Q&Q contributing editor Shaun Smith’s first YA novel is very aptly titled, as it is a dark coming-of-age story that involves its fair share of both real and figurative snakes and ladders. It is 1971, and Paige, on the cusp of turning 13, is spending yet another summer at the cottage with her mother and seven-year-old brother Toby. Leisurely days of frolicking by the lake and reading Mark Twain novels are cut short when a series of unhappy events disrupts Paige’s life forever.

It begins when Toby discovers a snake that he is convinced is bent on devouring the duck eggs the two children have been carefully observing since their arrival. Then there is the mysterious arborist, whom Paige learns has been hired to take down the tree that holds her beloved tree fort, built years ago by their late grandfather. Through all of this, Paige must struggle with the reality that her father has stopped visiting the family on the weekends in order to spend time with another woman in the city.

As the summer unfolds, and Paige’s mother becomes more and more detached from the family, Paige gets acquainted with the arborist’s daughter, Janine, who harbours horrible secrets about her violent father. In spite of herself, Paige is drawn to Janine’s beer-drinking older boyfriend, Billy, whose mystique is heightened by the fact that he works alongside Janine’s father.

The first few chapters of Snakes and Ladders are hard to follow, as the shifts between past and present are frequent and unclear.  Likewise, it isn’t until a third of the way through that a plot truly begins to develop and the story moves steadily toward a dramatic conclusion that incorporates the symbolic motifs the author employs throughout – snakes that destroy innocence, and ladders that carry us beyond our problems. There is a fair degree of implausibility in the final chapters of the story, as Smith attempts to cram every possible misfortune into one story. The young Paige must deal with a cheating father, a drinking mother, a crush who attempts rape, a murderous arborist, and a deadly rattlesnake.

In spite of a convoluted plot, Smith’s debut provides an interesting perspective on the loss of innocence and the need for courage when one is forced to leave childhood behind forever.