I would like to thank Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Snap’ written by Belinda Bauer in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
On a very hot day in 1998 eleven-year-old Jack waits with his two younger sisters on the hard-shoulder of the M25 while their pregnant mother Eileen goes to get help as their car has broken down. But Eileen doesn’t return and her body is found in a lay-by with a single stab wound to her stomach.
Whilst DCI Marvel and DS Reynolds are looking into thefts committed by a burglar nicknamed ‘Goldilocks’ due to him sleeping in the victims’ beds, they come across more evidence regarding the disappearance of Eileen. Can they find out what happened and put the case to rest?
Although this novel was easy to read with an interesting plot and amusing characters, I found it to be unremarkable and lacking in the excitement I would expect from a thriller.

A cleverly constructed and thoughtfully researched book about women whose creative lives have touched the lives of so many.

Kept me guessing til the end, great developed characters, interesting story. Couldn't stop reading til the end & wanted more. Highly recommend to friends!!!!

"Life was always a matter of waiting for the right moment to act." (Paulo Coelho)

Let's be clear........

Belinda Bauer presents Snap in a far different light than her usual offerings of the past. There's always been Murder and Mayhem between the pages........and heavy on the mayhem with a side order of creep in just the right places.

Snap is more of a slow burner with the tides shifting in with small currents of backstory and clues. The crescendo, most certainly, will find itself in crashing waves towards the end. Bauer focuses more on her deep character development here as her story grasps simple humanity in the palm of her hand. Snap reveals the unraveling of a family in which murder has thrust itself front and center into their lives. Dealing will come in all shapes and sizes. The focus lingers on the very young and the weight of the suffocating impact of life-changing events in its aftermath.......where life implodes in one giant snap.

August of 1998 brings the intense heat of waiting. The Bright children, Jack, Joy, and Merry look out the rear window of their broken-down car trying to spot the return of their mother, Eileen. Pregnant and frustrated by this situation, Eileen takes to the highway in order to phone for help. But waiting doesn't come easy for these lively ones. They try to retrace their mother's steps to no avail. She's simply nowhere to be found.

In time, Eileen's body is found......stabbed and thrown to the wayside. Waiting for the police to find who killed Eileen turns into a lifetime of deadends. Eventually, another tragedy befalls them as their father goes out for milk and never returns. Jack becomes "in charge" for a heavy commitment he never bargained for.

Three years later, Catherine a young pregnant woman, wakes to find a knife laying alongside her in her bedroom. A note scratched on torn paper states: "I could have killed you." Afraid to tell her husband who's on a business trip, Catherine refuses to devulge strange happenings in their home with break-ins. Someone is lurking outside and they've now been in. She won't even go to the police. Catherine has more than raging hormones to deal with.

Belinda Bauer creates quite the intelligent read as she slips in avenues that are less traveled in most mystery/thrillers. It's all about actions and reactions in this one. It's all about dogging a huge clue that will take readers down an inevitable path. Light will be shed upon the coldest of the cold. And the sharpness of that waiting game will have a huge pay-off. It's all in the resilience of the human spirit and the diligence behind it. How do you take the pathway of life when there are no longer any bridges to see you safely across?

I received a copy of Snap through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Grove Atlantic and to the very talented Belinda Bauer for the opportunity.

I want to start by saying thank you to Netgalley for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book prior to release date. I had been excited to read this one for quite some time and it did not disappoint. This was a bit of fresh air compared to all the books coming out lately about some unreliable narrator. It was a wonderful and heartbreaking novel that I highly recommend! It was told from multiple points of view which sometimes worries me but Belinda Bauer did this so well! The story bases around a young brother and his two sisters whose car breaks down and the mother goes for help but never returns. Jack is then forced to grow up much sooner than he should have been to watch over and take care his sisters. Also while trying to find the truth about what really happened to his mother. There were parts of this book that broke my heart. Sometimes I feel I take for granted the small things in life that some people are not fortunate enough to have. This book will for sure tug at your heart strings. I did find the first 30% a little slow but just stick with it. I hope everyone enjoys this book!

I found that this took a little while to pull me in, but once it did, at about 40%, the rest of the book kept me hooked. The plot is complex but the writing is deceptively light. The characters are entertaining and well-written, with enough humour and irony to appeal to the subversive in me. Altogether a great story and well worth reading.

This new thriller is up to Belinda Bauer's usual standard, a brilliantly crafted story of murder and mystery, with well-drawn and memorable characters.

This is the second title i have read by this author and will be making my way through her others. From page one i was hooked and greatly recommend this book to anyone who liked The Beautiful Dead *****

Un thriller atipico, con un protagonista eccezionale (e quanto sono difficili da rendere i bambini per chi bambino non lo è più) e un cast di comprimari che, proprio perché profondamente antipatici, sono anche profondamente umani.
Il mio primo romanzo di Belinda Bauer, ma non certo l'ultimo.

3 stars--I liked the book.

I enjoy British mysteries, and this was no exception. Bauer is a snappy writer, and I read this quickly because I was invested in the story. Characters were well done--I either pitied them or hated them, depending on their actions. There were also a few moments of humor, which I appreciated to break up the darkness of the narrative.

This fell short of 4 stars for me because of some unresolved elements. Yes, we found out "who dunnit," but there were so many other questions that I really wanted answers to, but didn't come. The ending felt abrupt to me.

Still, I'd read another Bauer book. I received this review copy from the publisher on NetGalley. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review; I appreciate it!

Taut long-unraveling family tragedy cum crime novel . Great characterisations in story of abandoned. children, seeking murderer of their mother. The police, especially an ornery DI , forms an alliance with the oldest. but, seeking to keep his family together, earning by whatever means possible. It's a long track because the past must be excavated. This leads adept author to structure book initially in complex way that took me a minute to get used to . But we are in good hands. Really compelling and entertaining

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book crackles like classic Bauer- a tight thriller with the usual drill humor and characters. Nothing is ever obvious and it was hard to put down- I had to see how the two threads tied together. One of her best!

This is the first book I have read by Belinda Bauer.....I enjoyed it, didn’t love it.. I found it to be suspenseful however a little slow at times!
I would defiantly give another one of her books a read!

Jack is left alone in the broken down car with his two little sisters when their mother leaves to call for help from a phone booth up the road. The little family wait, but their mother never returns. Three years later, Jack and his sisters are living alone, their mother is dead and their father simply walked away. They survive by staying out of the eye of social services and by Jack using his skills as a thief to provide for them. What is Jack’s connection to Catherine, a young pregnant woman who has begun to receive death threats? As Bauer weaves together the threads of her story, readers will discover the dark and terrible truth of what happened that summer day. To be honest, this wasn’t my favorite Bauer book, I felt like the ending was rushed and the killer’s motives a little too ambiguous

I’ve read most of Belinda Bauer’s books and “Snap” is just okay in comparison. I found the book suspenseful, but it had too many plot holes for me.