This book covers the experience of John Henry Patterson, the author, while he was supervising the construction of a railroad bridge in 1898. The book was published in 1907, so not too far removed from the actual events. There is a film about the events described that feature Val Kilmer, and I think it may be more exciting to watch than this book was to read, which is not something I often say. The book did have pictures, which I always appreciate, of the bridge, area, and lions. It has been suggested by other reviews that there are pretty grim descriptions of some of the victims, and this book downplays what happened to them and is less grim that other accounts. The attacks wound up stopping construction of the railway bridge, which was not acceptable, and more people were sent to resolve the lion issue. Ultimately, the lions were killed by the author, which caused his claim to fame.

The lions themselves were a pair of male lions from the Tsavo region in Kenya. One of the most interesting things about the lions, to me, was that they did not have manes. I never realized that male lions could have skimpy manes or no manes at all, probably because all of the ones I have ever seen in zoos or on television have the large manes that people associate with lions. The lions stalked the railroad workers camp and snatched people and mauled them to death, which went on for nine months. They did also go into other areas nearby to snatch people. At first, they would only hunt alone, but they did wind up snatching people together. One lion was called The Ghost, and was 9 feet long and 3 feet high. It took eight men to carry the body back to camp. The other lion was called The Darkness, and was also 9 feet long and 3 feet high. This lion was shot about six times. The lions killed over 100 people, and that is a low estimate.

I bought this book for twenty five cents a long time ago. This is for the hardback version, but my copy is a paperback. It has fewer pages than what is listed here. I am working through all of my short books so I can downsize. This was not the most interesting book that I have read in a while, and I was slightly disappointed by how boring it was. I thought that the subject matter was interesting, especially since I had never heard of this incident and I usually enjoy a good morbid book...it just didn't do it for me. One thing that I found really interesting is that you can view these lions. The author had used the skins for floor rugs for twenty five years, so they were in poor condition. (I think that is an extremely tacky way to display skins, but whatever.) He sold them to the Field Museum of Natural History for $5,000. They were reconstructed and put on display, along with their skulls. If you happen to be in Chicago, there is a point of interest for you to visit.