Season of the Snake

What is truly terrifying about this book isn't the vivid and eerily symbolic imagery, the perfectly timed revelation of frightening character details and history or the brisk but agonizing pace at which truth is revealed. No. What is truly terrifying is how Davis brings the reader close enough to the monster that he or she, if willing to admit, is even more than disturbingly sympathetic. Sympathy, one can justify. To sympathize is to remain on a level above. But to *identify* with the monster? Even if only during the moments of self-restraint? Now that is truly terrifying.

Having read "Winter Range" and found it lacking, I only read "Season of the Snake" on the recommendation of a family member. I was thrilled by it!! Her previously dark writing has found real focus and structure. "Season of the Snake" does a great job getting you to care about the characters, and although you may think you know where it is going... it either takes you there in such a unique fashion, or twists how far and where it goes... that the whole ride is a joy. Truly got under my skin and sucked me in. Great Book!

Last night I stayed up too late finishing Claire Davis' "Season of the Snake," it was that good. There was no way I was going to sleep until I found out what happened. Exquisitely creepy, enthralling novel set in Idaho and Eastern Washington State with the Snake River playing a part. The life and times of a herpetologist, her husband and her problematic sister. Perfection. Can't wait to see what Davis gives us next.

It's rare to find a book that is not only beautifully written, but also a mesmerizing read. When you do, you raise your hands and praise the great god of stories. Claire Davis' book is, most certainly, one of those that have my hands up. The main antagonist, Ned, a rapist and murderer, is a character you find yourself at first wanting to like, though as the book progresses he has you up locking your doors and closing your blinds. He's the kind of guy who might be your friend, possibly a brother or, Lord forbid, your husband. And maybe this is what I appreciate most about the book, that it tells a familiar story, a story we can believe. We have only to look at life in real time, people like Jeffrey Dahmer, Robert Yates, Ted Bundy, and more recently, Dennis Rader, a.k.a. "B.T.K." to see how easy it could be to miss the "signs," even for the smartest, strongest and most cynical among us. The flip side of this is that we can also discover wonderful things about people we may have judged harshly. The relationship between the sisters, which the book weaves tenderly between scenes of Ned, is an example of this. So, while the story mortifies on one hand, it redeems on the other. I'm always interested in honest explorations of human nature: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Any book that plumbs the bowels of human experience and retrieves the worst and the best of what we are capable, becomes a timeless read. In fact, I did lose track of time reading this book. I read half the book in a day, took another day to detox, and then finished it, I'm pretty sure without blinking, on the third day. Suggestion: Read it with a pen to underline such gems as, "A school of minnows, sides bright as pyrite, wends through river weeds that have jimmied up through a jigsaw of rocks." Davis' book is like a thousand poems woven together into a startling, frightening, beautiful horror. You'll love it!

Claire Davis, up and coming novelist: I've read the advance edition (though it hasn't been released yet) and barring any changes to the final text, I have to say this book will be worth your time: not only does Ms. Davis brilliantly grasp the fundamentals of poetic compression of language, she has a sense of narrative flow that, as I run around my kitchen making coffee, making cream cheese & avocado sandwiches, the sense of the joy and tenuousness of life is heightened: highly recommended. Five Stars.