Unflinching in its gaze, The Snakes is a bold, brilliant and beautiful novel which holds the reader in its tense grip from start to unforgettable finish.
Sadie Jones is a novelist and screenwriter. Her first novel, The Outcast ('Devastatingly good', Daily Mail) won the Costa First Novel Award in 2008 and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize. It was also a Richard and Judy Summer Reads number one bestseller and adapted for BBC Television. Her second novel, Small Wars ('Outstanding', The Times; 'One of the best books about the English at war ever', Joel Morris), was published in 2009, and longlisted for the Orange Prize. Her third, in 2012, was The Uninvited Guests ('A shimmering comedy of manners and disturbing commentary on class... a brilliant novel', Ann Patchett) followed by Fallout in 2014 ('Intoxicating and immersive', The Sunday Times).
Sadie Jones is such an enjoyable novelist to spend time with. Her
books are so easy to read, while each sentence is rich in meaty
observation… Elegantly atmospheric… The Snakes left me
breathless
*Daily Mail*
The Snakes is superbly written, each sentence punctuated by a
drumbeat of menace, each word placed with a master's touch. I keep
thinking about the questions it poses: about what it is to be good
in these imperfect times; about how we can protect our humanity in
the face of narcissism and greed. Yet for all its depth and
mystery, The Snakes is also just a thrillingly good read
*Elizabeth Day*
The Snakes asks serious questions about human nature, avarice and
justice, wrapped in the fast-paced rhythms of a thriller. It is
written with Jones’s trademark economy and a fierce attention to
the nuances of familial cruelty… I finished The Snakes with a
juddering heart, strangely close to tears
*Guardian*
The Snakes is gripping from the outset, then finally unputdownable.
The writing is magnificent. One of the most powerful and
uncompromising novels I've read in years.
*Jonathan Coe*
Ever since her debut, The Outcast, Jones has peopled her propulsive
plots with nuanced, dimensional creations imbued with human
failings and graces. The Snakes is no exception… Jones crafts a
pitiless shock ending; a denouement that refuses closure and
resonates long after the book is set aside… [the ending is] bound
to become a talking point
*Financial Times*
I am blowing the trumpet for The Snakes to anyone who'll listen. I
devoured the book, awed by its beauty and brilliance. We'll be
lucky if 2019 brings us much else of this rank. This is wickedly
good writing and something really special. Sadie Jones has talent
to burn.
*Billy O'Callaghan*
A suspenseful, beautifully written thriller about the corruption of
money and abuse within a dysfunctional family
*Guardian*
Masterful, terrifying, dangerous, with an ending that is as
uncompromising as the build-up is truthful. The Snakes is as
beautifully written as it is dark and honest.
*Rachel Joyce*
A menacing, beautifully written novel
*Guardian, *Summer Reads of 2019**
I was absolutely gripped by this original and beautifully-told
story of a couple enmeshed in a nest of vipers -- a rich family of
criminals. Its evocation of a sinister French house, the corruption
of love and the powerlessness of good is both haunting and
chilling. Nobody contemporary writes about unhappy families as well
as Sadie Jones.
*Amanda Craig*
This gripping read drips with a menace that builds of the shocking
final pages
*Good Housekeeping, *Book of the Month**
[A] menacing new contemporary thriller… a tantalising set-up, after
which the plot zigzags unpredictably to a brutally stark finale
that steals the breath
*Metro*
The Snakes has all of Jones’s trademark depth and layered
storytelling
*Red*
Sadie Jones… knows how to construct a narrative of great emotional
power. Her prose is crisp and precise, studded with spiky
observations
*Spectator*
An all-encompassing read from the first page to the devastating
final paragraph
*The Bookseller*
The ending is devastating
*Mail on Sunday*
Unsettling, thought-provoking and beautifully written, you won’t be
able to get this out of your head
*Heat*
Jones’s style is immediate and lively and she is particularly good
at dialogue, which she uses a great deal, often to advance the
fast-paced plot
*Literary Review*
The Snakes unfolds in clean, functional prose and Jones has a lot
to say about the way we live now
*Evening Standard*
Determined to escape the nine-to-five monotony, Bea and Dan head to
France to visit Bea’s wayward brother Alex, who runs a hotel where
the only guests are snakes in the attic. The peace is shattered
when Bea’s parents arrive, bringingconflict and misery. From a
sedate start, Jones deftly builds the tension to a horrific and
powerful conclusion.
*The Telegraph*
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