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THE SERPENT AND THE MENACE
“Incisive, hilarious, seeped with localisms that build atmosphere. I love how modern and real the style is, perfect for a thriller, never flowery or overcomplicated...unsettling, ominous, and tense.”
“I actually said ‘shite,’ out loud, I was told by my son ‘mummy mind your choice of words.’ ….my point is it actually scared me." ―Anne Brownlow, ex-criminal investigator.
Fortune smiled on Glenn Barnes, paving the road for her into a marriage of manicured rose gardens and reverse commutes. So why was she still beset with recurring nightmares, bewildering health problems, and the fraying apron strings of an indifferent mother? I love my mother…it’s just getting past despising her that’s the problem. After years of sparse contact, Glenn reluctantly returns to her small hometown for a visit. As she arrives, she discovers that the son of one of her high school friends is missing.
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Glenn reconnects with her old friend Doug over drinks and gossip—all those years ago, aimless trips to nowhere in his shitty old Ford "Opossum." The same night, Doug’s 15-year-old daughter, Joelle, attends a party where a popular 21-year-old, Aaron, tells her, “your eyes are so gray.” She later finds a note in her locker asking her to meet in secret. Joelle knows there will be talk, knows what they think of her—and maybe she does do lurid things, like hang out at John Doby’s. At least it isn’t more endless tedium. Joelle is later caught at John’s, a local venomous reptile hobbyist commonly surrounded by acolytes and hangers-on.
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Doug and a friend decide to confront John, taking Glenn along for the ride. She remembers, only after arriving back at her guest house, that she left her purse. Glenn makes the long drive back to John’s, alone, deep into the backwoods where his trailer perches in the weeds behind eight feet of solid rusted fencing, and where she gets a peek through the keyhole into the dark undercurrent of her old home town and the secrets that threaten to expose a grim truth lurking quietly below the surface.
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In this serpentine tale of rural decay, Alice Curtis explores what “home” really means when it is constantly vanishing beneath your feet and what we are made of when met with our greatest fears.
READERS ARE SAYING
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"By the time I finished the final page I was genuinely sad there wasn’t more to read."
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"Perhaps more than anything, I found that this book encapsulates the freedom of the ‘90s in such a beautiful and ephemeral way. The pacing of the story is well crafted and executed. From start to finish, I don’t think I put down the book once. All in all, I think this is an incredibly tight book, a page-turner in a non-traditional sense, and populated with fantastic characters. It’s honestly a book that makes me excited to read in general, and something that sticks with me hours, even days, after I finished it." –Nathaniel Faro Mellor
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"I was blown away with the quality and flow of this story and even now find myself wanting to have a ramble around this now uninhabitable town. This story can be enjoyed from both the fictional thriller and historical aspect…The story also delves into the depths of the secrets that intertwine the community and no one is without a stain. I am greatly intrigued with this story and the land within which it plays out. From the beginning I was curious, I had a giggle at some points; to be honest, though, I was more shocked by the actions of some than finding [spoiler omitted]. When I got towards the end, I found myself dragging my metaphorical feet, because I weirdly felt quite comfortable running around Blackjack."
–Anne Brownlow, ex-criminal investigator (professional services available at Fiverr.com)
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"I was immediately sucked in and thoroughly enjoyed these fascinating characters and setting—a brilliantly woven together story that is not only raw and intense, but powerful and poignant. I found myself identifying and empathizing with so many aspects of the characters…such realness and authenticity, with so much humanity woven into their character arcs. And the setting provides a whole other level of depth to their lives...An intense, real, and still raw history of the land and the people who occupy it. Really beautifully done!"
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From The Serpent and the Menace
They both looked ahead at the road and fell into a familiar silence. Thoughts about Joelle and JC and Theresa tried to get out of her head, bouncing about like flies on a screen door. The chat piles became visible from miles outside of town, then grew larger as they approached downtown Blackjack on their way to Rosemead, and she wondered about the lavender note. She looked over at Doug, in his Lee jeans and the sweater that his mom got him for his birthday, as he hummed along with “Rosanna”...I haven’t felt this alive in years.
The migraine was making Glenn groggy and her mind wandered in the silence. All those years ago, aimless trips to nowhere in Doug’s shitty old Opossum. She could almost see the roads and highways rushing under them through that open hole in the floorboard, the white trash redneck version of a glass bottom boat. She remembered, adding up the years in between and boggling that it had been over twenty. It had been a blazing hot summer day and even into the late evening, the air was thick and humid.
BIO
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Born and raised in Kansas, Alice now lives in California where she is the owner of a recycled clothing boutique and otherwise spends her time writing, reading, nursing her television addiction, managing her ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome) and otherwise enjoying life in the Mojave desert with her elderly dachshund. This book is a combination of her love for the thriller genre, fascination with reptile enthusiasts, and nostalgia for a vanishing place in time. The setting of this book is largely factual and based on an area near her hometown: a mining community turned ghost town, one of the largest superfund sites in the country, a region the EPA declared “the most dangerous hazardous waste site in the nation,” and a place where her father once shot at a mouse with a .22 from his living room recliner. She hopes you will enjoy reading this story as much as she enjoyed unearthing it.
CONTACT
Ask Alice at Info@AliceCurtis.com
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