This is the fourth book in the S-Squad series, which is a pulp adventure horror series about a British special forces unit that gets sent to handle weird stuff. Based off of the cover, which shows a soldier shooting a giant snake, I thought this would be the S-Squad version of Anaconda, but it's not. this features a lost temple filled with were-snakes. It's a fun adventure story. ( )

No adventures in the cold here. The Squad is sent to the Amazon to find out what’s happened to the son of an English nobleman. Said son, Buller, disappeared from a gold dredging operation on the Amazon.

But then his phone is found, floating in a plastic bag. Is that really some kind of giant snake in a video on the phone? A local guide, Giraldo, thinks so.

So the Squad goes to look for Buller with Giraldo and Buller’s friend Wilkes. The trail ends at a stone temple on the river. There they are captured by the hidden tribe of Boitata, associated with strange stories about people turning into serpents.

This is the first time in the series that outright magic is unapologetically put in the story. Operation Antarctica’s strange menace was rationalized as a sort of science.

It’s also the installment with, beyond a doubt, the most unlikeable civilian ever met by the Squad: Buller.

And, as frequently is the case in Meikle stories, every day people rise to the occasion out of duty and friendship. Here that’s Giraldo and Wilkes.

The climax is tersely but pleasingly presented. While not having quite the grandeur as the end of the previous installment, Operation: Siberia, the final scene still is awe inspiring.

Not much more to say. The S-Squad is modern pulp, about 120 pages long each adventure, and has the virtues that pulp should have: action, some wonder, fast-moving story, and characters sketched enough to be interesting. ( )