Snap: The Sunday Times Bestseller

Product Information

And I’m still an advocate of genre fiction having a place in the Man Booker and other literary awards… provided that it’s really exemplary genre fiction. 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. It appears to the reader from the start that there are three very different stories being told that are completely unrelated - the murder of a pregnant mother, a sinister Intruder frightening a young woman at night and a sneaky burglar sleeping in kids beds - but before long they very cleverly start to weave together and escalate in a nail biting conclusion that will have you gripped to the pages until the exciting end.

Jack the eldest felt the burden of taking care of Merry and having to resort to breaking and entering houses to feed his sisters. I doubt it will generate much positive opinion, which is so sad because it is nice to see some variety on the list. Though the story is engaging, well-structured and undoubtedly worthy of a read, I’ve read far more exciting and thrilling crime novels than this one.

I also think that everyone who reads this will have at least one favourite character, and possibly more. I enjoyed reading this book and would highly recommend it despite the horror of the initial incident and the poignancy of its memory. Bauer has been an obsessive storyteller since she was a child, lying awake in bed and making up tales that she would pick up the next night. His mum says to him: ‘You’re in charge, Jack,’ as she walks away from the car, and three years later he’s still in charge, trying to keep all the balls in the air, everybody alive, hidden from the authorities, in this terrible house, which is now full of newspapers which his sister collects obsessively to try and find clues about his mother’s death.

His efforts to take on the responsibility of holding the family together led him to become a young burglar. In fact, I figured out who the murderer was before even halfway through the book, and I figured that I was probably wrong and expected a huge twist. He earns himself the nickname 'Goldilocks', and manages to evade capture every time, much to the chagrin of the local police dept.Not that’s not to say there weren’t surprises because there were a couple of surprising reveals along the way. I think they teach British English in Italy as well, but whenever I asked Italians about this they said they found the American accent much easier to understand. The mystery is resolved at about the halfway point and the second half of the book is about collecting the evidence.

Eventually her body is found, and the effect of her loss on the family is devastating and unbearable, especially for Jack’s father.I highly recommend this novel to everyone who enjoys a solid, unique story peopled by fascinating characters, and written with heart. Though Snap was a slow-burner and wasn’t filled with one action-packed scene after another, it kept me turning the page, mainly because of the realistic and relatable characters, with tension building slowing and steadily throughout the story. On the plus side, there is a good mystery scene set up quite early on – we have the police investigations; Jack Bright, aged 14, trying to support himself and two younger sisters in a house full of mice and newspapers; and Catherine While, a pregnant woman who disturbs a burglar… The various strands of story interweave and one or two of the characters (well, Jack) shows some sign of developing complexity. So having to fend for themselves, Jack, who’s exceptionally resourceful, is taught the art of burglary and ends up being quite adept at breaking and entering, stealing food for family survival. I’m just so annoyed that the ‘oh no the Booker is dying a commercial death’ purists are going to look to this book as a reason not to let genre fiction onto the longlist.

Snap reveals the unraveling of a family in which murder has thrust itself front and center into their lives. He’s a fastidious, impeccably groomed straight arrow who’s always willing to help coworkers better themselves. I was really pleased I did, because it reaffirmed that you don’t have to conform to certain conventions in any genre. Even at sentence level the writing is pared down, brisk and sharp with naturalistic dialogue that drives the story on so that reading it becomes absolutely addictive.For some reason, Bauer doesn’t believe that emphasis or gravitas can be achieved without embellishing her sentences with excessive punctuation, italics, or some combination of the two.