Snake Island is a dark story by Aussie author, Ben Hobson. Set in rural Victoria, this story follows Vernon Moore and the struggles he faces with his imprisoned son, Caleb. This violent thriller full of many unlikable characters had me hooked! Thanks to NetGalley for my ARC.

Synopsis/blurb....

For fans of Cormac McCarthy, Phillip Meyer, Fargo, and Justified, a gritty rural noir thriller about family, drugs, and the legacy of violence.

In an isolated town on the coast of southern Australia, Vernon Moore and his wife, Penelope, live in retirement, haunted by an unspeakable act of violence that sent their son, Caleb, to serve time in prison and has driven the couple apart. Ashamed, they refuse to talk about him or visit, but when a close friend warns Vernon that Caleb has been savagely beaten, he has no choice but to act to protect their only child.

The perpetrator of the beating is a local thug from a crime family whose patriarch holds sway over the town, with the police in his pay. Everyone knows they trade in drugs. When Vernon maneuvers to negotiate a deal with the father, he makes a critical error. His mistake unleashes a cycle of violence that escalates to engulf the whole town, taking lives with it, revealing what has been hiding in plain sight in this picturesque rural community and threatening to overtake his son.

Told from shifting perspectives at a sprint, in language that sometimes approaches the simple profundity of parable, this gritty debut was hailed on its Australian publication as “a darkly illuminating thriller that soars across genre constraints . . . [and] engages with pressing contemporary issues while exploring timeless questions. Hobson writes as if his life depends on it” (The Australian).
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My take...

Snake Island is one I've been wanting to read for a while, ever since it popped up on my radar at some point last year. Luckily enough it appeared on both Net Galley and Edelweiss - Above the Treeline early reviewer sites. In my excitement I got access to it via both mediums. Fair to say it didn't disappoint.

Small town, isolated Australian setting, a fractured family, a compromised police chief in thrall to the local criminal element who grow and harvest Mary Jane, a beat down in the local prison, and the subsequent violent fall out with some big city dealers coming to town and making waves.

It's a busy book with lots happening and one event providing, the impetus and stimulus for everything that follows ..... desperation, guilt, poor choices and the opportunity for many of the cast of characters to reflect on their complicity and errant behaviour, even if they mostly lack the will to change it.

From the get-go I was sucked into this one. It's an unsettling tale of domestic strife, which then escalates and affects the wider community. The Moore's are still struggling to cope individually with the shock of their son's past violence towards his wife. Caleb is in an open prison and since his trial and incarceration has been ignored and all but disowned by his parents, Vernon and Penelope. It almost seems as if the decision to cut ties with their son have been arrived at separately, as there is little meaningful communication between the pair as a couple.

I liked the portrayal of the family, even as my sympathies rested with Vernon and the lack of empathy his wife displayed towards him, seeming to offer him up as an object of ridicule to her friends. Vernon decides to protect his son, a victim of one of the drug dealing Cahill's fists and feet, whilst ensconced in the seeming safety of the local prison. The Cahill's reputation and domination of the locals extends to the prison authorities and the local police chief, though on this occasion, it is Brendan one of the sons, acting unilaterally.

The Cahill's themselves have an intriguing dynamic - Ernie, the dominating father ruling the roost, with his wife and two sons, Brendan and Sidney. Brendan is a chip off the old block, while Sidney the weaker of the two siblings, longs to escape the ties of his family and the local area and make a fresh life for himself with his young family.

Vernon attempts to reason with Ernie, father to father for Brendan to lay off Caleb. A reasonable request, but when have the Cahills ever listened to reason? What follows is incendiary.

Great setting, great characters, fantastic story, intriguingly presented with different characters offering their voice in alternating chapters. All topped off by a brilliant finale. I look forward to seeing what Ben Hobson dishes up next.

5 from 5

Read - November, 2020
Published - 2019
Page count - 226
Source - review copy Net Gallay and Edelweiss - Above the Treeline
Format - ePUB read on laptop


http://col2910.blogspot.com/2020/11/ben-hobson-snake-island-2019.html

Violence, beatings bad people, dilemmas, bad choices, moral disfunction ...all up my alley.
Descriptive writing brings you in, characters have you staying to the end. Fast read.

