The hero, or rather protagonist, of “When the Serpent Bites” is Frederick Starks. Starks is no hero, which should be made clear up front. He is a man who scrapped his way from the bottom to rule over his own successful business empire. Starks worked hard to provide for his wife and his new family, but he might not have always done so the right way. It is important to know Starks is not a perfect father or husband, or a moral businessman. Take note, he is a driven man.

Case in point, the story starts off with Starks succumbing to a deeply rooted rage and confronting the man his wife had an affair with, one of many it should also be noted. In an escalating fight, he winds up blindly beating the man into a coma. Starks is swiftly arrested, sent to jail, put on trial, and sentenced to a lengthy prison stay. There is when the story really shines and turns into a real page-turner. Starks confronts psychological demons in prison therapy and solitary while scrambling to avoid a nearly certain death at the hands of an infuriated inmate. Flashbacks help to sketch in details off Starks’s past and his roller-coaster relationship with his wife. While battling ruthless inmates, Starks formulates a plan to protect himself and his allies. As the story proceeds, Starks also meets with friends and enemies and learns the truth of how he wound up in prison with an unfaithful wife and a bleak future.

“When the Serpent Bites” is a fascinating read. Starks is no sympathetic character. In fact Clerge excels at revealing over the course of Starks’s prison stay. While he works to provide for his family, Starks cheats and lies. When he catches his wife doing the same thing, a rage begins to simmer. One that will eventually boil over and lead to his incarceration. The writing is engaging and fairly well polished. The biggest issue is the story is incomplete. Not only does the novel end on a cliffhanger, it doesn’t really provide closure. Starks begins a lengthy prison sentence and the story ends less than a year into that sentence. However, this character orientated drama benefits from a fully fleshed out protagonist, gritty writing, and psychological insight into a realistic psyche. The obvious sequel has a high bar to surpass, but “When the Serpent Bites” is a fantastic read for legal buffs, crime lovers, and readers who love a great story.