Belinda Bauer

Crime & Thriller Book of the Year (Specsavers National Book Awards) Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2018 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. . . Praise for Belinda Bauer 'It gives you chills, it makes you think and it touches your heart. I loved it!' SARAH PINBOROUGH, No.1 bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes 'The best crime novel I've read in a very long time.' VAL MCDERMID 'Original, pacy and thoroughly entertaining . . . a cracking read.' CLARE MACKINTOSH, bestselling author of I Let You Go '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, bestselling author of The Missing 'Intelligent entertainment that keeps you guessing.' Sunday Times Crime Club 'Edgy, original and beautifully written' Sunday Mirror 'Belinda Bauer's plots are never anything less than original and unsettling, and Snap is no exception.' Sunday Times 'Spine-chilling, tension-packed gripper.' Woman and Home 'The opening of Snap is one of the most vividly unnerving I have read . . . razor-sharp observation.' Guardian 'Belinda Bauer's fiction teems with life . . . Kate Atkinson used to be the undisputed master of this sort of mixture of the serious, the exciting and the anarchic, but Bauer is now firmly in her class.' Daily Telegraph Belinda's sensational new crime novel EXIT is available to preorder now.

The Sunday Times Bestseller

Snap

Denaiir

It took me a while to get into this one and I didn't care for the narration that much, but after the first half it really picked up and I loved the ending

THE SUNDAY TIMESBESTSELLER, as heard on BBC Radio 4 Front Row '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. . . 'Snapis the best kind of crime novel. It gives you chills, it makes you think and it touches your heart. I loved it!' SARAH PINBOROUGH, No.1 bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes 'Original, pacy and thoroughly entertaining . . . a cracking read.' CLARE MACKINTOSH, bestselling author of I Let You Go '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, bestselling author of The Missing 'Intelligent entertainment that keeps you guessing.' Sunday Times Crime Club 'Edgy, original and beautifully written, this suspenseful story is dazzlingly good.' Sunday Mirror 'Belinda Bauer's plots are never anything less than original and unsettling, and Snapis no exception.' Sunday Times 'Spine-chilling, tension-packed gripper.' Woman and Home 'The opening of Snapis one of the most vividly unnerving I have read . . . razor-sharp observation.' Guardian 'Belinda Bauer's fiction teems with life . . . Kate Atkinson used to be the undisputed master of this sort of mixture of the serious, the exciting and the anarchic, but Bauer is now firmly in her class.' Daily Telegraph

Sonja H

„Ein Thriller auf der Man Booker Longlist – endlich Literatur, die Spaß macht“, war mein erster Gedanke als ich die diesjährige Auswahl sah. Belinda Bauer ist bereits in meinem SUB vertreten, also war ich sehr neugierig, denn um auf der Man Booker Liste zu landen, muss man schon recht gut sein.

Aber ist sie das wirklich?

Das Buch beginnt ziemlich spannend, allerdings auch ein wenig unglaubwürdig: welche Mutter würde bitteschön ihre drei kleinen Kinder (eins davon ein Baby) in brütender Hitze in einem defekten Fahrzeug an einer stark befahrenen Straße zurücklassen, um mal kurz zur Notrufsäule zu gehen?
Ok, kann ich für eine gute Geschichte drüber wegsehen.

Anders als in anderen Romanen aus diesem Genre dreht sich nicht alles in dieser Story um die reine Verbrecherjagd. Vielmehr erhalten wir einen tieferen Einblick in das Schicksal von Jack und seinen Geschwistern, deren Leben von einen Tag auf den anderen einen völlig anderen Verlauf nimmt.
Außerdem begegnen wir weiteren Figuren, von denen erst nicht klar ist, wie sie in die Handlung passen, die aber nach und nach einen Platz im Gefüge bekommen. Es hat mir Spaß gemacht, zu raten, wie das am Ende wohl alles zusammenhängt.

Jack ist mit Abstand der stärkste Charakter in „Snap“. Sein Innenleben ist gut ausgearbeitet, seine Entscheidungen sind nachvollziehbar und man kann Mitgefühl für ihn entwickeln.

Die restlichen Charaktere sind….nun ja.

Catherine gehört meiner Meinung nach eher zu den Hauptfiguren, wird aber von der Autorin eher wie eine Nebenfigur behandelt. Wir erfahren kaum etwas über ihre Hintergründe, ihre Hoffnungen, Wünsche, ihr bisheriges Leben. Sie schwebt ein wenig losgelöst durchs Buch und wirkt daher flach und arg naiv, soll aber wohl eher eine starke Persönlichkeit verkörpern, die sich letzten Endes selbst zu helfen weiß. Hat mich nicht überzeugt.

