Punchy, atmospheric and addictive, Snap made me turn page after page in a quest to know more. It starts with an opening scene to really make you sit up and take notice, and made me care more about the characters introduced to us here. I found the people in this story to be convincing and, most importantly, interesting to read about - it doesn't focus on the police or investigators but instead the people affected by the crimes beung investigated, and also those committing the crimes. This was a nice break from the usual detective/ police structure, and the various narratives begin to weave themselves together as the story goes on, so yoy slowly realize that certain people are connected. I love stories that do this, and certainly held my attention even in parts that were a little slower.

There's a mix of emotions within these pages, with some people feeling like they're beyond redemption and others I felt pity for; I enjoyed reading from the perspective of both Catherine and Jack and particularly liked the ever-present mystery of what exactly happened to Jack's mother, all those years ago? It's definitely bleak at times and sometimes uncomfortable reading, but definitely punchy and a great read.

I'd definitely recommend this cleverly plotted thriller, with plenty of emotion and just the right level of mystery to ensure you won't want to put it down!

Really enjoyed reading this novel. I haven’t read anything by Belinda before but loved the way the storyline progressed throughout

A great story with lots of twists and turns, this kept you enraptured throughout as it offers more than just a standard crime novel!

Belinda Bauer’s razor-sharp wit and black humour always freshens my reading palate. Her plotlines and characters are decidedly quirky – even bizarre. In SNAP, a Dickensian vision of three children surviving on the fringes of modern society is touching, at times very funny, and distinctly weird. Minor characters such as "Smooth Louis Bridge", a criminal who obsessively removes his own hair, reveal the extent of her freaky imagination. But an eye for detail brings all this eccentricity back to real life.

Belinda Bauer switches perspectives between characters without ever making it feel contrived. She somehow slides from one vivid and fleshed-out internal world to the next, puppet master-style. I love the smoothness and authority of her writing. And the profound characterisation, such as here, when the unveiled burglar reflects on his bad behaviour:

SNAP is an unusually light-hearted crime novel. I love gallows humour as much as the next swinger, but on reflection I didn’t feel much fear related to the actual killer who gets a bit lost in a crowd of cranks and crazies (the police as much as anyone else). It doesn’t matter to me, though – this book is dark, funny and heartfelt - and heroic Jack Bright and his sister's tortoise will live long in my mind.

Snap was a great read full of twists and turns.
Slow to start but worth persevering with as you’ll not want to put it down.
My first book by this author but will not be my last.

Just BRILLIANT. This is an unusual unique read. . The characterisation is excellent and the plot is so different to the usual crime books I read. This is a book that will cause a book hangover. It is chilling, heartbreaking and at times funny while offering a whodunnit too. I really want there to be a follow up. I NEED to know how Jack, Joy & Merry get on, oh and of course Donald too

This book just gripped me right from the start. Such a believable story, and could easily have been something you'd read about in the newspaper. So many twists and turns, I was convinced I knew which way it was going, and then another twist and I'm back to square one. The characters are really well described, easy to imagine. I thought the story wandered for a bit, and at times I wasn't sure who related to who, but then it all starts to become clear. I loved the book, thoroughly recommend it!

The novel starts with a strange situation. Three children await their pregnant mother on the M5 as she goes to telephone for help because the car has broken down. She vanishes. Later the father vanishes. The eldest boy Jack secretly cares for his siblings. I wasn't sure quite what was happening for a while in the first part and then the plot moves on and becomes gripping and emotionally charged. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin UK.

Its 1998 and Jack, Joy and Merry Bright are waiting on the hard shoulder in the car whilst their mother calls for help after breaking down on the M5. After waiting an hour, they decide to walk to see if they can find her - but they never do. Three years later and Jack is responsible for looking after his sisters after his father abandons them once Eileen's body has been found, and resorts to breaking and entering to get food, etc for his family. He breaks into the house of Catherine and Adam While and he starts to learn the truth behind his mothers disappearance and murder - but he needs Catherine to go to the police as he can't. Eventually he convinces DCI Marvel to investigate and finds himself helping the police finally solve the mystery.
Really enjoyed reading this and thank you to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity of reading this.

