Awakening: A Novel

I'm about 100 or so pages into t his book, and I am going to seriously try to keep reading, primarily because I'm coming up short with another novel at this time, but so far this is a pretty terrible book!
OK, it's not truly terrible. It's just...well...I thought I was going to be reading a gothic horror novel about family secrets and sitting on the edge of my seat, and for 100 pages all I have read about is snakes. Different kinds of snakes. Where they are from. How lethal they are. Every new chapter I think "oh. maybe this will be the chapter we get to the good stuff." NOPE. More snakes. JUST snakes. Snakes in weird places. Snakes on babies. A man dies of a snakebite. But he was probably killed by someone. BUT still JUST SNAKE TALK.
I am sick to death of hearing about snakes. This book had promised a lot more than just snakes, and it it doesn't get more interesting shortlyI have a few more books on their way to me, and this will be put in the rubbish.

Why? Because she hates snakes, everything about snakes. And people who have the snake-squeamishness should probably stay away from "Awakening."
I have no problem with snakes, though, and really enjoyed this book. The snakes *are* a critical point of the plot, but they're not treated as anything evil. Bolton's story has more to do with old legends and deep country ways. As an American, I always enjoy reading books from the U.K because they're always ever-so-slightly foreign, in ways large and small.
The main character in "Awakening" is quite interesting in that she has let scarring drive her life in many ways. She keeps to herself and works with animals because, in her mind, they don't judge by appearances. Her story of coming to grips with her own inner self keeps the plot chugging along nicely.
All told, I really enjoyed this book. I read the three Bolton books I had at a rapid clip. The folklore really makes it special.

I have read all of S.J. Bolton's novels, and Awakening is my favorite of all her works. When I read the jacket blurb, I wasn't too sure about this novel as I'm not exactly a fan of snakes which play a prominent role in this story. However, I decided to go ahead and read the book given that I had enjoyed all of her other works.

The central character in this story is village vet Clara Benning, an almost thirty year old woman with a lovely voice, but who lives her life as a recluse in a small Dorset hamlet. Clara is disfigured on one side of her face, a result of a tragic accident whilst young, and this has resulted in her self-imposed isolation from people around her, preferring the company of animals instead.
Clara's quiet and unassuming lifestyle comes to an abrupt end when she is called to rescue a young baby from a snake - an adder. Then an elderly man in her village dies from snakebite, but Clara's suspicions are aroused when the post-mortem reveals that there was an unusually high amount of adder venom in the man's system, more than a typical snakebite would produce. The sleepy village suddenly experiences a high increase in snake sightings, with local homes inundated with the reptiles.

The circumstances force Clara into close contact with a senior police officer, Matt Hoare, and a TV personality/ herpetologist Sean North as they investigate the strange happenings. What initially appear to be random attacks turns out to have a suspicious and sinister pattern, and Clara, at great personal risk, takes it upon herself to solve the mystery.

I enjoyed reading about snake habits, and the different types of snakes. The author goes into some detail about these creatures without overwhelming the reader with tedious facts. The different settings around the village which serve as central locations for the story - the manor owned by millionaire businessman Clive Ventry; the abandoned, burned down church with the sinister history; and, the old Witcher house with its strange past all serve as atmospheric backdrops for this riveting suspense thriller.

Clara Benning is my favorite protagonist of all of Bolton's heroines. She is strong-willed and fiercely independent, yet suffers from self-esteem issues stemming from her facial disfigurement. Clara is a complex character (as are all of Bolton's protagonists) and it was interesting to see her character come out of her self-imposed shell over the course of the story. Then there's the sexual tension, barely suppressed between Clara and two of the male characters, i.e. North and Hoare. Clara senses something between her and these two men, yet her doubts about her physical appearance makes her retreat from them, even as she feels an attraction to these two men, both of whom play prominent roles in the story.

Awakening is a dark, Gothic mystery that will appeal to fans of atmospheric suspense stories. I would also recommend Bolton's other books (arranged here in order of publication):
[[ASIN:0312381867 Sacrifice]]
[[ASIN:0312381875 Awakening]]
[[ASIN:0312573553 Blood Harvest]]
[[ASIN:0312600526 Now You See Me]]

I have now read all 8 of Sharon Bolton’s books (a new one is due out the in the fall of 2016 and I have it pre-ordered). I find Bolton’s writing style which is mostly in the first person entertaining and page turning. Her first book SACRIFICE has just been made into a movie which unfortunately has gotten poor notices. This book AWAKENING received the Mary Higgins Clark award and is a very good read although I found it a bit long and unlike all of her other books it lacked a real sense of place. Normally Bolton has the location of the story almost become a character in the story. Not so much here.
Snakes… everywhere snakes, some deadly. Unlike a lot of crime fiction that features a police detective the lead character in AWAKENING, Clara Benning, is a Vet who was disfigured as a child leaving her distrustful of others in her English village. When an elderly villager is killed by a rare snake bite Clara is called in to offer her expert opinion which she does with the help of an eccentric neighbor who travels and hosts a wildlife documentary television show. All of a sudden the village is attacked by a swarm of snakes some very deadly and one of which is mostly found only in Australia. But Clara suspects the death (soon to be more deaths) was not caused by a snake bite as the amount of venom found in the victim’s body exceeds that which a snake could deliver. Like all of Bolton’s stories there are a lot of twists and turns in the plot and one major surprise which I felt Bolton really did not take full advantage of. I would have loved to have had the story go off more in this surprise direction. Yes, as it is it is rather easy to guess the perpetrator as you get towards the end but getting to the end is most of the fun. And you learn a lot about snakes along the way.
I simply loved the first 150 pages of this book and thought by the end I would be rateing it Bolton’s best. But it got a bit too long and the ending although quite good I found somewhat predictable.
So I am left giving a very positive recommendation to all of Bolton’s books with a note that I really liked her Lacey Flint detective series (especially A DARK AND TWISTED TIDE) and her last stand alone book, LITTLE BLACK LIES as her best.