Die Polizei…anfangs wirkte sie eher wie ein komisches Element (so wie Shakespeare gern seine Dramen entschärft hat). Sie beziehen ein Haus, das einen lang gesuchten Dieb anziehen soll, um ihn dort in eine Falle zu locken. Wirklich? Wo funktioniert denn sowas?
Später verhält sie sich etwas „ernster“, allerdings auch klischeehaft und muss Beweise von Jack präsentiert bekommen, um das Rätsel zu lösen.

Dann sind da noch ein paar schräge Figuren wie Louis, der Kleinkriminelle mit Kind, der Jack irgendwann erklärt, wie Elternschaft funktioniert oder „VC“, die großartige Messer anfertigt und ein codiertes Buch darüber in einem Tiefkühlfach aufbewahrt.

Wäre „Snap“ nicht auf der Longlist, hätte ich es nicht so zerpflückt und kritisch hinterfragt, sondern einfach als „gute Unterhaltung mit einigen Schwächen“ einsortiert.
Aber der Man Booker steht eigentlich für „herausragende Literatur“ und so sehr mir die ersten beiden Drittel gefallen haben, die sich u.a. mit dem Thema „was bedeutet (familiäre) Sicherheit?“ befassen, so beliebig wurde dann doch der Rest des Buches.
Ich kann leider gar nicht nachvollziehen, warum „Snap“ in die engere Auswahl für diesen nicht unbedeutenden Preis gekommen ist. Ja, es ist ein guter und etwas ungewöhnlicher Thriller, aber er unterscheidet sich kaum von anderen Erzählungen aus diesem Genre.

Wer gute Unterhaltung sucht, kann getrost zu diesem Buch greifen.
Wer hingegen auf der Suche nach anspruchsvoller Lektüre ist, sollte Abstand davon nehmen.

Cindy Lieberman

Her car breaks down by the side of the road so the pregnant mother of three (with apparently no working cell phone) leaves her kids in the sweltering heat to walk down the highway to make an emergency call. But she doesn’t come back. The kids and their distraught father fend for themselves. Three years later, a discovery jogs the boy’s memory and he starts pursuing the person he believes killed his mother. It’s an interesting plot and an entertaining detective story with a couple of memorable characters (although none really well developed besides the boy, Jack).

Julie Viravaux

** spoiler alert **
            
I feel like this would definitely be something that Marvel would say.

I have soooo much to say. I bought this book randomly, I wanted a shortish story to finish 2020/start 2021, and Snap just appealed to me with its kinda cryptic blurb.
We follow 4 characters at once all linked together by the murder of Eileen Bright (well to be fair, I didn't like Reynolds all that much but I guess he is just supposed to be there ?).

1- Catherine: the first person we are introduced to. I understand her anxiety of calling the cops for "nothing" and just be anxious by herself. (Kinda don't understand what she's gonna do with Adam at the end, kind of hoping that she'll either deliver him to Marvel and Reynolds or that she let him bleed out in a ditch somewhere).

2- Jack: sweet baby angel has so much anger issues. I wasn't expecting to like Jack this much, since the first thing we read about him is that he just break and steal stuff from people and threatened to kill Catherine. But I love how he is just *that* smart, like "no big deal I'll break into someone's car I know how to do that just by looking at it". I kinda wish we could have seen him at the end with Marvel and everyone at the police station so they could just all hug him and say he was right the whole time. 

3- Reynolds: that "good" cop, toxic male, follow the rules. I really don't like Reynolds and how he was so dismissive of Rice (who already has a boyfriend btw) and then possessive of her for no reason? Like, dude, she's not into you, she's just being friendly cause you guys are working together and nobody is going to die if she uses your shampoo. 

4- Marvel: "grrr grr I'm an old cop, and I don't like people but I solve murders and I'm actually nice". I was expecting to not like Marvel that much, and yet I fell for the big softie archetype. Like sure it's a cliche but I liked it (and also the fact that he was so against Reynolds).

Amanda Wells

A mystery or thriller, told from interesting perspectives. I'm most familiar with stories like these being told through the lens of the detectives - and we've got a bit of that here too. But this book focuses largely on the children left behind - the unwitting victims in a crime that was, apparently, one person's "snap" mistake.

I did really like it. It drew me in, and although I'd guessed a couple of the twists, it was still quite heart-accelerating in places.

Maytal

Pretty disappointed with this - thought it would be much more engaging and exciting. Don't let the Man-Booker Prize nomination fool you.

Issi 

Elena Favret

Kay Sutherland

Francine Corry

Ivy Vatsala

Queenie

Amber Brown 

Alistair James

A taut, suspenseful new novel from award-winning thriller author Belinda Bauer in which a woman being menaced by a knife-wielding home invader is connected to a string of burglaries in a quaint bedroom community, and the brutal murder that left three children motherless three years before.

Snap The Sunday Times Bestseller

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