Great book, kept me guessing until the end. Jack’s mother has been kidnapped and murdered - the effect on his familiy’s lives is huge. But what is the connection with the Whiles? There were a lot of twists and turns - the story is told from both Jack’s perspective, and Catherine’s, which makes it a bit different from some of the other crime novels. Thoroughly recommended

I've never read anything of Belinda Bauer before but, i definitely will be doing so from now,she is an excellent author who writes an exciting plot with engaging characters and loads of suspense. This book had me gripped from the first chapter. Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this

What an original plot, memorable characters and excellent writing - an excellent, enjoyable crime novel. The opening scenes of 3 young children waiting in a car at the side of the road for their Mother who has gone to ring for help, set the tone for this twisting, turning novel where nobody should be taken for granted and everything should be questioned. Loved Marvel and Reynolds as the Police investigators but Jack Bright really hit the heart-strings. An excellent read.

The first book I ever read by Belinda Bauer was ‘Rubbernecker’ which I loved. I enjoyed ‘Snap’ just as much, if not more. It was intoxicating and I ended up reading it in less than 24 hours. Intricately woven, fast paced and heart stopping, this had everything you could want from a thriller. I’ve read the last few pages over and over trying before trying to write a review that would do this book justice and the only thing I can do is advise people to let the book talk for itself. I’ve already purchased a copy for someone else & insisted they read it. From beginning to end I was hooked and even now days later it’s still stuck with me. A worthy 5 stars.

Snap by Belinda Bauer starts with Jack, Joy and Merry being left by the side of the road when their car breaks down and their mother goes looking for help. Three years later, a knife left by the side of a bed, a spate of burglaries, a new policeman in town and Snap had this reader snapped up in its pages.

The book took me a while to get into but once it gripped me I could not put it down. It is not just a crime novel, it is about the characters, love, loss, survival and hope.

This is the first book by Belinda Bauer I have read, it won't be the last!

With thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Three children sitting in a car on the side of a motorway waiting for their mother to return. The car has broken down quite a long way from the nearest motoroway emergency phone. Jack, the oldest child was left in charge, unfortunately their mother doesn't come back. Three years on, Jack is still in charge, their mother is dead and their father went out for milk and never came back. Jack is now a fully fledged home invader, stealing small items, food and books to support his two siblings. As the book unfolds and the police set a trap for the 'Goldilocks' burglar so does the carefully organised life the Jack has put together to support his sisters'.

This is an excellent crime novel, at times heart-wrenching, nail biting, anger inducing and totally gripping Belinda Bauer has written a fast moving, wonderful book and although this is the first I have read by this author, it will not be the last.

I was so excited to get a review copy of this from Netgalley and it did not disappoint. Fast paced and engaging, even when we learn who the murderer is, there's still plenty of surprises to come.

Take time out to read this in one sitting. It's worth it.

This was terrific! The beginning was a bit confusing but so many reviews mentioned this and encouraged the reader to keep going. Jack, Reynolds and Marvel were all great characters. This was an original story with good pace and a satisfying ending. I’d never heard of this author before reading this, but have already bought another of her novels (Rubbernecker).

In SNAP, Bauer once again demonstrates her immense talent for crafting nuanced and memorable young characters in her crime writing. We begin with eleven-year-old Jack Bright, sitting in a broken-down car on a stifling day with his two younger sisters. The millennium has yet to turn, and their mother has walked up the road for help. She seems to have been gone for far too long. So Jack and his sisters stumble up the road, parched and upset. Only to find a dangling phone...

Three years later Jack is running their household, their distraught father having never recovered. Newspapers are piled everywhere, the kids home school themselves, and no one knows they're living without parents. Meanwhile pregnant Catherine is being left creepy messages and doesn’t want to let her partner know, a 'Goldilocks' burglar is on a crime spree in smalltown Devonshire, and local detective Reynolds struggles to cope with the arrival of grouchy new superior, DCI Marvel.

