AMAZING! Belinda Bauer has done it again!

In 2015 I read the novel “The Shut Eye” and quite fell in love with the curmudgeonly Detective Inspector Marvel. In “Snap” my love affair continues. That is not to say that this is a sequel to the previous novel. Readers can be confident that “Snap” can be read as a stand-alone.

“Dreams died, but the nightmare of reality went on.”

The three abandoned children in the novel tugged at my heartstrings. So traumatized, yet so resilient, each in their own way. Jack, livid with anger. Anger that he feels abandoned – anger that he shoulders WAY too much responsibility. At the tender age of fourteen, Jack valiantly tries to keep the house going, the bills paid etc. so that the social services will not take his sisters away – Jack is plagued with dreams…

Joy, shut away beneath myriad piles of newspapers, quietly mourning how life used to be.
“For the first time, Jack felt sorry for her. For the first time he realized that Joy was not crazy – only heartbroken. And for the first time, he wondered if they were the same thing…”

Tiny Merry, full of life in an otherwise lifeless house, stoically loving her pet tortoise. Reading vampire books and mowing the lawn at the tender age of five…

“He couldn’t just abandon her because she’d already been abandoned. Twice. And that made him angriest of all…”

Catherine While, pregnant and so vulnerable, was a favorite character. The reader could empathize with her whilst wishing she needed more of an emotional support system. She seemed so alone… Her fear was palpable.

The police team headed by DCI John Marvel was quirky yet worked well. Slovenly Marvel working with the fastidious Reynolds was a treat to read about. Marvel, with his old-fashioned policing methods based on logic, cunning, and gut instinct. Reynolds with his high IQ score, vanity, and insecurities. DC Elizabeth Rice was the perfect foil for Reynolds. DC Parrot, an older man comfortable in his job and rife with local knowledge, made up the fourth member of the team.

The Somerset/West Country setting really added to my enjoyment of the novel.

The outstanding writing brought the multi-layered plot together seamlessly.

At the risk of sounding gushy, I think Belinda Bauer is brilliant. She writes of serious crimes yet includes enough humour to lighten the narrative. Her characters are fully-rounded and memorable (at times lovable). This wonderful thriller, which begins and ends on the hard shoulder of the M5 motorway was a delight to read. This title will without doubt be included in my list of favourite reads of 2018.

Highly recommended!

The story begins with a mother who is pregnant and her 3 children who have found themselves in a broken down car. The mother decides to go for help and tells her 11 year old son, Jack, that he is in charge. Sadly, Jack's mother does not return. Later it is discovered that she has been murdered and the affect on the family is devastating.

Three years later Jack is scrambling to provide for his family. He is stealing and breaking into homes. We meet a pregnant woman named Caroline and something particularly scary has happened to her. Her home has been broken into. A note is left that is a threat on her life. What's the connection if any?

The characters are so well written in this book. I really connected to them and their fears and hopes. The plot gives you a lot to think about. My heart especially hurt for Jack at times. His anger, resentment, fear, and appetite for vengeance took over his young life. Way too much responsibility and guilt for someone so young. This was heartbreaking at times.

The book has a very satisfying climax and I thought, "Well played." But, you will have to read it to decide that for yourself. Caroline proved to be very strong and a hero in my opinion.

This was a very good thriller and I highly recommend it. Many thanks to Transworld Digital and Belinda Bauer for a digital copy thru NetGalley to read and review. 4 Stars!

Life has not been kind to Jack Bright. When he is eleven, the car in which he is riding with his mother and two younger sisters breaks down. His mother leaves to find a phone telling Jack he is in charge. She never returns. Two weeks later, her body is found, the victim of an attack and murder.

Three years later, Jack's still in charge. Unable to handle the stress of losing his wife, Jack's father goes out to get milk one day and never returns. Jack is left to keep the family together and hide the fact that he is the man of the family. The girls stay home now as going to school might reveal their situation and put the three into the system where they would be separated. Jack makes sure they stay under the radar by keeping the house spruced up and making sure they have the material things they need to survive. Since he is too young to get a job, he ensures their survival by stealing. He breaks into houses and steals things to turn over for pay but also steals healthy food and books. He steals a lawnmower so the grass will remain trim and steals paint in order to spruce up the outside of the house. All appears normal.

