The Venom Business

"The Venom Business" is Michael Crichton's fifth published novel. It was released in 1969 under the pseudonym of John Lange. The Hardcover vesion was 310 pages.

Plot summary

Charles Raymond is a smuggler and he is very content and mildly successful with what he does for a living. Based in Mexico, Raymond uses his exceptional skill as a snake handler to his advantage by "exporting" snakes out of Mexico under the guise of medical research—their venom is used by drug companies and universities for research. But the snakes are simply a ruse to hide the identity of the real cargo—rare Mexican artifacts.

Raymond is good at what he does and his skills don't stop at smuggling. Upon a suspicious chance reunion with Richard Pierce—a long-lost acquaintance of Charles' from his school days—Raymond is enlisted to use his other talents as a bodyguard to help Richard stay alive until such time as he can can acquire the rest of his deceased father's fortune, which has been held in trust by Richard's promiscuous widowed stepmother.

Charles isn't a fan of Richard's brash womanizing ways, but agrees to help because the money is good. Only he finds out that Richards isn't the easiest guy to protect, and often he is his own enemy when it comes to self-preservation.

After a series of thwarted sketchy attempts at Richard's life, Charles begins to smell a rat. The further he probes into the situation, the more confused he gets. Things aren't what they seem. The bad guys aren't really the bad guys, or so it seems and the good guys are no better. Who wants whom killed? Who is protecting whom? In the end it may be Charles who is the target.