I found this book devistating in its indictment of British racism and in the petty quarrels of an uneasy street of neighbors. She takes on all comers, including her husband, the violent and bigoted policeman who headed the investigation, the petty criminals and neighborhood bullies who made Annie's life a living hell, and the neighbors whose dirty little secrets kept them from telling the truth at the time and had held them all prisoner since. An engaging and thought provoking novel, with more than one story being told. Venomous snakes have a wide head -almost triangular- and a thin neck. Identify the Deadliest Snakes in the World in Australia Beware of the Fierce Snake. The shape of snakes by Minette Walters, 2001, G.P. Ranelagh has never stopped thinking about the dead body she found in the gutter twenty years ago, during Britain’s Winter of Discontent. The story won Denmark's Pelle Rosencrantz Award. Snakes Limited 7 I like to think I don't view the world around me with naivety or idealized warmth but the characters in this book seem to me to be... just questionable. It will take 20 years for the woman who found her to shape her neighbors' racism, the indifference of the police, and her own rage into the truth. This item: The Shape of Snakes (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) by Minette Walters Paperback $13.95 The Ranelaghs moves away but she never forgets Annie. Snakes are entirely covered with scales or scutes of various shapes and sizes, known as snakeskin as a whole. $4.35. She followed this with The Sculptress (1993), which received the 1994 Edgar Award for Best Novel. Most of the snake’s heads are broader than their bodies, but when a snake is venomous, it is pronounced, because of the venom sacks it holds. Still, I did finish it, though I'm beginning to realise there are not many crime novels I like. Recommended to anyone who loves a mystery. Head Shape. . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. AbeBooks.com: The Shape of Snakes (9780399147333) by Walters, Minette and a great selection of similar New, Used and Collectible Books available now at great prices. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published The Shape of Snakes: Amazon.co.uk: Minette Walters: 9781447207986: Books The Shape of Snakes (2000) is a crime novel by English writer Minette Walters. Second, it was so jam full of deceit and manipulation and resentment and desire for revenge that it left a bad taste in my mouth. A testament to the power of one decent human being standing up for someone no longer able to stand up for herself. Twenty years later, she returns to find justice for Annie, and a certain measure of revenge on the people who turned their back on a sordid state of affairs. Be the first to ask a question about The Shape of Snakes. To a terrible idea that may be abandoned at any moment. I always find this writer both gripping and difficult. Not half as good as the corker I finished recently! A black woman, Annie, dies under suspicious circumstances in the working class London neighborhood where she lived. Characters are unpleasant, but it was interesting to follow how a woman, still obsessed after 20 years, with the death of a black woman with Tourette's goes about finding the murderer, through sheer doggedness and persistence. Buy The Shape of Snakes by online on Amazon.ae at best prices. This is the fifth book by Minette Walters that I have read, although not in the order that she wrote them. Definitely recommended. Basically, I was sulking about Walters' departure from her winning formula of bog standard yet beautifully crafted crime story telling. The ensuing investigation resulted in the death being ruled accidental and the woman who found the dying woman labeled hysterical because of her insistence that foul play had been involved. This article about a crime novel of the 2000s is a stub. She has been published in 35 countries and won many awards. This book wore me out. Mad Annie suffers from Tourette’s Syndrome, her neighbors lack sympathy, they find her verbal outbursts and ticks annoying. About The Shape of Snakes A psychological thriller about race, family, and the brutal power of raw emotion.Mrs. I tried to read this years ago and abandoned it because at the time I didn't appreciate the format of the narrative, which is in equal proportions straight forward prose and 'documents' (police statements, doctor's notes, affidavits etc). THE SHAPE OF SNAKES is a superb mystery that centers on the characters who feel very genuine in 1978 and two decades later. She refuses to believe Mad Annie met with an unfortunate accident, when she starts objectin. . I finished the book but it is quite forgettable. I would tell anyone who likes a good story to read this book! Snakes, like other reptiles, have skin covered in scales. Some surprising twists. I hope this was just a fluke a. Shapes 2. Difficult because I am not someone who can handle graphic violence (it gives me nightmares), gripping because she writes in such a wonderful psychologically true style-I know, I am a therapist by vocation. A dark look