The Viper Within-Sam Mills

The Viper Within
Sam Mills
Knopf, Jun 2008, $16.99
ISBN: 9780375844652

Charismatic high school student Jeremiah forms the religious sect Brotherhood of the Hebetheus. He quickly gains a following amongst his peers including Jon who has lost his childhood faith. Jeremiah insists he overheard student Padma plans to place a bomb in her locker so she must be stopped. Seeing glory in preventing a catastrophe as their leader convinced his flock she is a suicide bomber sent by a local Muslim cell, his disciples abduct Padma.

The brethren call Padma “Snake” for obvious reasons. They incarcerate her in the home of an elderly woman lying dead in her bed. Jon has doubts with what they did especially as he is attracted to their prisoner. Confusing matters worse for the jailers is her insistence she is Hindu not Muslim, which brings the issue of Jeremiah’s fallibility to the surface.

THE VIPER WITHIN is a fascinating tale that focuses on how a seemingly nut case can charismatically charm others to follow their path; think of Waco or Manson. Jeremiah makes the tale interesting as he gains followers who do his bidding even when they believe it is wrong like the abduction of Padma. Her pleas of innocence and being Hindi is believed by some of the flock, but most still believe even more in Jeremiah. Although Jon’s actions and reactions seem apparent from the onset, especially his falling for the prisoner in a reverse Stockholm Syndrome scenario, young adult readers will enjoy this cautionary thriller that proclaims (perhaps too much) it could happen to almost anyone. Ironically most of the audience will insist this could not happen to me as the Brotherhood is obviously made up of dolts and losers.

Harriet Klausner