The Snakes

March 15, 2019
Snakes as temptation, snakes as untrustworthy people, snakes as dangerous reptiles--all present and accounted for in this suspenseful drama of an ultrarich, dysfunctional British family.After growing up among private jets and criminally narcissistic parents, Bea Adamson has cut herself off from her family and their money and has never been open with her biracial husband, Dan, who has only been introduced once, about the extent of their wealth. The couple lives close to the bone in London off their earnings as a psychotherapist and real estate agent. When they decide to take a break and drive an old Peugeot around the continent, their first stop is to see Bea's ne'er-do-well brother, Alex, who has been set up by their father with a hotel outside Beaune, a town not far from the Swiss border. When they arrive at the Hotel Paligny, they are surprised to find a defunct operation which hasn't seen guests in quite some time. "There are loads of snakes," Alex warns when taking them up to the attic. "Mostly they're just grass snakes. They're sort of company....It's the vipers I don't like." Soon after, the hotel gates swing open and more snakes arrive--Adamson père et mère. As horrified as she is by the appearance of Griff and Liv, Bea has no idea how bad things can get. The most impressive accomplishment of Jones' (Fallout, 2014, etc.) fifth novel--her first with a contemporary setting--is the seemingly straightforward, actually rather complicated nature of the relationship between Bea and Dan. The depiction of the frustrations of dealing with the French bureaucracy is also on the money. However, the rich parents are two-dimensional in their utter repulsiveness, and the violent closing section of the book does not quite fulfill the potential of what precedes it.A well-executed, character-driven cross between domestic drama and crime thriller.

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April 22, 2019
Jones’s propulsive yet thoughtful fifth novel (after Fallout) grips readers from the first page. Bea Adamson is a 30-year-old psychotherapist living in a modest one-bedroom in London with her real estate agent husband, Dan Durrant, despite her moneyed background. Dan, who is of a much humbler background, dreams of becoming an artist. When Bea and Dan take three months off to travel, their first stop is France, where Bea’s older brother, Alex, runs a hotel. When they arrive, they’re greeted by a hotel devoid of guests other than the snake infestation in the attic and an erratic, newly sober Alex. When Alex and Bea’s extremely wealthy parents, Griff and Liv, unexpectedly arrive at the hotel, Bea, who has long cut financial and personal ties with her severe father and cloying mother, resigns herself to making nice. And with Griff and Liv’s arrival, Dan begins to understand just how well-off Bea is, no matter how much she wants to forsake her upbringing. However, when Alex goes out one night and doesn’t return, the Adamson family is upturned, and their secrets and twisted relationships with each other are brought to light. The campy ending doesn’t quite live up to the rest of the book—but what precedes is a tightly crafted, deeply moving, and thrilling story about how money corrupts and all the myriad ways members of a family can ruin each other. Agent: Stephanie Cabot, the Gernert Company.

May 1, 2019
All families are dysfunctional in some way, but some, like Bea's family, ratchet dysfunction to dizzying heights. Bea rejected her parents' lifestyle of obscene wealth years ago, but maintains a relationship with her brother Alex. Restless in their London work-a-day lives, Bea and her husband, Dan, decide to take a sabbatical, even though it means pinching pennies and spending their "cushion." They set off first to see shiftless Alex in rural France. The hotel he's supposedly running is, in fact, a guestless, crumbling wreck, and there are snakes in the attic. The distance Bea had long kept between Dan and her parents is soon breached with Alex's sudden death. Bea's father impresses Dan with his wealth and self-possession; Bea's mother dazzles, but in time, Dan sees the writhing underbelly of their lives and understands what drove Bea away. Dan doesn't even know the worst of it, because Bea keeps the secret of Alex's abuse unspoken. Jones (Fallout, 2014) unfurls an understated, yet page-turning story. The last chapters, however, reveal a graphic and jarring ending.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

April 1, 2019

Escaping London for France, Bea and new husband Dan visit a hotel run by Bea's brother Alex. They find the hotel guestless, Alex a wreck, and snakes in the attic. Then Bea and Alex's wealthy, amiable parents arrive, and a dark family secret is revealed. A 75,000-copy first printing.