T. Kingfisher has carved out a distinctive niche in contemporary horror-fantasy, and Snake-Eater demonstrates exactly why readers keep returning to her peculiar, unsettling worlds. This latest offering plunges us into the Sonoran Desert, where ancient spirits walk alongside struggling humans, and where a woman fleeing one nightmare discovers an entirely different kind of terror waiting in the sand. Selena arrives in the isolated town of Quartz Creek with twenty-seven dollars, a black Lab named Copper, and the desperate hope that her estranged Aunt Amelia might offer sanctuary from an unhappy relationship. Instead, she discovers that Amelia is dead, leaving behind a charming desert house, a thriving garden, and some very unusual neighbors—both human and decidedly not. What begins as a temporary refuge becomes something far more complicated when Selena inadvertently accepts “courtship gifts” from Snake-Eater, a roadrunner god who once loved her aunt and now believes Selena owes him a debt. The Weight of Not Knowing the Rules Where Kingfisher truly excels is in capturing the visceral anxiety of navigating unfamiliar social terrain. Selena’s constant …