Opening with a pelican injured on the beach, this story of families, their history and choices which create turmoil and unintended consequences is revealed. Each chapter is voiced by a different character as the action unfolds of life and events in a rural Australian setting. Whilst some readers may see echoes of an aussie style western, ‘Snake Island’ is a much more nuanced study of life. It is gritty, but the violence is contextualised in the saga of fathers, families and what it means to be your true self in times of struggle and the unforeseen consequences of decisions. A most welcome addition to aussie crime mystery genre, with its vivid characters, multifaceted relationships leading to dark places and stark outcomes. A brilliant read and five stars.

i really enjoyed the mystery in this book, the characters were great and I really enjoyed going down the rabbit hole with them.

Caleb is serving time for beating his wife. His parents, Vernon and Penelope, have turned their backs to him but he lingers in their minds. When Vernon learns that Brendan Cahill has managed to get into the prison and beat Caleb, he decides he can stop the violence from escalating by coming to some sort of agreement with Brendan's father Ernie, a crime boss. Not so easy. This is a dark novel of people with regrets. The characters, including Brendan's brother, are well drawn, and, frankly, relatable despite their actions (trust me, there's more humanity than it appears at the outset.). It's well written, carefully placed, and just a bit twisty. You get everyone's perspective in one way or another. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. A very good read and a nice introduction to an Australian author with great potential.

I'm not sure what to make of this novel. It was fast paced and had a reasonable story-line but the characters all seem to be sociopaths including the good guys. It hankers back to the Hatfield's and the McCoy's and their blood feud...yet it ticked every single box. A well thought out story with a smashing denouement I didn't see coming. Every character is fleshed out so well and vivid I still think of them even though I've finished the book.

The book has the kind of beautiful, yummy prose where you repeat sentences to yourself because they are just so damn perfect. It is written with a gritty, hammer-hard-edge throughout The author has constructed the story line well and provides good and vivid descriptions and believable action. I felt like I was there in Australia with the characters and I really enjoyed the ride.

Should you condemn or forgive a family member that did something wrong? Help him to become a better person? Is it fair to condemn him when you weren’t a saint in your past either?

As Reverend Kelly says, the worst thing about good and evil existing is that your actions have consequences. Even though it turns out wrong, many people just try to do good, like protecting their kids. The story in Snake Island goes from bad to worse. But what else can they do when rationality is gone and you'd try anything for those you love? In the end, everybody feels powerless.

It is a raw narrative, with voices befitting their social place in society. In Snake Island, you read about remorse, doubts, and admitting and accepting one's flaws. Ben Hobson wrote a very human story.

Every single character is trying to figure out how to be in a relationship or marriage. They view the role of husband and wife differently. Some are harsh, others are soft. Even within one family, the personalities are different. Yet what they have in common is their love and sacrifices for their kids. Even if they don't always like the people they came to be.

Snake Island stands for the safe harbor: a place where you can escape your family for a while. Some go to friends for that, others, like Vernon and Sidney, go to Snake Island. But should they see this as abandonment or refuge that is necessary to keep on going? 

In the first part of the book, every chapter introduces a new character. It takes some effort but soon you will know them all including their relationships with the other characters. The use of many POVs usually annoys me, but in Snake Island it felt very natural. I was fine continuing as whoever Ben Hobson wrote about next. The writing style supports the smalltown setting. It resembles spoken language a lot, but it reads easily.

Snake Island is a solid and immersive story about flawed human beings. You can’t always choose your family, nor find a way out. Deserves to be read!

Snake Island is a superb literary thriller that explores father-son relationships, family loyalties, violence, and retribution. It is a rich, powerful tale in a stark rural setting, threaded with issues of domestic violence, vengeance, masculinity, and frontier justice. Modern noir with Western sensibilities, from a masterful writer.

