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A man dies from an adder bite in a quiet country village. Wildlife vet, Clara Benning, is consulted but initially sees nothing strange in what has happened but, very shortly, the village starts to be plagued by snakes in a way that soon reaches Biblical proportions. And not all the snakes are the sort you'd expect to find in the English countryside, which soon propel the deaths into a very different category indeed. Clara starts to suspect that human agency is behind the seemingly inexplicable happenings when a sinister pattern, linked to ancient and barbaric Roman rituals, starts to appear. I normally avoid books about animals like the proverbial plague, as any sort of animal cruelty or the death of household pets is a sure-fire downer on any entertainment value a book might have for me, so I was somewhat surprised that I stuck this out past the early mentions of some of the more unpleasant aspects of Clara's job. I also carried on reading even though I found the narrator more than a little irritating, so the book certainly had its merits, even though I didn't find that the author lived up to the praise that I've seen heaped on her elsewhere. Clara is yet another main character haunted by her past, in this case a childhood accident that left her with a badly scarred face and, as a result, she feels happier interacting with animals than she does with people. The author has certainly done her research into snakes and I found the details did add to my enjoyment of the book rather than providing yet another of the all-too-indigestible information dumps that bog down otherwise decent books. I also liked her cast of supporting characters: the eccentric expert Sean North, a man who certainly doesn't manage to endear himself to Assistant Chief Constable Matt Hoare, probably the most engaging person in the book. For me, the most accurate description of this book as a thriller could be summed up in the single word: serviceable. It provided enough interest to keep me on board, but I'm not sure I liked Clara Benning enough as a main character to want to seek her out again. But if I saw Matt Hoare mentioned in the cast list I might be more tempted. § Linda Wilson is a writer, and retired solicitor, with an interest in archaeology and cave art, who now divides her time between England and France.
Reviewed by Linda Wilson, August 2010
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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