ARE SNAKES NECESSARY? - Brian DePalma and Susan Lehman


 Lee Rogers is a governor, now running for a Senate seat. He has a history of infidelity. And like any politician who manages to be successful despite some checkered behavior he has a good political fixer working behind the scenes.  For Lee, that's Barton Brock.

Brock is currently working hard on Rogers' campaign when the Senator runs into an old flame and her stunning 18 year old daughter who wants to get experience as a videographer and would also like to work on Rogers' campaign. Barton doesn't think it's a good idea, for some obvious reasons (it'll likely make his job much more difficult), but Rogers will get his way.

Brock Barton will have his own interactions with a beautiful young woman when he meets Elizabeth deCarlo in a McDonald's and he takes her away from the fast food franchise as he suspects she's better suited to political machinations. A couple of double-crosses proves him correct.

Things don't bode well for the women in this political thriller, but when Elizabeth decides she's had enough and goes into seclusion without telling anyone, the impression is that she's gone missing and the Rogers political camp may have had something to do with it.

I'll be honest, it was Brian DePalma's name on this book that first caught my interest.  Then it was that stunning, throwback cover art that drew me in. And I've been really interested in reading some classic noir fiction and I thought that this would be a really great time.

DePalma certainly has experience in storytelling and the book sure feels like a screenplay that's been adapted to a book format.  Not that I have a problem with that, but it would be fun to see DePalma write straight for the novel. Part of writing for the screen is moving the story along quickly because you have a very specific amount of time to tell the story and drive the action, and this carries over. The storylines move along quickly and we don't spend much time developing characters - they are pretty much who we think they are when we first meet them.

That beautiful cover art doesn't really fit the tone of the book.  This isn't a noir thriller ... it's a political thriller, and there's definitely a difference in form and style. Still, this was a fun, quick read.

Looking for a good book? Are Snakes Necessary? by Brian DePalma and Susan Lehman is a fast-paced political thriller with some stereotyped characters and some clever plotting.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

3-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

Are Snakes Necessary?

authors: Brian DePalma and Susan Lehman

publisher: Hard Case Crime

ISBN: 9781789091205

hardcover, 224 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

VINYL RESTING PLACE - Olivia Blacke

Image
 Juni Jessup and her two sister, Tansy and Maggie, have gone into business together in their hometown of Cedar River, Texas, opening a combination record store and coffee shop. Vinyl LPs are making a comeback after all, despite critics thinking the medium was dead.  But speaking of 'dead' ... finding a dead body in the supply closet just as they are looking to have a grand opening is not part of the plan.  Juni's life gets more complicated when their uncle, Calvin, already a suspect in the murder, disappears. And the police officer leading the investigation is Juni's EX-boyfriend (who passive-aggressively keeps putting himself back into her life). Convinced that her uncle would never murder anyone, Juni sets out to prove his innocence - which isn't easy since he's making himself look guilty - because Calvin is family and family is EVERYthing to Juni. As readers of my blog know, I'm not a big fan of most cozy mysteries, but the setting caught my eye and my in...
Read more

THE WALLED CITY - Ryan Graudin

Image
  Jin and her sister, Mei Yee, were taken and sold and then sent to the lawless Walled City to serve as prostitutes or slaves to anyone willing to pay. Jin managed to escape her captivity, but not the Walled City and she now lurks about, disguised as a boy and is trying to track down the brothel where her sister is still captive. Jin will work odd delivery jobs to earn a small bit of money and hopefully have a legitimate means of coming in contact with her sister's captors.  This is how she meets up with Dai, a mysterious boy who has somehow managed to avoid running with any of the gangs in the city but he seems to have his own unusual connections, which Jon could desperately use if she has any hope of finding Mei Yee. But Dai has his own desperate needs.  The story is told from the different perspectives of each character and we do bounce around quite a bit as the chapters are generally short. This never bothered me, which is slightly unusual as often I find this techni...
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - ...
Read more