The Bottom Line: Darkly riveting and disturbingly real, The Snake Handler’s Wife features Hinkin’s most chilling villain yet. Move this edge-of-your-seat domestic thriller to the top of your reading queue.
The Snake Handler’s Wife begins on a ranch in coastal California as cult leader Mark Wenter releases a rattlesnake into a stable. Quoting from biblical scripture, he believes a horse suffering a snakebite will trigger a divine prophecy. It’s just the first step in a devious plan to take over the ranch belonging to veteran news photographer and mother Lucy Vega.
Soon, a second snake is released onto the ranch in the form of college dropout Jaime Wenter. She and Lucy have never met, and her shock visit is certainly unannounced. Nevertheless, as the estranged daughter of Lucy’s long-term partner, Michael (and the half-sister of Lucy and Michael’s son, Henry), she is welcomed with open arms. Soon, it’s revealed that Jaime is also married to “Pastor Mark.” A glance at Mark’s social media profile – revealing just a few cute pictures of him with kids at the Christian camp he runs – puts Lucy’s mind at ease.
Mark, whose manipulative influence extends far further than just his young wife, may be author Sue Hinkin’s most engrossing villain yet. His plan seems to be working more quickly than he could have imagined, as Lucy offers Jaime a temporary role as Henry’s nanny. It’s an invitation that eventually enables her husband, with Jaime as his conflicted accomplice, to infiltrate her life.
Enter Lucy’s wise best friend Bea Middleton, who brings instinct and skepticism to the table. Her first sage observation comes early in the book: “I was afraid you might have let her into your life a little too fast. I still think that might be the case.”
Hinkin’s sixth Vega & Middleton story features deliberate parallels between Mark and real-life cult leader/mass murderer Charles Manson. Like Manson, Mark’s California-based cult “Eden’s Gate” is built around his personal charisma, manipulation and extreme interpretations of scripture. Like Manson, Mark is sexy and intense, commanding rapture-like devotion from his followers. He also exiles dangerous young men to reduce competition for the commune’s women. And believing Lucy’s ranch is the promised land (Manson also took over rural SoCal properties where his “family” lived), he’ll do anything to secure it. Hinkin’s depiction of Mark’s uncanny ability to exert control over his targets is not only fully believable, but also delivers significant suspense. The more Bea and others discover about Mark’s backstory, the more interesting the story gets.
Thematically, much of the book’s character development explores life outside the traditional nuclear family, which Hinkin does with her heroines as well as with her antagonists. All the book’s relationships are gloriously complicated. Partners thought to be monogamous are not. Half-siblings, adopted children and even murkier relationships (“sister cousin”) are the norm. This wonderfully messy cast of characters, and the secrets they keep, will keep readers on the edge of their seats from start to finish.