Then one day while breaking into a house, Jack makes a discovery. He finds the knife that killed his mother and he now knows the identity of her murderer. He can't do anything about it himself but he brings the police in on his secret, even at the expense of being caught for the hundreds of robberies he has done. Is Jack right? Will the police detective in charge be able to prove it? He is new to the district, transferred in after messing up elsewhere. Can this be his redemption as well as Jack's?

Belinda Bauer burst onto the mystery scene with her first novel, Blacklands, in 2010, which promptly won the Crime Writer's Gold Dagger Award for Best Novel Of the Year. She has written a series of mysteries since, and is often compared to mystery writers such as Ruth Rendell and Minette Walters. Her books tend to focus on young people who are exposed to crime through no fault of their own and who slowly come to realise that not everyone can be trusted. This book has been longlisted for the Mann Booker Award this year and is recommended for mystery readers.

11-year-old Jack and his 2 sisters are with their mom when their car breaks down on the side of the road. Their mom goes to get help, only to be seen never again. Jack and the girls make a life on their own, avoiding any adults or authority figures and Jack resorts to crime in order to ensure their survival. One day while committing a burglary, Jack discovers a clue to his mom’s disappearance and the mystery unravels from there with help of police detectives.

I really enjoyed getting to know Jack and felt deeply for him and his sisters in their plight. Though he was a criminal, he was an extremely sympathetic and likable character with a lot of intelligence, depth and a huge heart underneath it all. I also enjoyed the depictions of some of the secondary characters, including Jack’s sisters, his friend Louie and the very determined and somewhat unethical detective who investigates his case. I found the ending to be both plausible and satisfying.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Grove Atlantic, and Belinda Bauer for providing me with a complimentary e-copy ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Belinda Bauer's Snap (Atlantic Monthly, digital galley) has been longlisted for the prestigious Man Booker prize. A story in The Guardian noted that one judge thinks it transcends the crime genre, while another thinks it bends the form in new ways.  Ok. I think it's a clever puzzler that reminds me of a Ruth Rendell standalone or one of Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie novels as it presents several disparate stories before connecting the plots. First up are 11-year-old Jack and his younger sisters Merry and Joy, whose pregnant mother goes off for help when their car breaks down. She never returns, the victim of an unsolved murder. Three years later, Jack's still in charge, keeping the siblings together in their old house after their grieving father walks out. He's become an accomplished cat burglar, stealing food and necessities,  along with pricier goods he sells to his friendly neighborhood fence.  In another part of town, pregnant Catherine While wakes up to an intruder in the house and later finds a knife by her bed with the menacing note: "I could have killed you.'' Not wanting to make a "hoo-ha,'' she doesn't tell her husband or call the police. The latter are busy trying to catch the Goldilocks burglar, although Chief Inspector John Marvel longs for a good murder case. Bauer has some fun snapping the puzzle pieces in place, and Jack is a character to care about as he tries to find his mother's killer.
from On a Clear Day I Can Read Forever

A book that I couldn't put down, it kept me absolutely gripped and I want to read more from Belinda Bauer!
I think she is one to watch and will only get better.

With one snap decision, the lives of many can be changed in a second. 11 year old Jack is in charge of watching his two younger sisters after their car breaks down and their pregnant mother goes to find a phone. She never comes back. Three years later Jack is still in charge of Joy and Merry and is doing his best to keep his family together.

Elsewhere, a pregnant woman named Catherine wakes to find a knife and a note that says "I could have killed you." How are these two stories related? That is what kept me reading all night.

This is my first book by this author and it did not disappoint. For some reason, I kept thinking of The Boxcar Children when reading this. All the characters were insanely realistic and came alive with the details she included.

The reason I didn't give this the full stars was because the villain was too easy to spot and never explained really what made them that way. Some points towards the end were also a little to far out of reach. While I loved the characterization of Reynolds and Marvel, their end journey, with a certain other main character tagging along, seemed a little too unbelievable.

Overall, good crime thriller that tugs at the heart a bit and also keeps you guessing how the stories intertwine.

Snap by Belinda Bauer was not what I thought it would be. The beginning was tightly written, but then the story veered off into nothingness. I did not find the characters compelling or the story line believable in spots. Hard to believe there could be a more dismal story with a so-so ending. I would not recommend this book, but that is just me.

