I’m a massive reptile fan, but whoa momma did Godey make them nerve wracking and tension filled. The scenes with the snake are truly unnerving. One who waxes about man’s role in vilifying the snake but also how through man’s own deforestation, climate change and misinformation on snakes themselves, have worked to increase contact and deadly actions.

Godey does a splendid job of making the herpetologist a caring, well-educated character. The story follows along as a herpetologist is brought on board to try and find the snake, but as the body count mounts, public pressure overcomes anything he suggests. Because of that, ‘The Snake’ becomes elevated as the easy logistics that we’d resort to in 2021 just didn’t exist. Phone booths were the nearest “cell phone” option. Information wasn’t readily available or shared online. Hell, I wasn’t born for three more years. It’s hard to think back on how simple life was back then versus now. I think one of the things I loved most about this book was the fact that it was released in 1978. Thus begins a race to find the snake, as more and more people inadvertently come into contact with it and don’t survive. Carrying a box, it falls and breaks open. A man is mugged and killed in Central Park late one night. His chosen genre of mystery/thriller is on full display here with ‘The Snake.’ His most famous or well known release is perhaps ‘The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3,’ which was made into a movie in 1974 and remade in 2009, starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta. He passed away in 2006, but as Godey had a long career of writing and releasing mystery and thriller books.

What I liked: John Godey is actually the pen name of Morton Freedgood. So, I grabbed the Kindle version and wow. One such book was ‘The Snake.’ He raved about it. So, through all of that, for Christmas 2020, I wanted to surprise Dustin and get him a few books from The Black Wyvern. He’s a fantastic guy and a great resource. James is someone who helps you find books as well as sells books. Through Dustin, I’ve connected with James aka The Black Wyvern Bookstore, here in Edmonton. Through Instagram, I’ve become friends with Dustin, aka postorgasmicstressdisorder.

‘The Snake’ by John Godey is a book that completely came onto my radar by random.

John godey the snake