The Serpent and the Menace by Alice Curtis

John Doby is many things: A venomous snake hobbyist and societal dissident with a list of priors not for the faint of heart, an autodidact versed in herpetology and Native American languages—and according to some, a “carnival attraction” and “welfare queen”. But is he the person responsible for the disappearance of a local boy in this quiet community?

“How did I get here?” Glenn Barnes asks herself when she finds herself on the porch of his dilapidated trailer, alone, deep in the backwoods where she gets a peek through the keyhole into the dark undercurrent of her old home town and the secrets that threaten to expose a grim truth coiled quietly below the surface.

In this serpentine tale of rural decay, Alice Curtis explores what “home” really means when it is constantly vanishing beneath your feet and what we are made of when met with our greatest fears.

Category: Thrillers – Crime