Snap: The astonishing Sunday Times bestseller and BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick

by Belinda Bauer

Crime & Thriller Book of the Year (Specsavers National Book Awards)
Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2018.

'The best crime novel I've read in a very long time.' VAL MCDERMID

SNAP DECISIONS CAN BE DANGEROUS . . .

On a stifling summer's day, eleven-year-old Jack and his two sisters sit in their broken-down car, waiting for their mother to come back and rescue them. Jack's in charge, she'd said. I won't be long.

But she doesn't come back. She never comes back. And life as the children know it is changed for ever.

Three years later, Jack is still in charge - of his sisters, of supporting them all, of making sure nobody knows they're alone in the house, and - quite suddenly - of finding out the truth about what happened to his mother . . .

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'Original, pacy and thoroughly entertaining . . . a cracking read.' CLARE MACKINTOSH

'No one writes crime novels like Belinda Bauer, with a rare blend of darkness, humour and heart. She's a crime writing genius.' C. L. TAYLOR

'Edgy, original and beautifully written, this suspenseful story is dazzlingly good.' Sunday Mirror

'The opening of Snap is one of the most vividly unnerving I have read . . . razor-sharp observation.' Guardian

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Readers are gripped by Snap:

'Full of suspenseful twists and turns' *****
'Twisty, intriguing and so cleverly written I couldn't put it down' *****
'A refreshingly different murder mystery' *****

• ISBN10: 1473526078
• ISBN13: 9781473526075
• Publish Date: 3 May 2018
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd
• Imprint: Transworld Digital
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 464
• Language: English

Reviews

[zooloo1983]

A shocking beginning and you are sucked in. 3 children abandoned on a roadside, unaware of the fate of their mother. Moving forward, Jack, is now in charge of his 2 sisters and keeping them safe and away from the world, but his world is going to start crashing down around him.

I thought the story was really clever, how the chess pieces all moved around the board, never quite touching each other but so close to each other without realising. It was so clever, the only bit of the story I didn’t like is the police Reynolds and Marvel bringing Jack in on the investigation, I thought that is when it got a bit unbelievable.

That aside, I loved their characters, the shortness of tempers and the determination. I loved how close in proximity everything became.

Goldilocks, a case that police are trying to solve when “Goldilocks” breaks into Catherine’s house leaving her a note, all of this could be tied with Jacks mum, right? Jack is also out trying to keep his sisters going and to find his dad who couldn’t cope and abandoned them in the house, some elements I found so hard listening to because how could a parent do this.

When the title Snap means something it made this book so much more powerful. It took me a while to finish this book and that is because I didn’t click with the narrator, while I was enjoying the story bar a few niggles I did struggle with the narrator.

I will definitely pick up another Belinda Bauer book because I was excited by how her book played out, all the near misses and red herrings made for a thrilling read.