ARE SNAKES NECESSARY? defies easy classification, and that is a good thing. It begins as a political thriller, then morphs into a noir caper before changing lanes and merging into the breakdown lane. It is full of surprises with a couple of predictable elements thrown in just to keep the reader comfortable before a twist or two throws everything upside down. In other words, I loved every page of it.

You already know who Brian De Palma is. Susan Lehman is a former newspaper editor and a critically acclaimed author of several magazine feature stories and articles. ARE SNAKES NECESSARY? is the first book for both of them and is a surprisingly smooth collaboration, presenting a cinematic flow and rapid-fire narration. It is also wonderfully odd, given that it takes place very much in the now (or the recent now), yet would not seem out of place on one of those drugstore paperback revolving wire racks, as you would expect from a book bearing the Hard Case Crime imprint.

"ARE SNAKES NECESSARY? is controlled chaos. It’s fun, startling, funny in spots and not so funny in others.... This is a quick, smart read that will leave you wanting more from this collaborative writing team."

Things jump off quickly here with the introduction of Barton Brock, a cheerfully ruthless political fixer, and a beautiful young woman named Elizabeth deCarlo, who is underemployed as a McDonald’s counter girl. It isn’t long at all before Barton takes Elizabeth away from all of that. A double-cross ensues, and then another. When the dust settles and the smoke clears, Barton is working for the re-election campaign of Lee Rogers, a U.S. Senator with a seriously ill wife and a libido that he tries to control, though not too strenuously. The Senator is at an airport when he happens to run into Jenny Cours, an old flame from a couple of decades before, and her daughter Fanny, a quietly fetching 18-year-old with the lofty twin goals of becoming a videographer and working as an intern for Rogers. She achieves both, notwithstanding Barton’s misgivings, which he expresses frequently and forcefully but to no avail.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth has moved up in the world from taking orders at McDonald’s to marrying a Las Vegas casino tycoon. But she gets bored easily, and in short order becomes involved with a photographer who has good ideas that don’t translate into a great product. Things get a bit hairy, and then Elizabeth disappears.

Back in Washington, D.C., there are revelations, an accidental death, a murder, and all sorts of things leading up to a grand climax or two in yet another locale before everything ends in a finale that reminded me of the conclusion of the film Chinatown in spirit, though certainly not in form.

ARE SNAKES NECESSARY? is controlled chaos. It’s fun, startling, funny in spots and not so funny in others. It's not surprising that one can easily see what occurs on the printed page as a movie, moving frame by frame across the reader’s mind. And the title? You will wonder where it came from as you read the book, but all is eventually made clear. This is a quick, smart read that will leave you wanting more from this collaborative writing team.