Fans of the great ‘grit lit’ tales set in the American South and Southwest, or Shakespearean tragedy, will find plenty to love in this confronting novel as it builds from high simmer to blood-soaked finale.

What would it take for you to turn your back on a family member?

For Vernon and Penelope Moore, when their son Caleb brutally assaults his wife, leaving her disfigured, they disown him. Leaving him to rot in jail until Vernon’s friend reports that Caleb is being regularly bashed by a local crime bosses son.

What follows is a string of actions that show how much Vernon still loves his son.

Snake Island is a crime novel that is full of harsh truths. A contemplative story that challenges your view on consequences, family, and God. I enjoyed the various points of view, how Ben’s writing is always in scene with just the right amount of action and setting, and that each character has the perfect amount of light and shade.

A very engaging and moody book.

Thank you to @netgalley and @skyhorsepub for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was moved by the emotion, entranced by the prose, and glued to the action!

Ben Hobson’s second novel, Snake Island is a four-star read ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️ It is available now, and is due to be published in a hardcover edition on the 20th of October 2020.

This is a very accomplished novel and only the second by this author. Although I found parts of it clunky it was a a grim look at violence in many forms and the effects and legacy that ensues.
Vernon and Penelope’s son Caleb is in prison for beating his wife one too many times. They have washed their hands of him and don’t ever visit.
When the local reverend calls and tell Vernon that his son is being beaten in prison and the warden is turning a blind eye, Vernon must decided whether to take matters into his own hands. This means talking t9 the Cahills, a family known for its violent behaviour. Each encounter leads to more violent results and there are few people in the town that are not flawed.

Snake Island is a gritty, tense page turner where there are no true good guys, just some bad guys that are less worse than the others.

Mr. Hobson keeps you on the edge of your seat and things spiral out of control for the various characters who populate the small coastal Australian town of Newbury. An incarcerated wife beater, his emotionally distant parents, a family of drug dealers, a cop on the take and two big city killers ... I didn't like any of them but sure did care what happened to them.

This one gets 5 stars from me, it was everything a thriller should be. It started slow, built the tension until it was at a fevered pitch and ended with a bang. (literally)

4.5★s
Snake Island is the second novel by Australian teacher and author, Ben Hobson. When his old friend, Reverend William Kelly brings news of his son’s condition, Vernon Moore realises his callous attitude has been remiss. Caleb was convicted and imprisoned for domestic violence, and Vernon and his wife, Penelope cut off all contact: they couldn’t forgive him for this behaviour.

But jail time is one thing; being regularly beaten up with the tacit approval of the prison governor? That is another thing entirely. Vernon has to do something. His (perhaps rather naïve) solution is to calmly appeal to the father of the man meting out this punishment. Brendan Cahill has decided the formal punishment administered by the law is insufficient, and he will give Caleb what he really deserves for hurting his friend, Melissa.

But his father, Ernie Cahill is a hard man who has turned from sheep farming to hydroponic pot growing and who deals with some ruthless Melbourne types to sell his product. He has the local cops in his pocket and, understandably, keeps a low profile locally. That first encounter with Vernon does not go well. And from there on, things go rapidly downhill. Vernon initially has little idea what he has brought down on his family and close friends.

The plot crashes along like a train wreck, each act compounding those before it while the reader follows, enthralled, to the tragic climax. A collision with a roo, fists and boots and a cricket bat, and arson all contribute to the (not inconsiderable) toll of injuries while quite a lot of shooting sees a high body count by the final pages. This is not a gentle book.

With his evocative descriptive prose, Hobson easily captures the era and the feel of country-town Victoria. His characters are multi-faceted and believably flawed. Their dialogue is authentic. Some make poor decisions when faced with moral choices, while others display a fierce loyalty that pays a terrible dividend. Several whose actions have been governed by fear or material gain find a conscience and draw a line under their corrupt behaviour.

For all that, most are characters of some integrity who keenly feel their guilt and grief and remorse, who love their families in their own ways, even if their actions sometimes seem to belie that. The strength of this rural crime thriller is in the depth of these characters and their interactions. This is a powerful follow up from a talented author.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing