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Awakening

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First Sentence: The darkest hour I've ever known began last Thursday, a heartbeat before the sun came up.

Clara Benning is a veterinary surgeon who, due to a childhood accident, chooses to spend her time working with a wildlife hospital and living as a near recluse in her small village near the boundaries of Devon and Dorset England. Grass snakes are common in that area, but not when they invade households en masse. Even less common is when a resident dies by the bite of a black adder as many times the level of venom from one snake bite.

When a taipan, one of the world's most deadly snakes and native to New Guaina, is found, there is clearly a human hand at work killing elderly residents. Along with her neighbor, a police officer, and an internationally herpetologist, Clara must uncover a long buried secret and a killer, before more die.

I can't say I'm fond of snakes, but its clear Ms. Bolton has done her research. I found the information on snakes, the breeds, their venom and their history in England very interesting. I still don't want one as a pet, but the information was included in such a way that it added to the story without disrupting the flow.

And flow the plot did. From the very beginning, added by her vivid descriptions and very good suspense. The story did lag a bit at one point, but soon picked up again. I found myself reading much later into the night than I had intended. I was never able to predict where the story was headed. The twists were very well done.

Bolton likes very strong, very independent women. As with her first book, "Sacrifice," the protagonist doesn't need a man to rescue her. She occasionally does things which would qualify a different character as "too stupid to live," but the difference is that Bolton's characters are aware when they put themselves into those situations and the motivation for so doing is always solid. There is a strong emotional factor as well. We come to understand very clearly what has made Clara as she is and are allowed to see her break through those barriers; not in a maudlin was, but in a way that is understandable and well done.

It is not a perfect book, but it is a solid read with excellent suspense. I am quite certain her next book will make its way to my shelves.

AWAKENING (Susp-Clara Benning-UK-Cont) - VG
Bolton, S.K. - 2nd standalone
Bantam Press, 2009, UK Hardcover - ISBN: 9780593059234

S. J. Bolton's heroine, Clara Benning, who is just shy of thirty, is a highly skilled veterinary surgeon who specializes in treating wildlife in a small English village. A terrible accident that occurred when she was a baby traumatized her to such an extent that she avoids social interaction whenever possible. "Awakening" is the story of Clara's reluctant emergence from the shadows.

Clara, the narrator, tells us how her "quiet, orderly life went into meltdown." One day, she gets a call from a frantic mother who tells her, "There's a snake in my baby's cot." Although Benning is a tough woman who does not frighten easily, she is understandably nervous when she races to the scene and sees an adder resting near the sleeping infant. "One lightning-charged strike and [the baby's] brief existence would be over." This dramatic scene sets the stage for a story that has elements of romance, mystery, zoology, and even a bit of the supernatural.

Dr. Benning is a remarkable woman who has steeled herself against feeling too deeply. She tends to the most ill-treated and badly injured animals with no obvious display of emotion. However, even the formidable Clara is badly shaken when someone starts using snakes to inflict harm on the town's residents. Where did these creatures come from and why would anyone deliberately use them as weapons? These crimes bring Clara into contact with Sean North , the "world's best known herpetologist," who is also a charismatic television personality, and Matt Hoare, an Assistant Chief Constable, both of whom are attracted to the prickly vet. When Clara is accused of committing the assaults herself, she turns sleuth, risking her life to solve a puzzle whose roots extend deep into the distant past.

Bolton's strong suit is setting and character development. She captures the claustrophobic atmosphere of a rural community in Dorset, where everyone is involved in everyone else's business. The author beautifully describes this scenic area of rustic beauty where Clara had hoped to bury herself in work and avoid close friendships. Most readers will feel an instant connection with this brilliant, dedicated, and deeply wounded individual who deals with the animals in her care skillfully and compassionately. She has her share of inner demons to contend with while she unravels the strange history of a charismatic preacher who, in spite of his unconventional ideas and practices, kept his congregants in thrall. The tortuous plot, alas, eventually becomes a bit murky, and Bolton introduces one too many implausible twists and turns in the book's final pages. However, "Awakening" has a great deal to recommend it, with its original, highly appealing protagonist, and its mesmerizing, if slight grisly, primer on the slithery world of snakes.

Bolton's second thriller after Sacrifice is as surprising- and different- as I expected. With a keen sense of timing, human nature and what seriously creeps people out, Awakening will not soon be forgotten and hopefully passed from friend to enthusiastic friend. It is nearly enough to say that the first sentence sets the tone for the story: "Human cruelty never surprised me." Certainly veterinarian Clara Benning is no stranger to random and vicious cruelties visited on those marked as different from others. Bearing a disfiguring scar on one side of her face, Benning has found solace in caring for various wild animals at a small clinic in rural Dorset, England. But when poisonous adder snakes begin appearing inside people's homes, the situation takes on a more sinister aspect. A local man is killed by a snake's venom; a family's house is suddenly filled with snakes of all kinds, including a particularly venomous variety that originated in Papua, New Guinea. Obviously, something is afoot, Clara caught in the crosshairs.

