Venom is a novel written by Alan Scholefield. It was first published in 1977. It was adapted into a film in 1981.
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Midwinter in London's plush Eaton Square, and Philip, a sickly ten-year-old boy is left in the charge of the house staff. But danger lurks, as the staff – a chauffeur and a maid – have their own plans for Philip now his mother is gone. With the help of a former French paramilitary terrorist of the Algerian War, they intend to kidnap the boy and hold him for ransom.
In an unforeseen twist, however, Philip takes his own little adventure, and unwittingly brings home a black mamba, one of the world's most venomous snakes… Dr Marion Stowe, a researcher at the Institute for Toxicology, knows there's been a mistake when she finds a house snake in place of a mamba among her latest deliveries. Tracking it down, she alerts the police to the odd events taking place inside the house on Eaton Square.
It's a job for London's toughest hostage-negotiator and infamous siege-breaker, Detective Chief Superintendent William Bulloch. But even his methods might not save Philip and Dick from the reptilian terror inside the house.