<i>***Man Booker Prize Longlist***</i>
It is a blistering hot day and young Jack aged 11 is stuck in the car with his two younger sisters, Joy and Merry. The young family has run into car trouble and their pregnant mother has left to call for help. Restless they go in search of her but she is lost to them forever. Distraught over her loss, the father disappears leaving the three children alone and young Jack in charge. In order to survive the three obscure the fact that they are living alone. They conjure up tales of work trips and homeschooling while Jack manages to support the family through his criminal endeavors. Jack proves to be not only nimble but quick-witted. <i>See what I did there.</i> He not only manages to keep his family together, but also gets the police to take another look at his mother's cold case. <b>Snap</b> is a unique mystery in that the focus is not entirely on unraveling the threads of the case but a heavy hand is dealt to the family and their dynamics. Awesome read.
<i>Many thanks to NetGalley, Grove Atlantic books and Belinda Bauer for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.</i>

When I was 50% done with this book, I was so sure I would give it 5 stars. But then the story seemed to start taking shortcuts and felt unfinished in the end which is why I ended up giving it 3 stars. There are just too many unanswered questions.

Thank you Netgalley for my copy of this book in return for an unbiased review.

I still love this author though!

Snap is hands down the best mystery /thriller that I've read, so far, this year. It's positively Dickensian in it's use of clues and red herrings.
I've always been a fan of Belinda Bauer and she really hits it out of the park with Snap.

This book. Oh my goodness. This was well written and complex and definitely not what I thought it would be.

The story starts with Jack, Joy and Merry - waiting in the car on the side of the road for their mother to come back from calling for help. Jack will never see his mother again.

Jump to 3 years later, and Catherine is heavily pregnant with her child and wakes up to someone in her house. The proof is a knife and a note left next to her bed "I could have killed you". Rather than call the police, Catherine decides to keep this a secret, even from her husband.

Without going into too much detail - because really the beauty of this book is reading it and having the story unfold before your eyes - you spend quite a bit of this book wondering "what do these two story-lines have to do with one another". You also spend a lot of time not really liking either Catherine or Jack - but KEEP READING.

Once the story-lines properly intertwine, you become so addicted to the story and what is going to happen, that you don't care that the beginning was so confusing. Honestly. This book is so well written. It reminded me of Case Histories - not always likable characters, but a really well developed plot that doesn't need massive twists and turns to grab your attention.

Highly recommended. And I dare you not to cry at the very end of the story.

Thank you Netgalley, Grove Atlantic and Atlantic Monthly Press for an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

The beginning of this book completely pulled me in, especially with Jack and his siblings being left by the side of the road and mom disappearing. I did struggle with the change in storyline and narrative and felt like that took away from the tension in the plot. By the halfway point I felt a little confused and bored with the story but I really wanted to find out what happened to mom. Overall, I think I just had a disconnect with the intersecting storylines

EXCERPT: 'To my Daughter on your Special Day'. Her mother chose the worst cards. A week after her birthday she had bundled it up with all her others and put them in a drawer in the spare room.

And yet, here it was, next to her bed. . .

Catherine felt disorientated, as if this were a dream, or a time warp. She opened the card.

Her mother’s scratchy signature had been roughly crossed out and on the blank side of the card was scrawled a new message. . . 'I could have killed you.'

ABOUT THIS BOOK: 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 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, mum-to-be Catherine wakes to find a knife beside her bed, and a note that says: I could have killed you.

Meanwhile 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.

But the truth can be a dangerous thing . . .

MY THOUGHTS: Bauer has a way of sneaking up on you. She doesn't rely on twists and turns to keep the reader interested. She gets inside the heads and hearts of her characters to provide a rich, deep and often humorous viewpoint.

Bauer is known for taking the bleakest of situations and turning them into something special. At no point in this book are you going to go 'WOW!', because it is a quietly clever book, one that is a satisfying read, a moving read.

It takes a while for the different threads in this book to come together, to weave their tapestry into the bigger picture, but it is a picture worth waiting for. This is a novel of loss, of grief, of getting by by whatever means possible, of betrayal. But there is also hope and loyalty, and unexpected kindnesses. And humor in the form of Marvel, Reynolds and Rice.

Marvel is unconventional, a direct opposite of Reynolds, who plays by the book and has great expectations of himself. Rice, well Rice is just Rice. I loved this trio and I hope that this is not our only encounter with them.

