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‘Snap� by Belinda Bauer is a deliciously suspenseful crime novel filled with exquisite characters and an intense plot. Eleven-year-old Jack and his two younger sisters wait in a broken down car while their pregnant mother goes to call for help. She never comes back. Fast forward three years, and we find the three children in the aftermath of the traumatic events of that day. The house is filled with newspapers in every corner, in hallways, and creating tunnels, some with holes and snippets cut from them. Jack, now fourteen, is responsible for the feeding and care of his sisters. Managing to fall in with Smooth Louis Bridge, Jack finds a way to support his family and keep healthy food in the house for his sisters. Bridge's family business just happens to be fencing stolen goods. If you think there’s no honor among thieves, you need to read this one.

Catherine While’s obstetrician, Dr. Samuels, instructs Catherine to create for herself an environment of the ‘utmost serenity,� during her pregnancy. Catherine, even at the moment that her doctor speaks these words, finds them humorous, but little does she know the turmoil that is ahead. Catherine’s husband, Adam, travels to sell horse feed, and one night when he’s gone, someone breaks into her home and leaves a message; a message that is far, far from the serene path Dr. Samuels meant her to follow. When Catherine’s and Jack’s paths meet, serenity implodes.

Bauer’s draws her characters with a deft hand, and that is my favorite aspect of this novel. Jack is credible; he’s not the sweet fourteen-year-old heroic figure trying to keep his family together. He’s angry, bitter, a teenager, whom life has dealt a heavy hand, and Bauer shows this. Even though he tries to keep five-year-old Merry in her favored vampire books, and builds her an earthworm house, Jack’s emotional maturity is stunted by his own trauma. How can he effectively care for his sisters? The characters of Detective Chief Inspector John Marvel and Detective Sergeant Reynolds offer some humorous relief, as both are a bit bumbling in their own ways. Reynolds, who thinks he is quite smart, is compulsively neat and one for following the rules. Marvel, his boss is the complete opposite, and a curmudgeon, to boot. The thoughts that roll around in their heads are priceless.

I very much enjoyed my introduction to Bauer’s masterful storytelling skills.