord — a business he had taken over from his father. Claydon is now dark and broody, and having trouble keeping it together at work and with his wife and young son. Bull Mountain is now in disarray without its drug lord. And external forces are trying to take over. There’s lots of action and quite a bit of violence, which is not my usual fare, but the characters and the writing were top notch. I found myself fully engaged, head spinning and really not knowing who or what to root for. The end is pretty interesting too. I think I now need to go back and read Bull Mountain to better understand what happened between Claydon and Hal. But this was still good as a stand-alone. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

I throughly enjoyed "Bull Mountain" but rarely read series, sir I will follow wherever you lead after this outstanding sequel.
Clayton Burroughs is now a mostly broken sheriff of Mcfalls county. The exploits that left him as the only surviving member of the bloody Burroughs clan pick right backup when the Viner family think they see an opportunity.
I love Panowich's ability to create believable characters that gradually get pulled to the darker or more redeeming sides of life and then back again. Kate Burroughs may now be my favorite character in this saga!
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with this arc available through netgalley. I look forward to selling it soon.