The name of the book is The Snakes and I am not going to name the author.

The good thing (well, sorta, see below)? I finished it.

The bad things are almost too innumerable to list. I did not like ANY of the characters. NOT ONE! I didn’t even like their NAMES. Griff? GRIFF? When my kids were young, there was an eccentric guy a few blocks away named something like Griff. I think he was probably harmless but a friend of mine kind of raised her eyebrows when her 10-year-old son announced that he had made a new friend named Griff. The Griff in this book is elderly, “filthy” rich, and meaner than a junk yard dog.

Plot? Plot? PLOT? Whut? Okay, there is a loose sort of a plot “arc” or whatever but pieces of plot get DROPPED like hot potatoes and never picked up again!

Social issues… A lot of people who liked the book more than I did talk about how well the author handled “contemporary” social issues. Lemme see, things like money, dysfunctional families, racial profiling, drugs, mental health. You name it. Well. “Handled” them? How about spewing them willy-nilly out of a faaaaar hose, talking some of them to death without making any point and giving the rest a quick swipe into the rubbish bin.

Donald Trump? Did he belong in the book? ONE reference was made to The Orange Baboon and it was Griff saying something about how Great America was (again). What was the point? To bolster the idea of how rich (and mean) Griff was? Or to set the story in an era, as if late model smart phones and apps didn’t already serve that function.

Oh yeah, snakes? There are snakes in the story. But. Have you ever heard the rule of thumb that when a gun is introduced in a story (no matter how benignly) it will eventually get USED in some kind of a climactic moment? The snakes? Never make more than a couple of fleeting appearances. THEY ARE IN THE TITLE?!? HELLO? And no, I don’t think they are used as a metaphor for nasty sneaky rich people. In this book, those characters acted more like baboons.

The ending. Ugh, grimace. An absolutely horrible surprise ending. I’m not sure I had a clue how this book would end up but this ending was awful. So awful that I spent a lot more time than usual looking at various reviews. Did other people think the ending was awful? Yes, yes, they did.

I’m not sure what attracted me to this book in the beginning. It flew by me *somewhere* on the internet. I read a sample (on my phone). It seemed promising so I bought it. Sorry but ugh, ugh, ugh.

When I started writing this I wanted to say, “Don’t read it!” Because I wish I could *un*read it! But I might also be interested in what other people think of it. But your choice and if you decide to give it a try, please please PLEASE borrow it!

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