The Viper Within

Mills, Sam. 2008. The Viper Within. (Originally published in Great Britain in 2007 as The Boy Who Saved the World.)

Opening paragraph:

7:00 PM: Two Hours To Go...
In two hours' time I--and the rest of the Brotherhood--will kidnap a terrorist. Our code for this terrorist is SNAKE. By kidnapping SNAKE tonight, we the Brotherhood of the Religion of Hebetheus--will prevent a bomb from going off at St. Sebastian's Secondary School.

Our narrator is teen guy named Jon. (His story is told in first person.) And his story is an intense one. Let me warn you now, it won't be for everyone. Exceedingly well-written, it keeps you hooked from cover to cover. In fact, I would venture a guess that you could open the book to any page, begin reading any paragraph, and within a sentence or two be hooked. And you can't say that lightly. Not many books can make good on such a boast. But this is a rare book.

Snake is a girl, an Indian girl named Padma--a Hindu. And she stands accused by a small group of her peers--her classmates--of being a terrorist, of being a Muslim, of being against 'the West.' This group of guys--Jon, Jeremiah, Martyn, Chris, Thomas, and Raymond--are ready to be prosecutor, judge, and jury. To say much more would risk spoiling it for those brave enough to go where this one goes. But Sarah Miller got it right when she said the book was, "The Patron Saint of Butterflies' evil twin."







© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews