This is a rather sad story about life in a very small community in the mountains of North Carolina. Many of the people there are taken in by a smooth talking preacher, who among other things, uses snake handling as part of his worship. The congregation just follows along blindly, not even stopping him when one of their members dies of a snake bite. Most of the story is told from the point of view of nine-year-old Jess, who can do nothing but watch as his family disintegrates in front of his eyes. Heartbreaking, dark, and really not much fun to read! (Not that there wasn\'t plenty to talk about--this book really got us going!)

This book captured me from the beginning! The idea of those "snake churches" seems so crazy and out there...yep, this book confirms it for me.