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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
In the novel Snakes of St. Augustine by Ginger Pinholster, Trina Leigh Dean, a 60-year-old woman from St. Augustine, faces a crisis when her beloved snakes are stolen from her serpentarium. Suspicions point to her troubled sister, Chelsea, who has a history of drug use. In a parallel storyline, the idiosyncratic snake enthusiast Gethin Jacobs goes missing from his sister Serena's home, prompting her to team up with a homeless college student Jazz to search for Gethin. Jazz is an affable guy but the mix of untreated bipolar disorder and his infatuation with Serena complicate matters. While Serena seeks Gethin, police officer Fletch works to recover the stolen snakes in St. Augustine, Florida, a task that turns dangerous. When the narrative paths begin to converge, a twist kicks into play and what started as a series of troubling events begins to evolve into a massively underestimated enterprise.
As a woman who spent much of her childhood with a 15-foot pet python named Rozella in an adjacent bedroom, I kind of buck the trend of being creeped out by all things reptilian. I was drawn to Snakes of St. Augustine by Ginger Pinholster because of both its plot and that absolutely breathtaking cover, and what's inside turned out to be better than I had hoped. The characters that Pinholster has developed are a fully-fleshed-out mixed bag of social issues and as I read it I was reminded of the collective of equally striking cast members attributed to great writers like Nell Zink. Alternating points of view that reflect diversity and deep insight into what is occurring at any given moment provide an expertly crafted look into where the story is ultimately headed. Gethin has a surprising number of women who care for him despite his laundry list of flaws and it makes us care also. “She pictured him lying on a dirty mattress in some meth house guarded by snakes, strung out, sick from the drugs or hepatitis, which he would surely catch if he was using needles.” Overall, this engaging novel is worth a read. Very highly recommended.
