A quirky little (i.e., quickly read) novel, a sort of Twilight Zone of a situation, in which you can predict the direction fairly clearly, but it is creepy nonetheless. The direction of the story is much like The Lottery, a sort of community of oppression, but also fairly worn. The cousin, the interloper, is a practical business type, who can't stand quirkiness, who will not stand for oddity, and his appearance spells trouble. You sort of end up rooting for the person who seems like the source of the problem, but who is also somehow strangely innocent, as against the practical outsider, the snake who enters the garden and ruins everything.