 Dave, his elder sister Regina and their parents head to Cancun, Mexico, for a much-anticipated week-long holiday during the Christmas vacation of 1986. Having never travelled anywhere of any significance, except for Disneyland, eighteen-year-old Dave is looking forward to practicing his Spanish, hanging out with his outgoing sister, exploring Mayan ruins and perhaps even striking lucky with a holiday romance. Over 105 strange, but oddly captivating pages, Dave does indeed manage to tick all four boxes in a story which is heavy in ambiguity, symbolism with plenty of nods to Mexican and Mayan mythology and culture. Many years ago, I had my honeymoon in Cancun and was curious whether I would recognise much of Daniel Braum’s vision of the holiday resort which was quite literally hacked out of the Mexican jungle in the early 1970s and has continued to expand ever since. Of course, Mexicans have always lived there and one of the undercurrents of the novella which worked particularly well was the underlying threat that once you wander away from the tourist routes everything becomes just a little bit edgier. Americans were tolerated by the locals, and Dave is probably a fairly typical and naïve tourist, but there remains a level of hostility which permeates through the pages. The story is narrated by Dave, in the first person, who sneaks out with his sister to hit the nightclubs after a good time and some excitement. Even though they both speak some Spanish the locals are not particularly friendly, but things soon look up when they meet the gorgeous Anne Marie. Dave is completely besotted by this beautiful young woman whom goes to university close to where he lives in New York but has a mother who comes from Guatemala. They chat, hang out, party and get on great. Over the next couple of days, they smoke dope, have moments together on the beach and, although Anne Marie is a real free spirit, they get closer. Despite his infatuation, his sister does not take to Regina and warns him to keep his guard up. The novella had a weirdly oppressive atmosphere which was very effective, vaguely giving the vibe that the Americans were not welcome or were intruding on something which was not their business. It reminded me slightly of Ramsey Campbell’s recent Thirteen Days by Sunset Beach in which a British family end up on a Greek island where the locals are particularly unfriendly or harbouring secrets. Other scenes were very jarring and showed the darkness which lurked slightly behind the scenes, for example, Dave and Anne Marie are about to go horse riding and discover a dead man in amongst the horses. The owner downplays this, but it ruins Dave’s day, as he cannot understand why the police have not been called and it makes him very uncomfortable. For the most part the underlying atmosphere works very well and you can never be entirely sure whether this is Dave’s imagination or not. The ambiguity successfully extends to whether Dave is an unreliable narrator or not, as the story is only seen told from his point of view, readers may ask questions. His parents do not feature much in the story and as it develops the plot is built around the charismatic character of Anne Marie and Dave’s chase for her. He has also been taking a Meso American class at college and is open to her psychobabble which brings both Mexican/Meyan folklore and culture into the story. What is real and what is imaginary when Dave and Anne Marie wander upon a Mayan ceremony off the beaten track? It’s hard to tell and this was one of the strengths of the story as the gullible young American is putty in Anne Marie’s hands. The Serpent’s Shadow came in at a good length, balancing a plot which set the scene well with the second stanza in which Dave is truly under the thrall of Anne Marie. The part of the story concerned with the mythology/folk history was cleverly integrated into the story and had me searching Wikipedia to see whether it was based on a true cultural Mexican movement. On another level the novella implies that the growth of tourism is potentially killing the ancient Mayan culture which lurks out of sight of most American visitors, on the other hand, there are few other jobs and so this is a two-edged sword. Even though Dave speaks Spanish and has a genuine interest in the culture, when he interacts with the locals often they switch to the Mayan language and it is clear the Americans are disliked or tolerated by the guides and taxi-drivers. I recall the famous Mayan pyramids to be several hours drive from Cancun, at Chichen itza, I hope there was not a closer example lurking in the forests which the locals had kept hidden. However, more likely, Daniel Braum made this location up for the sake of the story. One thing which was missing from the story was thee famous ‘Montezuma's Revenge’ or ‘The Montezuma Two Step’ the dreaded food poisoning everybody gets when they visit Mexico! The honeymoon bout I was afflicted with was so bad I was hallucinating with visions so vivid easily have found myself amongst the pages of this novella! Overall The Serpent’s Shadow was a very creative and imaginative story which incapsulated what it meant to be young, in lust, and to be led down a path where the flow may hold unseen dangers or consequences. You’re open to experimentation, free to try new things, but darkness lurks in the shadows for those who are careless and treat local traditions and cultures lightly. Or maybe you just need to be wary of very good attractive girls who want to show you their pyramids! 4/5 Tony Jones    Comments are closed.
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