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"Life was always a matter of waiting for the right moment to act." (Paulo Coelho)

Let's be clear.....

Belinda Bauer presents Snap in a far different light than her usual offerings of the past. There's always been Murder and Mayhem between the pages....and heavy on the mayhem with a sideorder of creep in just the right places.

Snap is more a slow burner with the tides shifting in with small currents of backstory and clues. The crescendo, most certainly, will find itself in crashing waves towards the end. Bauer focuses more on her deep character development here as her story grasps simple humanity in the palm of her hand. Snap reveals the unraveling of a family in which murder has thrust itself front and center into their lives. Dealing will come in all shapes and sizes. The focus lingers on the very young and the weight of the suffocating impact of life-changing events in its aftermath......where life implodes in one giant snap.

August of 1998 brings the intense heat of waiting. The Bright children, Jack, Joy, and Merry look out the rear window of their broken-down car trying to spot the return of their mother, Eileen. Pregnant and frustrated by this situation, Eileen takes to the highway in order to phone for help. But waiting doesn't come easy for these lively ones. They try to retrace their mother's steps to no avail. She's simply nowhere to be found.

In time, Eileen's body is found.....stabbed and thrown to the wayside. Waiting for the police to find who killed Eileen turns into a lifetime of deadends. Eventually, another tragedy befalls them as their father goes out for milk and never returns. Jack becomes "in charge" for a heavy commitment he never bargained for.

Three years later, Catherine, a young pregnant woman, wakes to find a knife laying alongside her in her bedroom. A note scratched on torn paper states: "I could have killed you." Afraid to tell her husband who's on a business trip, Catherine refuses to devulge strange happenings in their home with break-ins. Someone is lurking outside and they've now been in. She won't even go to the police. Catherine has more than raging hormones to deal with.

Belinda Bauer creates quite the intelligent read as she slips in avenues that are less traveled in most mystery/thrillers. It's all about actions and reactions in this one. It's all about dogging a huge clue that will take readers down an inevitable path. Light will be shed upon the coldest of the cold. And the sharpness of that waiting game will have a huge pay-off. It's all in the resilience of the human spirit and the diligence behind it. How do you take to the pathway of life when there are no longer any bridges to see you safely across?

I received a copy of Snap through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Grove Atlantic and to the very talented Belinda Bauer for the opportunity.