SEASON OF THE SNAKE

Herpetologist Nance Able, specializing in Pacific rattlesnakes, lives quietly with Ned, an elementary school principal. She travels up the Snake River, moving back 200-300 geologic years, to the depths of Hell’s Canyon to document rattlesnake den attrition rates. Hillary Huber’s narration is lyrical enough to be set to music. When Nance is deep inside a den, holding a sleeping snake, gently stroking its underbelly with thousands of vipers intertwined at her feet, Huber’s use of tone, inflection, and pacing makes breathing nearly impossible. Her haunting voice readies us for the fact that not all lethal creatures lurk in dens as the plot reveals when problems old and new crop up between Nance and her sister, as well as between Nance and her husband. K.A.T. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 05]