a compelling mystery with strong characterisation and rich description

Powerfully evocative of impoverished, pre-modern Paris

One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories

A supreme writer . . . unforgettable vividness

The most addictive of writers . . . a unique teller of tales

Spine-chilling, tension-packed gripper

Belinda Bauer is one of the very few really original crime writers of our time . . . The plot is neat and clever, but it is not the stories, the style or the characters alone - though all are good - that set Bauer's work apart. It is an indefinable extra ingredient that makes some books stand out from the crowd. This is one of them.

Is there a current writer in the genre who can be guaranteed never to repeat themselves - and who comes up with an original premise for each new book? Yes there is - and it is the highly individual Belinda Bauer. Snap, her latest novel, continues this pleasing trajectory . . . Bauer (as ever) is very much her own woman, and produces something that exerts a considerable grip on the reader.

Edgy, original and beautifully written, this suspenseful story is dazzlingly good.

Belinda Bauer's plots are never anything less than original and unsettling, and her latest outing is no exception.

The opening of Snap is one of the most vividly unnerving I have read . . . razor-sharp observation.

Belinda Bauer's fiction teems with life . . . She is also an ingenious creator, never afraid to improve on reality . . . She is on absolutely cracking form in her latest novel . . . Kate Atkinson used to be the undisputed master of this sort of mixture of the serious, the exciting and the anarchic, but Bauer is now firmly in her class.

Belinda Bauer's novels are original, disconcerting and gripping.

A compelling and highly intricate novel . . . Snap follows the human impact of murder rather than the gory details

In Transcription, Kate Atkinson recasts the bildungsroman within the fertile genre of the spy thriller… …As the plot of this accomplished novel hurtles towards its astonishing denouement, even the canniest reader may feel wrong-footed.

I loved Kate Atkinson's Transcription - you don't know if it's farce about spies, or a spy story about farce.

This intricate and captivating novel is a treat. Our advice? Cancel your plans and get lost in its pages.

Intricate, compelling, unpredictable…a gripping spy story …filled with the mystery, humour, and Britishness we have come to expect.

Murky, mysterious and with double bluffs,divided loyalties and untrustworthy narratives aplenty, Atkinson explores the nature of truth in this vibrant piece of historical fiction.

Atkinson’s poker-faced narration perfectly serves a twisty tale of innocence lost amid a fog of geopolitical double-dealing, framed with a deadly tragedy.

Glorious... beautiful and smart and everything you have ever loved about Kate Atkinson.

Totally gripping and extremely funny, with an excellent joke on practically every page...There won't be a better or more enjoyable book published this year.

A grim and unbearably tense debut chiller with an unexpected and utterly fitting finale.

A compulsively readable thriller.

I’m gripped

Fans of Gone Girl, Serial and Making a Murderer will not be able to put this book down. I promise you all that!

A must read