😍😍😍😍

THE AUTHOR: Belinda Bauer grew up in England and South Africa. She has worked as a journalist and screenwriter, and her script THE LOCKER ROOM earned her the Carl Foreman/Bafta Award for Young British Screenwriters, an award that was presented to her by Sidney Poitier. She was a runner-up in the Rhys Davies Short Story Competition for "Mysterious Ways," about a girl stranded on a desert island with 30,000 Bibles. Belinda now lives in Wales.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Grove Atlantic via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Snap by Belinda Bauer for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system.

This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...

Jack is eleven when his pregnant mother goes for help after their car breaks down by the side of the road. She leaves him in charge of his two younger sisters. But she's gone too long and Jack and his siblings eventually go in search of her. But they do not find her: just a broken pay phone. Jack never sees his mother again, and it's eventually revealed she's been murdered. Three years later, Jack is doing the best to support his sisters, especially since his dad went out for milk and never came back. Meanwhile, another pregnant woman named Catherine While is startled when her house is broken into--while she's home--and the intruder leaves her a disturbing note. A strange set of occurrences leaves Catherine feeling unsettled and watched. And Jack is starting to wonder if he's getting closer to finding out who killed his mother.

This was a really bizarre book in many ways, but I totally enjoyed it. It's mainly told from the point of view of Jack, Catherine, and two policemen: Reynolds, a fastidious Detective Sergeant and Marvel, a disgruntled DCI. It often quickly changes viewpoints between these characters, but somehow, it all works. In fact, while the novel is compulsively readable in terms of finding out what happened to Jack's mother, it's also oddly funny at times: there's a dry wit running underneath the story.

Even more, the characters are really enjoyable. Catherine, eh, she wasn't my favorite (her decision-making leaves a lot to be desired), but Jack was great: I was rooting for him the entire time, even in cases where I probably shouldn't have been, based on some of his behavior. The poor kid has a lot to deal with, trying to care for his kid sisters. And Marvel and Reynolds: they can be annoying and even spiteful in their actions at times, but they are really fun to read about. The whole combination of this group somehow works, and it kept me flipping the pages, wondering what on earth had transpired and how, when, and why. The novel is creepy at times, funny at times, and sad and heartbreaking at times: impressive.

There are definitely a lot of characters in this book, and sometimes keeping track of them all was a bit of a challenge, but I was impressed at how Bauer connected them all eventually. And, seriously, you get attached to them, or annoyed with them as if they are real people--which I find doesn't always happen to me with a thriller. Some of what the police do seems a little much--part of why I say the book seems a little bizarre, as does some of the plot, but I found myself enjoying the book so much that none of it mattered. Bauer lets us put the pieces together simultaneously as her characters do, and the story in this one was just compelling, fun, and different.

Overall, this was a fun, intriguing novel that keeps you guessing until the end. The characters are interesting and draw you in immediately. There's humor and heartbreak, but also a great puzzle to solve as well. 4 stars.

Snap is a character-driven, slow-burner of a book that combines domestic-drama, suspense, and police procedural genres seamlessly. Bauer's characters are so well-drawn and relatable that it seems they could walk off the page; just superb!!

How can you not feel for Jack Bright, whose childhood was taken from him at age eleven when his pregnant mother, Eileen, disappears after leaving her three children in their broken down car at the side of the road to walk for help? Bauer's descriptions are so powerful, I could actually feel the heat and hear the sounds as Jack and his younger sisters Joy and toddler Merry, waited and waited for her to return. Eventually, Jack packs up the girls and they start walking in the direction their mother did, hoping to find her. They walk until they literally drop, and a passing car finally stops to help and takes the children home.

There, they wait, day after day, with their father, hoping for word about Eileen. When word finally comes, it isn't good. She has been found murdered and discarded. Jack's father falls apart. He is buried by grief, and soon leaves the family, unable to care for them. Jack becomes fully responsible for himself and his sisters at age 11; it is a heavy weight to bear. He dreams of his mother every night, thinking if only he'd left the car sooner, or walked faster, he might have been able to save her. Not wanting Child Services to come in and split the siblings up, Jack teaches the girls to always stay inside the house, and if anyone asks, to say they are home schooled by their 19 year old brother. Meanwhile, Jack turns to odd jobs, and eventually burglary to feed the girls, find clothes and books for them, etc.

