The Shape of Snakes [Paperback]

Minette Walters (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 4, 2002

It took a few hours on a rainy winter night for a black woman known as "Mad Annie" to die in a gutter. It will take twenty years for the woman who found her to shape her neighbors' racism, the indifference of the police, and her own rage into the truth.

"Harrowing...These complex characters can be cunning, deceitful, even mad-which is exactly what makes them such absorbing company." (New York Times Book Review)

"Builds tension masterfully." (The Wall Street Journal)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Minette Walters is as much exterminator as novelist. With uncomfortable accuracy, her novels bring to the surface those creepy, crawly parts of the human psyche that most of us would rather keep hidden. Articulate, clever, and acutely observant, she eschews the standard trappings of psychological suspense and presents characters both vulnerable and deeply unpleasant.

Twenty years ago, M. Ranelagh found her Graham Road neighbor dying in a gutter. "Mad Annie" Butts, long persecuted for being black and for suffering from Tourette's syndrome, had had her skull shattered. So deeply did Annie's death--ruled an accident--affect M. that she has spent the last two decades secretly amassing proof that it was murder, and that the murderer lived in Graham Road. Her collection of evidence faithfully teases out the serpentine deceptions--and self-deceptions--woven into Annie's death; husband Sam, neighbors, friends, family, police, all are grist for the mill of M.'s occasionally unscrupulous research:

I suppose everyone has a pet subject that triggers their anger--with me it was my mother's wicked talent for stirring, with Sam it was his fear of Mad Annie and everything her death represented: the mask of respectability that overlaid the hatreds and the lies. He always hoped, I think, in a rather free interpretation of the karma principle, that if he refused to look beneath a surface then the surface was the reality. But he could never rid himself of the fear that he was wrong.

Although M.'s investigations focus on her neighbors (who range from eccentric to downright evil), they reveal just as much about her. Crafty, manipulative, and seething with rage, she carefully constructs her revenge on an unidentified murderer--and, one suspects, on the frustrations and limitations that define her own life.

The Shape of Snakes is both a gripping thriller and a stunning novel. Don't be surprised if it works its way into your library of favorites. --Kelly Flynn --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

For 20 years Mrs. Ranelagh has quietly collected evidence about the suspicious death of her neighbor, a black woman known as "Mad Annie," whose body was found in the gutter one evening. London police concluded that Annie was hit by a passing truck. But Ranelagh now armed with letters, statements and testimonials from both official and nonofficial sources is convinced she was beaten to death in a fury of racial hatred. Moreover, she suspects that one of her neighbors, or even her husband, Sam, may have been the killer. From such an intriguingly simple setup springs another searingly narrated psychological drama by Edgar-winner Walters in which manners and other forms of propriety slowly give way to raw, ugly emotion. Ranelagh, the story's narrator, is a middle-aged woman whose restrained public persona masks a bitter, unsparing nature driven by a life of disappointment and futility. She herself was scarred by Annie's death, terrorized in the months following for being a "nigger lover" and publicly doubting the police version. Not only does she want to find out who killed Annie, she wants personal revenge. One by one, she confronts her old neighbors a disparate cast of losers and social climbers now spread across the London area. Ranelagh's search, however, turns into not only a quest for justice but an agonizing odyssey that forces to the surface painful truths about herself and her family. Keeping track of all the players can be a challenge. Yet Walters (The Sculptress; The Ice House) has again created a consuming main character in Ranelagh and a tightly coiled plot that whiplashes with cruel efficiency. (July) Forecast: Walters has been likened to Ruth Rendell and P.D. James, and the comparison is appropriate. Though she doesn't yet have their name recognition, an author tour will help build her profile, as should excellent word of mouth.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Jove; Reprint edition (June 4, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 051513306X
• ISBN-13: 978-0515133066
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,979,144 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A First-Rate Mystery!, February 9, 2002

By 

Tiggah "the Anglophile" (Calgary, Alberta Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Shape of Snakes (Hardcover)

I've enjoyed the dramatizations of British mystery writer Minette Walters' previous novels, and I was, therefore, looking forward to finally reading one; I must say, I was not disappointed. The Shape of Snakes is a well-written and, frankly, unputdownable novel. The story captures the reader's attention and interest right from the start. As it progresses, the characters take shape and the mystery becomes increasingly complex with a good many twists and surprises before the final pieces are in place.