Turning compulsively from one chapter to the next, I am quickly seduced by Bolton's portrayal of the ambiguity of human nature with a series of characters as colorful as the snakes: a group of elderly people murdered one by one; a worldwide snake authority as strangely exotic as the field of his expertise; a detective constable who moves too closely into Clara's private space; and a family of men whose home is as mysterious and enigmatic as their past. Through it all, an exceptionally brave Clara ranges through the countryside seeking answers, oblivious to danger in her quest for truth and brutally honest about the perceptions of herself in the world. Bolton understands the pain of difference and explores it in this anguished protagonist who has hidden from the world less successfully than she thinks. Perfect timing, the lore of religious cults, ancient traditions and the mythology of snakes make this a most unique reading experience, but beneath it all- as expected- lies the damaged heart of humanity and the miracle of forgiveness. Luan Gaines/2010.

In a way, S. J. Bolton's second published novel AWAKENING is a coming-of-age story. The protag and narrator of the tale is a reclusive wildlife veterinarian, Clara Benning, unmarried daughter of an archdeacon. She practices in a remote British village and prefers her mute swans and baby owl chicks to people. But several invasions of snakes into the village and the death of three old people, once parishioners of a church burned to the ground fifty years prior, change her life.

Additionally, the novel is a quintessential gothic crime thriller. It is no coincidence that Bolton was dubbed the "high priestess of rural gothic crime" in Harrogate the summer of 2011. Her third novel Blood Harvest was shortlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier mystery of the year, an award given only to British and Irish crime writers. Bolton was the only female writer so honored.

All the modern gothic elements are richly detailed in AWAKENiNG:

An isolated British village "creeping with snakes and mystery." An abandoned and old, rambling residence, Witcher House. A burned skeleton of a church never rebuilt.

A disfigured female. In this novel, the narrator herself with a side of her face scarred by a horrendous childhood accident.

Old family secrets. The four, maybe five Witcher brothers, once pillars of the community. Strange religious rituals fifty years ago at a church, burned and never restored...a Church of the Latter Rain.

A hint of romance. Both a kind neighbor and a TV celebrity and noted herpetologist befriend Clara.

And snakes. As in other novels, Bolton has well researched the other villians of this story...snakes. She lists five tomes of snake science in the acknowledgements along with a special thank you to the curator of lower vertebrates and invertebrates at the Chester Zoo. She also imagines a improbable grass-snake swarm in chilling prose:

"How best to describe what happened next? It was though I were in the midst of a wide, swift river. Water was rushing towards me, ebbing and swirling occasionally but...flowing relently onwards...a field of wind-blown grass. I watched that flow of - water...grass...what on earth was it? - coming towards me.
Snakes...dozens of them...maybe hundreds. They were rippling through the long grass like ribbons flowing from a child's streamer. Their bodies gleamed slick and wet, shining in the moonlight. They moved over the land with a collective purpose...
It was a grass-snake swarm. Young snakes, slim as pencils, moved alongside adults over five feet long. I saw dark snakes, pale snakes, could even make out the markings on their backs...It was beautiful, extraordinary; quite wonderful..." (219-220)

Bolton's imaginative prose is chilling and extraordinary; quite wonderful.

Okay, I confess - I liked the cover, I read the story summary and bought it, despite the fact that I was unfamiliar with the author. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

This is an engaging story about a top-notch vet (in Britain) who happens to have a special knowledge of snakes; a good thing considering the village is being overrun with them - and some of them quite deadly. Oddly enough, the deadly ones are not at all native to the British Isles but are nevertheless turning up in specific peoples' homes inflicting terror as well as poisonous bites.

Dr. Clara Benning is intelligent, competent, brave and, due to a disfiguring scar on her face, reclusive; shunning human contact in favor of her less judgmental four-legged charges. Given the recent snake attacks in the village, however, she is drawn into the middle of this mystery, despite the necessary human interaction required to gain answers to several key questions. Dismissing the remotely possible romantic interest of the Assistant Chief Constable as well as a local Wildlife TV star and world-renowned snake expert, the overly self-conscious Clara branches out on her own investigation and finds herself under the spotlight of suspicion. While time is running out as the death toll rises, Clara uncovers more than just a few snakes in the grass as her investigation illuminates an increasing number of dark secrets about this otherwise bucolic, quaint British village.

There are a few loose ends that still remained at the end of the book and at times, I found it difficult to keep track of the various suspects threading back to the 1950's. Nevertheless, I found it to be a cozy read. I'd definitely like to see more from this author.

