BOOK REVIEW: Snap by Belinda Bauer

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 forever.
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. 

Publisher: Bantam Press

Pages: 335

I can still remember reading Belinda Bauer's debut novel Blacklands and loving everything about it. I have read every book she has written since and I can confirm that she just gets better and better.
Snap is about Jack Bright whose mother was murdered when he was just a young boy. He is still only fourteen but he has taken on full responsibility of caring for his two sisters Joy and Merry. That is a huge load to carry plus he has never gotten over his mother's death or the fact that her killer has never been caught. Jack is getting by day by day, he has to steal from other people to provide for his family, it is during one of these burglaries that he discovers the knife that killed his mother. A knife that the police inadvertently let him see as a young boy. He knows that the knife's own
er murdered his mum, he just has to get the police involved without getting himself into trouble or risking his sisters being taken into care. He knows that it won't bring his mother back but he knows that it will bring him some peace that he has been missing since she was killed.
Snap is fantastic, one of the best thrillers I have read this year. Jack Bright is a character with so many levels, on the one hand he is incredibly damaged and vulnerable and on the other hand he is highly focused, determined and clever. He has sacrificed so much to look after his family after being failed by his father who walked out after his mother was killed. His life is so far from what he had imagined it would be but he does not give up, finding the knife just gives him more purpose, maybe he can finally succeed where the police failed.
Snap is beautifully paced and well written; Bauer weaves her story around wonderful characters, ramping up the tension and intrigue with each chapter. Do not miss out on Snap, it is fantastic!