Review: Awakening

Awakening begins with a prologue introducing the reader to Clara Benning. Out for her early morning run, she is enjoying the swallows diving and fragrance of the wild camomile along the road-typical early morning pleasantries. That is until she notices her neighbor Violet's door slightly ajar. She finds wet footprints on the doorstep, a damp sack behind the door and a missing old dog. And then Clara climbs the stairs to look for Violet. You just know bad things are coming!

Clara, as a veterinarian for a local wild life clinic, is used to getting calls from people with wildlife related problems. But even so, the call from Lynsey Huston was an odd one. The young mother was in a panic because she had found a snake laying across her baby that morning. Fearful that the baby would awake, startling the snake before it could be removed, she was frantic for Clara to come. What Clara found was not the common grass snake she had expected, but a highly poisonous adder. And then Clara learns this is the second adder incident recently in the small village. Before long reports of snakes, both harmless and very deadly, become commonplace. Why? Where are the snakes coming from? What is driving the snakes into people's homes? The assumption is that it is some sort of an odd but natural occurrence until a very deadly Taipan, native only to Australia and New Guinea, turns up in the village.

The book moves quickly and before the reader is too far into the book there are two mysteries for the reader to puzzle over. In addition to the snakes, Clara begins to see a man who is supposed to be dead. She does not believe in ghosts-so who is the man and why does he seem to be haunting her? Author Bolton quite skillfully weaves the two story lines together with plenty of twists making Awakening nearly impossible to put down.

A word of caution however. This is NOT a book for people who are in anyway squeamish about snakes. While there is plenty of fascinating information about snakes sprinkled throughout the book, Snakes-some of them quite scary, are EVERYWHERE.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Caryn St. Clair

Please Note: Books reviewed are usually provided by the publisher, author, or an agent. Reviewers usually get to keep the book.

Book Review: Awakening

Please Note: Books reviewed are usually provided by the publisher, author, or an agent. Reviewers usually get to keep the book.