Review of The Shape of Snakes by Minette Walters

The Shape of Snakes tells the sad story of Annie Butts a resident of Graham Road in Richmond.

Annie is a middle aged black woman who suffers from Tourette’s Syndrome and is shunned in her local community. The book tells the story of her death which occurred twenty years ago and is described in flashback by Mrs Ranelagh, a neighbour and friend who wished she could have done more at the time and is determined to proved that her death was murder and not an accident as decided by the local police and coroner.

After spending most of the last 20 years abroad with her husband, Sam and her two sons, Mrs Ranelagh returns to England to investigate Annie’s death and finally draw a line under the whole case which seems to have dominated her life for the last 20 years.

The major part of the book seems like an episode out of a Soap Opera. One of the families on Graham Road are the Slaters (no relation to the Slaters of Eastenders!) who all seem to be a bad lot. The father beats up the mother and kids, the mother doesn’t care, thieves and also beats up the kids and the kids thieve and rape the local populace. Then you have Sharon, the local prostitute who seems to have slept with all the men of the Street.

Not to mention the local bent, racist copper, PC Drury.

The plot of the book twists and turns as we learn more about the night of Annie’s death and as soon as you think who is the killer then you find out a little more and realise that you’re wrong.

In some ways, the plot is very manipulative but that’s the way of this kind of crime fiction. It does keep you guessing and turning the pages.

One small gripe.Why does Ms Walters insist on putting a taster first chapter of ther next book at the end of some of her novels? As a results, when you’re approaching the end of the book you think there’s still a fair chunk to go and there must be a further twist in the tale coming up.
So when the end does come it becomes a bit of an anticlimax!