I have read all of S.J. Bolton's novels, and Awakening is one of my favorites of all her works. When I read the jacket blurb, I wasn't too sure about this novel as I'm not exactly a fan of snakes which play a prominent role in this story. However, I decided to go ahead and read the book given that I had enjoyed all of her other works.

The central character in this story is village vet Clara Benning, an almost thirty year old woman with a lovely voice, but who lives her life as a recluse in a small Dorset hamlet. Clara is disfigured on one side of her face, a result of a tragic accident whilst young, and this has resulted in her self-imposed isolation from people around her, preferring the company of animals instead.

Clara's quiet and unassuming lifestyle comes to an abrupt end when she is called to rescue a young baby from a snake - an adder. Then an elderly man in her village dies from snakebite, but Clara's suspicions are aroused when the postmortem reveals that there was an unusually high amount of adder venom in the man's system, more than a typical snakebite would produce. The sleepy village suddenly experiences a high increase in snake sightings, with local homes inundated with the reptiles.

The circumstances force Clara into close contact with a senior police officer, Matt Hoare, and a TV personality/ herpetologist Sean North as they investigate the strange happenings. What initially appear to be random attacks turns out to have a suspicious and sinister pattern, and Clara, at great personal risk, takes it upon herself to solve the mystery.

I enjoyed reading about snake habits, and the different types of snakes. The author goes into some detail about these creatures without overwhelming the reader with tedious facts. The different settings around the village which serve as central locations for the story - the manor owned by millionaire businessman Clive Ventry; the abandoned, burned down church with the sinister history; and, the old Witcher house with its strange past all serve as atmospheric backdrops for this riveting suspense thriller.

Clara Benning is one of my favorite protagonists of all of Bolton's heroines (DC Lacey Flint being the other favorite). She is strong-willed and fiercely independent, yet suffers from self-esteem issues stemming from her facial disfigurement. Clara is a complex character (as are all of Bolton's protagonists) and it was interesting to see her character come out of her self-imposed shell over the course of the story. Then there's the sexual tension, barely suppressed between Clara and two of the male characters, i.e. North and Hoare. Clara senses something between her and these two men, yet her doubts about her physical appearance makes her retreat from them, even as she feels an attraction to these two men, both of whom play prominent roles in the story.

Awakening is a dark, Gothic mystery that will appeal to fans of atmospheric suspense stories.

Okay, you've got lots of choices for getting information about the story: Neo-Gothic, England, dreary, insecure female protagonist, oddball but solid male, murders, mystery, and, oh yes, did I mention snakes?

There is a lot that rings true in this spellbinder. For one thing, the "lady veterinarian" angle is (ahem) novel and well done. Her ability to show fear but NOT dive into hysteria makes her an interesting focal point to s story with a lot of roadsigns to nowhere. The male number 2 character is so much like a friend of mine that I was surprised that SJB had NOT known him before she wrote the book. He's lanky, wears jungle/safari clothes, loves New Guinea, LOVES Taipans (the snake villains), and even had his own TV show for several years.

I'm not a great fiction lover, in part, no doubt, because me time is spread so thin. But from the moment my wife handed me the book with those "gotcha" words, "you're gonna love this!" I was hooked. Oh, and this is NOT one of the books that I read and then pass along (the usual fate). This is a keeper and, Like Crichton's novel, "Jurassic Park", one I shall read again every few years.

Warning: Just because it isn't supernatural don't think the book isn't scary. Hell, SJ could raise the hair on a bald-headed man, so be warned!

Clara Benning is a twenty-something wildlife veterinarian living in a small village in Britain. An accident in her infancy left her with a disfiguring facial scar and a self-consciousness that steers clear of all avoidable social interaction, Now, all of a sudden, her village seems to be crawling with snakes--some of them venomous--like the adder a nearby mother found curled up with her sleeping infant. Earlier, another villager had died of a bite wound, but the autopsy showed far more adder venom in the man's system than any one adder could have produced. Garden snakes and adders suddenly seem to be invading other houses. Even worse, in one of them, a taipan--the world's most poisonous snake, from halfway around the globe---turns up. The death count mounts. And Clara, the virtual recluse, finds herself being called upon for her expertise by neighbors and the medical community, while the police are looking at that same expertise and seeing a prime suspect. And so begins one of the scariest, cleverly conceived, best written and un-put-downable nail biters I've ever read.

If you like this one I'm sure you'll like S. J. Bolton's two Lacey Flint/Mark Joesbury detective novels "Now You See Me" and "Dead Scared" (which are best read in that order, as it helps to know some of the back story from the first to best enjoy the second.)

This is definitely my kind of book. Thick, slowly unraveling, smooth and painless way of learning something new. I am not a herpetologist, so snakes are not my forte. "Awakening" is a gothic, old-fashioned (in a good sense) thriller. There is a dark, well drawn world of English inbred village communities, a generous sprinkle of madness caused by maniacal, religious fundamentalism and a lot of snakes. Original stand-alone novel showing S. J. Bolton to be in her prime, continuing the great tradition of British mystery writing.

An English village is infested with snakes; a young vet, scarred by a childhood accident, is drawn into the dilemma. Past secrets, ancient rituals, hold the key to what is happening now. Bolton's descriptions and creepy twists kept me engaged, and I learned a lot about snakes! I liked that her heroine was disfigured, and not the perfectly beautiful leading lady of most novels.

I could not put it down. Read it straight through. Jaw-dropping Awesome.