The Serpent

by David Wiltse

A CRIME OF RAGE

By day, he was a pleasant man, someone you might know. By night, he was Tom-Tom, a creature darkness set free to kill. Pretty pregnant women drove Tom-Tom murderously mad.

A CRIME OF PASSION

He attacked in anger: a beautiful actress mutilated, a young nurse savagely beaten, a teenage girl crucified. But he shouted in ecstasy as they died.

A CRIME OF MADNESS

Sandy Block, tough New York homicide cop, vowed to find the crazed killer. But time was against him. For someone was out there in the shadows, stalking his newly pregnant wife. And as the hot summer sun set with a sinister hiss, the evil sidled closer, smiling, serpentine, ready to strike—again.

Genres: Horror, Thriller, Mystery

274 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1984

About the author

David Wiltse was born in 1940 in Lincoln, Nebraska. He graduated from the University of Nebraska and currently lives in a small town in Connecticut. He has written plays for stage, screen and television and won a Drama Desk award for most promising playwright for Suggs (first produced at Lincoln Center in 1972). Always popular with Bookhaunts readers, his novels include the John Becker Novels and Billy Tree/Falls City Novels.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent horror/thriller by Wiltse, and one graced with an awesome cover embossed to look and feel like snake scales; apt given the title. The Serpent starts with a hair-raising tale set in backwoods Tennessee, where a young boy, Thomas, lives with his extreme Pentecostal mother. While only in her 20s, she has given many births 'for the lord' already and leads a Pentecost revival church replete with snakes in the service. Thomas, age 7 or, has to take care of the snakes, feeding them one mouse apiece each week; the congregation brings them, or maybe frogs. His mother beats Thomas all the time ('the boy is filled with sin!)...

Flash forward 35 years or so to 1983 to NYC and the real story begins. Our main protagonist, Sheila, just married a cop named Sandy. Sandy works homicide (of course!) and after only three days of honeymoon, Sandy gets called back; there seems to be some psycho running around killing pregnant women! The psycho leaves little childish messages about 'Tom-tom' scrawled at the scenes of his crime. Obviously, our little snake boy has made it to the city; he seems to equate pregnant women with his mother...

Wiltse paces this well and tosses in the obligatory twists, but I could see through most of them pretty easily. In fact, I found this a little boring in places, and you really should not be bored with a thriller. 2.5 snaky stars, rounding up for the killer cover.

[Leon Samborski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written but wasn’t crazy about the quick ending. This book asks the question: do we really ever know anyone?

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it! I hadn't read this one before and I'm so glad I finally found a copy. It's one of his early books, and that kinda shows in the writing, however David Wilste at his worst (and this most certainly is NOT!) is better than most authors at their best!

If you like a good thriller, this one is definitely worth reading.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book many years ago (early 80's), so I can not give an accurate review. I have it listed in my records as a "very good" read. In my early teen years I read mostly horror books.

[Andrew Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Published in 1983. I love Wiltse's books. Story starts with snakes and ends with snakes and with a surprise ending. Great story.

[Scott Munroe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, but it's out of print