at racial prejudice and class warfare in modern England. Ghastly animal cruelty turned my stomach. Its always amazing to me how one event becomes firmly engrained in our mind and over decades remains there like a perpetual itch that happens when we least expect it. Don't get me wrong, I get it, this happens and people can be horrible, but you can't build a world or a (worth-while) story out of this one idea/perception alone. Buy The Shape of Snakes by Minette Walters from Amazon's Fiction Books Store. November 1978. It's about hatred, racism vengeance and people who can never forgive, forget or move on. AKA the Inland … Ms Walters writes as fine a police procedural as anyone I have encountered. The head of a venomous snake is in the shape of a triangle, and it is pretty wide, in proportion to the width of the snake’s body. Twenty years have passed, it is time for justice. The characters are all unpleasant, the story quite slow, and the constant hints that you can't quite trust the narrator are a bit annoying. The Shape of Snakes by Minette Walters has twists and turns to keep the pages turning. As it progresses, the characters take shape and the mystery becomes increasingly complex with a good many twists and surprises before the final pieces are in place. and for her persistence she has paid with social, mental and marital upheavals, having had to spend the past couple of decades abroad. Using her unrivalled talent for characterisation, Walters examines the ease with which we accept the public persona as an accurate representation of the true nature of an individual. Good condition. This was a great book, really captivating. Her methods and painstaking research are as good as any official investigator, and maybe better since she only has one case. Another terrific page-turner from my new favorite crime-story author. If you are already a fan of the dark and twisted books of Minette Walters, then there’s nothing more I need to tell you than that she has a new book, The Cellar out. Get it by Wed, Sep 2 - Thu, Sep 3 from Toledo, Ohio • Good condition • 60 day returns - Free returns; Hardcover in Good condition They are not actual photos of the physical item for sale and should not be relied upon as a basis for edition or condition. Ranelagh has never stopped thinking about the dead body she found in the gutter twenty years ago, during Britain’s Winter of Discontent. It was to make herself feel better and to help her work out her revenge for past wrongs against her. This is a dark disturbing mystery with a complex challenging plot. The truth behind the death of "Mad Annie" is incrementally revealed through correspondence and by the dogged persistence of her neighbor. Two very different women are united in the moment that one dies, leading the other to spend twenty painstaking years trying to uncover the truth about what she believes was a murder, in this new novel from Edgar Award-winning, bestselling author Minette Walters. ‎A psychological thriller about race, family, and the brutal power of raw emotion.Mrs. Minette Walters' use of various memos, news clippings, and letters in addition to the experience of a primary character to augment our understanding of this crime is amazingly engaging and effective. Part murder mystery, part scathing social commentary, the novel will draw readers in at the same time it may confound them. Even the narrator's reason for working so hard to solve a twenty-years-ago murder, which wasn't revealed till the end of the book, didn't feel like it was for "good". “Mad Annie,” as she … The title refers to that fact that, deliciously, all through the telling of this longish and complex tale, the shape of this history's plot (i.e., what we think was the real story behind Mad Annie's death) is, like that of a snake, constantly changing as we discover more and more about the characters involved, being put in the position of frequently having to reevaluate them as we uncover further details of their nature and past behaviour. Hmm...Apparently, I read this book already, back in 2009 (Thank you, goodreads for keeping track :). Annie, an black woman with Tourette's syndrome who lives alone and is shunned by her racist neighbours, is found dying in the street where she lives in South London during the Winter of Discontent. And, it is probably the last one of hers I'll read--at least for a while. This is a beautifully told story, with strong characterization, impeccable pacing, and a powerful narrative drive. The Shape of Snakes (2000) is a crime novel by English writer Minette Walters. The teacher who tells the story is a strong intelligent woman. . But now she's back, and she wants to extract justice for Mad Annie by, despite the fierce hostility of others involved, raking over the near-dead coals of the case and bringing uncomfortable truths to light. An ambitiously structured who- and whydunnit, narrated by a woman, Mrs Ranelagh, who, in 1978, found a neighbour dying in the rainsoaked gutter in front of her house, its succeeds magnificently at almost every level. 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