The author of Snap on what it’s like to have the first crime novel longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
Belinda Bauer
Belinda Bauer grew up in England and South Africa and now lives in Wales
She worked as a journalist and screenwriter before finally writing her debut book Blacklands. Awarded the CWA Gold Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year, she went on to win the CWA Dagger in the Library for her body of work. Her fourth novel, Rubbernecker, was voted Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Her eighth novel, Snap, was a Sunday Times bestseller and voted Crime & Thriller Book of the Year at the Specsavers National Book Awards. It was also longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2018. Her books have been translated into 25 languages.
Listen to an extract from Snap
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…
An acute, stylish, intelligent novel about how we survive trauma. Expertly paced, Snap offers a beautiful evocation of the lives of children, and how they perceive and manage tragedy
The 2018 Booker Prize judges on Belinda Bauer's longlisted novel Snap
Belinda Bauer on the Metro Book Chat podcast
Belinda Bauer talks about Snap on the Metro Book Chat podcast, while discussing feminism in thrillers, deep dive research and how screenwriting can shape our approach to narrative.
'There's a lot of snobbery around crime fiction': Belinda Bauer speaks to The BBC
If it’s tokenism, I don’t care, because it does so much not only for crime writers but for readers in general
Belinda Bauer speaking to the Guardian in 2018 after her longlisting
All nominated books
A snap decision has devastating consequences, in Belinda Bauer’s thrilling and brilliantly unconventional crime novel
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