Marvel has been exiled from London, hates the countryside, and misses the action of the city.

SNAP is full of strands and a disparate cast, but Bauer brings it all together beautifully, like a master puppeteer or gleeful conductor. This is tale that's both harrowing and humorous, that's full of life and energy. It fair fizzes from start to finish, delivering and delighting on multiple levels. I enjoyed her most recent crime novel, THE BEAUTIFUL DEAD, but that was more of a very, very good version of the somewhat familiar 'obsessed and artistic serial killer' trope. SNAP shows Bauer in full flight, full of creativity and class. Crime writing of the highest order, from a true maestro of the craft.

This book came highly recommended by a few friends but for me there was something missing.
I did feel sorry for Jack who had to go to extreme measures to look after his two sisters following the sudden disappearance of their Mother, followed swiftly by their Father . The sisters are both dealing with issues of their own.
The plot , for me, was a little too coincidental and I found this to be an ok read albeit one that kept me turning the pages.

Snap by Belinda Bauer

When their car breaks down, Jack, Joy and their little sister Merry try to wait patiently in the car while their heavily pregnant mother Eileen Bright walks to a roadside emergency phone to call for help. But it’s so hot in the car, Merry needs to be changed, and their mum has been gone for an hour. SO 12-year-old Jack makes the decision that they should walk to the phone and find their mum. They do find the phone, hanging loose. Their mother is gone. These are moments that will haunt all three children and, when the police finally come across them and take them back to their father, it destroys his life, too. It’s up to Jack to support them all. Whatever he does, it can’t be enough.

Catherine While is so close to giving birth. Her husband’s away a great deal. Then one night she hears someone in the house and she’s determined to be brave and chase them off. But when she returns to her bed, she finds a knife and a note – ‘I could have killed you’ it says. And that is just the first time in which she is frightened almost to death.

Detective Chief Inspector John Marvel is in disgrace. His methods of policing are dubious to say the least and so he has been sent from London, where he solved murders, to the Devon and Cornwall border where he can chase burglars instead. And so when the chance comes to reopen the case of Eileen Bright, he grabs at it. At last he can redeem himself! If he behaves, of course, which he won’t.

Snap is an absolutely fantastic crime thriller by an author that I’m growing to love more and more with every book. This one is undoubtedly my favourite of those I’ve read and that isn’t surprising – it excels in so many ways. Firstly, the story is superb. It’s clever, goes off in completely unexpected directions and is largely driven along by the most brilliant and memorable characters. Much of the novel takes place in 2001, three years after the disappearance of Eileen Bright, a time before social media, or mobile phones, controlled our lives. DCI Marvel is certainly an old-fashioned detective. He knows how to say the wrong thing and he can’t stop himself. I love, though, how he realises that he shouldn’t do it. That his ill-thought through words make his palms sweat when he thinks on them. There is so much about John Marvel to dislike but it’s so difficult not to like him.

Marvel does make mistakes, big mistakes, and so too does Detective Sergeant Reynolds who is the very opposite of his new boss. His pedantry and his fastidiousness are irritating to Marvel and to us but once again – I found myself falling for him. He is, it’s fair to say, a bit of an idiot, but you can’t help thinking that he’ll improve with time. A lot of time.

But the main bittersweet joy of Snap is Belinda Bauer’s non-sentimental depiction of these three deeply troubled children. Jack is such a wonderful creation but Merry is heartbreakingly loveable, as she clings to her tortoise for comfort and does her best to mow the lawn. Poor Joy is a lost soul indeed. My heart went out to these three while also smiling at their escapades. It’s hard to see how things can turn out well but their strength of character shines through. There are lots of cameo appearances through this novel. Glimpses of characters who are full of personality.

Snap is a novel with so much warmth and compassion. There is humour and wit and also a great sense of pace and tension. The second half in particular is unputdownable as Marvel gets more deeply involved in the case. But what a corking story, told brilliantly well. Belinda Bauer is now one of those authors whose books will go straight to the top of my reading mountain. Snap is definitely one of my top reads of 2018 so far.

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