Three years later, Catherine While, pregnant, awakes to find a knife and a note beside her bed that says "I could have killed you." She doesn't call the police, or even tell her husband, Adam. (There's an interesting storyline here.) Meanwhile, the police have hundreds of unsolved burglaries on their hands. The burglar, nicknamed "Goldilocks" only comes when the homeowners are away. He sleeps in their beds, eats their food, makes himself at home, before taking things and trashing the homes.

The suspense intensifies as the three storylines begin to merge, and long-buried secrets come to light. This book shows how one person's (snap) decision has the power to alter hundreds of lives. I found Snap to be a very satisfying read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atlantic Monthly Press for allowing me to read a copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Opinions stated her are strictly my own.

A car breaks down on a lonely highway. The mother strictly instructs the children to stay put and then goes in search of help. She is also heavily pregnant. When time passes and she does not return they decide to go look for her. You know this is not going to end well within the first few pages.

Jack is the oldest, He, despite the father being around has to take on the responsibilities of his two younger siblings. Merry is just a toddler, Joy a bit older, Jack is still a very young boy. When things become overwhelming the father disappears and it is upto Jack to make sure no one knows what is going on in the house because he does not want all of them to be taken into care.

Becoming a thief and a very clever one is ideal for Jack. He just wants to support his family and this he is able to do whilst at the same time putting some money by. He is angry with the world that he has been abandoned by both his mother (which he realises is irrational) and by his father because his father was weak.

By the time Jack is fifteen he is firmly entrenched in robbing houses and has become a master at it. Now called Goldilocks by the local force for his habit of eating and drinking food in the houses he robs, having a bath and even taking a nap, the Police force under a new entrant from the city is determined to catch him.

At the same time a woman across town discovers things in her house, mysteriously things appear and disappear, windows open and close, lights come on and ovens are switched on. For various reasons of her own she does not tell anyone even her husband even when calls come in which are eerie to say the least.

The link in the two stories is a knife and Jack is of the opinion that it is same knife in Catherine's house which killed his mother. How the stories link, overlap and come together is told in this mystery thriller.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately, I have tried reading this book on 2 separate occasions and during this 2nd attempt, I have only managed to make it halfway through so I'd rather stop here and state that this book just wasn't for me.
I wish the author, publisher, and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

SNAP. A fascinating book that delivered almost all it promised.
Belinda Bauer's Beautiful Dead was among the most interesting books i read, so i was quite excited to read this one.


Mrs Bright left her children in the car and went to get help. She never came back.
Jack was, at the time, left in charge; three years later he was still in charge, doing his best.
Catherine While thought her life was perfect: a perfect husband, a perfect house and a baby coming in the way. Until someone breaks into her house, leaves a knife on her bed. Then everything she knew changed.
DCI Marvel, in disgrace, was relocated to this small town, working on burglaries cases. For him it was a living hell. So when there was a reason for him to reopen a murder case, he couldn't be happier.

A wide set of seemingly unrelated character, all of them were very interesting, even the most ridiculous of them.
The story became kind of clear around the middle of the book, and at that point i was wondering how the rest of the book will keep my interest. But it did.
The investigation, the reactions of the various characters, the different revelations were all well written, at times intriguing.

I enjoyed most of the book a lot. The end left me however a bit uncertain of how i felt for this book. Part of it was good, the way i wanted it to be. The other part was just not convincing, it was not a cliff-hanger, it felt like an unfinished story in the most unsatisfactory way, and i didn't like that part so much.

Nevertheless, it was an interesting book that i would recommend.

My review is 4.1 stars.

When I started this book, I was a little bit in doubt because it's my the first book by author, and when I requested this copy because of solely on the description. The description attracted me to read and I went with my sense and turns out to be awesome. This book is awesome and enjoyable in many aspects.

The plot is very well decorated and the story of the children and their handling of the various facts and the truth is really well, plotted and there is something attractive about the characters that attracted me even from only reading the description. The characters are written well enough and there is an amazing development of the lead characters throughout the book.

The Dialogues in the book are written in a way that you'll feel that it's happening in front of your eyes. I would definitely recommend this book to fellow readers to go with the flow and have a read.