The story takes place in the first person. Briefly, and without giving anything away, the narrator (known to us only as M. Ranelagh) had in 1978 discovered the body of her neighbour Annie (a disabled black woman) as Annie lay dying in the gutter in front of M's house. Not satisfied with the coroner's verdict, we find that M has spent the last 20 or so years amassing evidence in support of her belief as to what really happened to Annie.

Though the story is told through the less-than-objective eyes of one of the characters, Walters has counterbalanced this obvious bias in a highly effective (and indeed original) manner by including "copies" of letters, newspaper clippings, e-mails, reports, and so on in between most of the chapters.

Lest anyone be offended or upset, I ought to mention that there are, unfortunately, fairly graphic descriptions of cruelty to cats which some may find quite distressing (I certainly did and frankly skipped over much of the description). If you are able to withstand the cruelty, however, this is definitely a novel worth reading, for it is an extremely satisfying and masterfully-written mystery. At the core of the story are the related issues of racism, ignorance and intolerance, and Walters succeeds in evoking her readers' emotions and making us think; yet she manages to do so (at least in my opinion) without making us thoroughly depressed in the process. Don't misunderstand me. This novel is somewhat disturbing, not to mention unsettling, and many of the despicable attitudes and actions (toward both humans and cats) can only be described, quite frankly, as evil. Nevertheless, there is still that ever-so-important redeeming element of good that occasionally manages to punctuate the darkness--even if it is only a feeling of remorse or a simple act of kindness.

In conclusion, if you enjoy intelligent, realistic, thought-provoking mysteries--if you enjoy the Prime Suspect television series for example--you'll enjoy this novel. It's certainly one of the best mysteries I've read. Highly recommended!

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning and carefully crafted....mesmerizing, January 25, 2001

By 

jeanne-scott (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Shape of Snakes (Hardcover)

Minette Walters writes an absorbing mystery that revolves around the death of a woman in the late 70's in an English neighborhood. There is only one person who is convinced that the death is not an accident, but a vicious racially motivated crime of hate. This main character nearly looses her mind in the following days, and weeks. To save her marriage and her mind, she moves out of the country, but she never forgets about the woman who died. Twenty years later she and her family return to England, and her purpose is to prove that it was murder and catch the killer. She has spent the twenty years carefully gathering information and evidence, and now begins to move her information and those involved like chess pieces in order to attain her goal. Was the investigation done improperly due to the racial prejudice of the police in charge? Was the murderer one person or several? Who was involved in trying to cover up evidence ranging from theft, animal cruelty, adultery, rape, child abuse and more. The question arises, is she in it for justice or for revenge and why? Minette Walters includes letters, notes and e-mails and other correspondence in each chapter of her novel, which while at first glance was a bit disconcerting, began to make you feel a part of the discovery process. Bit by bit each character is revealed in an ever changing light, revealing their past, their motive and their part in the death of the neighborhood woman.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Look At the Dark Side of Humanity, July 19, 2001

By 

Untouchable (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Shape of Snakes (Hardcover)

The near obsessive need to solve a murder and see that justice is done is the premise for Minette Walters' latest thought-provoking novel. The murder is that of a local black woman known by her neighbours as "Mad Annie". She was an alcoholic who also suffered from Tourette's syndrome and was the victim of her neighbours hate and derision because she was different. Although her death appeared to be accidental, one neighbour isn't convinced and begins a quest that almost costs her marriage, her sanity and, certainly, her job.

This is not a cheery, happy-go-lucky, breezy mystery full of feel-good moments. Some pretty polarising issues are highlighted in the telling of this story. Racism, animal cruelty, child and spousal abuse and ignorance towards mental illness are all dealt with. It's a provocative mystery that examines the darker human failings that most of us would prefer to ignore by pretending they don't exist, and no apologies are made.

On top of the social commentary is a very well put together mystery with a long list of possible suspects. Like all good mysteries, the murderer could be just about anyone and isn't revealed until right at the end. The twists in the case are typical Walters as we're fed information, one tantalising piece at a time.