Clara is a wildlife vet is a small village. She has had a rather interesting life, having
done work with reptiles before landing in her small cottage in the village. AS the book opens we learn about her work with local wildlife, rabbits, swans and some other local fauna. Clara was very good at her job.

She was a bit of a recluse, though. There are things about her that come to light that will explain this.
Several frightening, and then downright dangerous local events help to to understand that there are good
and loving people, and that yes, she can allow herself to make friends.

The journey from meeting Clara, to her new life and new job is one fraught with mystery and darkness. Snakes play no small part in this story, so if you are particularly squeamish, then you might want to avoid this, I hope that you don't though. Despite the fact that I found myself quite annoyed with Clara a time or two, I quite liked her. The village folks were good too, well.. at least those who were not plain evil. Half the fun of this book is figuring out the difference.

Recommended

New author, S J Bolton, follows up her first book, "Sacrifice", with this twisting tale that is sure to keep you wondering about more than just what is tasting the local residents.

The well-written protagonist, Clara Benning, has her own secrets and she dangles them before the reader like small carrots. I found myself just as interested in finding out what Clara was hiding as I was in the primary mystery itself.

Packed with clues, heart-felt emotion and plenty of twists and turns, "Awakening" is well worth the read.

I have read all of S.J. Bolton's novels, and Awakening is my favorite of all her works. When I read the jacket blurb, I wasn't too sure about this novel as I'm not exactly a fan of snakes which play a prominent role in this story. However, I decided to go ahead and read the book given that I had enjoyed all of her other works.

The central character in this story is village vet Clara Benning, an almost thirty year old woman with a lovely voice, but who lives her life as a recluse in a small Dorset hamlet. Clara is disfigured on one side of her face, a result of a tragic accident whilst young, and this has resulted in her self-imposed isolation from people around her, preferring the company of animals instead.
Clara's quiet and unassuming lifestyle comes to an abrupt end when she is called to rescue a young baby from a snake - an adder. Then an elderly man in her village dies from snakebite, but Clara's suspicions are aroused when the post-mortem reveals that there was an unusually high amount of adder venom in the man's system, more than a typical snakebite would produce. The sleepy village suddenly experiences a high increase in snake sightings, with local homes inundated with the reptiles.

The circumstances force Clara into close contact with a senior police officer, Matt Hoare, and a TV personality/ herpetologist Sean North as they investigate the strange happenings. What initially appear to be random attacks turns out to have a suspicious and sinister pattern, and Clara, at great personal risk, takes it upon herself to solve the mystery.

I enjoyed reading about snake habits, and the different types of snakes. The author goes into some detail about these creatures without overwhelming the reader with tedious facts. The different settings around the village which serve as central locations for the story - the manor owned by millionaire businessman Clive Ventry; the abandoned, burned down church with the sinister history; and, the old Witcher house with its strange past all serve as atmospheric backdrops for this riveting suspense thriller.

Clara Benning is my favorite protagonist of all of Bolton's heroines. She is strong-willed and fiercely independent, yet suffers from self-esteem issues stemming from her facial disfigurement. Clara is a complex character (as are all of Bolton's protagonists) and it was interesting to see her character come out of her self-imposed shell over the course of the story. Then there's the sexual tension, barely suppressed between Clara and two of the male characters, i.e. North and Hoare. Clara senses something between her and these two men, yet her doubts about her physical appearance makes her retreat from them, even as she feels an attraction to these two men, both of whom play prominent roles in the story.

Awakening is a dark, Gothic mystery that will appeal to fans of atmospheric suspense stories. I would also recommend Bolton's other books (arranged here in order of publication):
Sacrifice
Awakening
Blood Harvest
Now You See Me

Kudos to this author, who comes up with genuinely fresh plots every time out of the gate. This book is not only creepy enough that you may not want to read it alone at night but also the author has given us a great heroine to care about in the form of a disfigured--both physically and emotionally--female veterinarian. There are snakes, murders, odd characters, nasty villains and strange folk tales. I liked it, and if you like the murder/suspense genre then you should give this author a try.

Why? Because she hates snakes, everything about snakes. And people who have the snake-squeamishness should probably stay away from "Awakening."
I have no problem with snakes, though, and really enjoyed this book. The snakes *are* a critical point of the plot, but they're not treated as anything evil. Bolton's story has more to do with old legends and deep country ways. As an American, I always enjoy reading books from the U.K because they're always ever-so-slightly foreign, in ways large and small.
The main character in "Awakening" is quite interesting in that she has let scarring drive her life in many ways. She keeps to herself and works with animals because, in her mind, they don't judge by appearances. Her story of coming to grips with her own inner self keeps the plot chugging along nicely.
All told, I really enjoyed this book. I read the three Bolton books I had at a rapid clip. The folklore really makes it special.