The Snake and the Spider

Florida. Spring Break.

Words that evoke excited anticipation for young adults . . . and extreme angst for their parents. But the parents of best friends Daryl Barber and James Boucher were confident their sons could be trusted to spend a week in the sun without them. As they all waved goodbye, no one imagined it would be the last time they’d see each other alive.

When the boys missed their agreed-upon daily check-ins, both sets of parents were disappointed. When the boys failed to come home on their planned return date, both sets of parents were furious. And when it was clear the boys had vanished without a trace, both sets of parents were terrified.

The Snake and Spider, by #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury, is a tragic tale of a road trip gone, where innocence collides with violence. What starts as a dream vacation for two best friends ends as every parent’s worst nightmare.

Available digitally for the first time in a repackaged format, The Snake and the Spider is one of four true crime novels written at the beginning of the author’s career. These books have been re-released with new covers, a fresh edit, and a special reader’s letter from Karen explaining how the darkness in these stories became more than she could bear and prompted a dramatic career change to write Life-Changing Fiction ™.