Review: SNAP, Belinda Bauer

• this edition published by Penguin UK 2018
• ISBN 9781784160852
• 434 pages
• source: my local library

Synopsis (publisher)

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. . .

My Take

August 1998. The broken down car is parked on the side of the highway and Jack's pregnant mother has walked to the emergency phone to get help. But when Jack takes his sisters to find his mother, she is not there.

Three years later Jack's devastated father has walked out and Jack is trying to feed his sisters by stealing from local houses. The children are no longer going to school and he and his sisters are barely surviving.

A new neighbour has moved in next door. Her son is a policeman and she is a bit nosy.

Detective Chief Inspector John Marvel has been newly appointed to the West Country because of various failures when he was in London investigating murders. He feels he has been demoted, out in the cold, and now he is expected to take charge of the investigation of burglaries.

But there is much more to this case than he anticipated.

I enjoyed the development of the characters in this story and the way the storyline progressed.
I wonder if we will see more of John Marvel?

My rating: 4.8

I've also read
5.0, BLACKLANDS
4.8, THE SHUT EYE

Review: THE SHUT EYE, Belinda Bauer

• first published in UK by Bantam Press 2015
  
• ISBN 978-0-593-07287-5
• 302 pages
• source: my local library

Synopsis (Publisher)

Five footprints are the only sign that Daniel Buck was ever here.

Yesterday they were a family just like any other: Anna and James, and their little boy, Daniel.

But in one careless moment everything changed.

A front door accidentally left ajar . . . and Daniel was gone.

Now they are a pair of strangers who can't even look each other in the eye.

Distrust and unspoken words fill the void where their son used to be.

Anna will go to any lengths to find Daniel - a four-year-old doesn't just vanish into thin air. But how far will this desperate search push her?

Right to the brink.

And beyond.

My Take

DCI John Marvel has one of those cases that just won't let you go: the disappearance of twelve year old Edie Evans on her way to school. At the time of her disappearance over twelve months before he even used the services of a medium, with no result. Edie's mother thinks she is still alive, but twelve months is a long time.

Now his boss wants him to find Mitzi, his wife's missing dog. And Marvel discovers that Mrs Clyde has been attending sessions held by the same medium.

John Marvel is far from the flavour of the month with Superintendent Clyde, and he really doesn't get on too well with the rest of the team either. He hopes that discovering what has happened to Mitzi will give him a leg up, but things don't go entirely to plan.

This is a mesmerising read with lots of twists and turns.  The resolution of the mystery is at once credible and incredible.

My rating: 4.8

I've also read
5.0, BLACKLANDS

Review: BLACKLANDS, Belinda Bauer

WINNER of Gold CWA Dagger 2010

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 493 KB
• Print Length: 352 pages
• Publisher: Transworld Digital (January 22, 2010)
• I bought this one myself.

In Steven Lamb's house where he lives with his gran, his mother, his little brother, and a succession of "uncles", there is a room that has been a shrine for nineteen years. It is his Uncle Billy's room. Steven is 12 years old and his Uncle Billy disappeared on a trip to the corner shop when he was just a little younger than Steven. 

For three years Steven has been digging on the moor behind his house. The authorities had assumed that Billy had been killed by paedophile Arnold Avery, but Billy's body was never found, while a number of Avery's other victims were. Avery was charged with six counts of murder, but not Billy's. However Steven is convinced that he will be lifting a burden from his gran if he can find Billy's body.

Steven decides to write to Avery, now serving a life sentence in Longmoor prison, to see if he can learn where Billy is buried. When Avery replies to Steven's letter, the game subtly changes.

It is not often that the suspense in a book literally gets to me, but BLACKLANDS almost gave me palpitations at the end. I really can't reveal any more, other than to highly recommend this debut novel.

I had resolved to be very parsimonius in meting out any more perfect scores this year, but BLACKLANDS gave me no choice: my rating: 5.0

Belinda Bauer says in her Author's Note at the end:

Blacklands was never intended to be a crime novel. I thought it was going to be a very small story about a boy and his grandmother.

Read Chapter 1 from Blacklands

Blurbs and reviews to check

• Simon & Schuster (publishers)
• Highly recommended for a CWA Debut Dagger 2009
• Guardian review by Laura Wilson

This is book 100 for this year.