Snap: The Sunday Times Bestseller

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In fact, she says, she didn’t even realise that her 2010 debut, Blacklands – the story of a boy who enters into a dangerous correspondence with the imprisoned paedophile serial killer believed to have murdered his uncle – was a thriller at all. It’s a blisteringly hot summer’s day Eileen Bright’s car breaks down on the highway leaving her and her three children stranded. During the course of one of his burglaries, Jack almost gets caught – but he also discovers what he is convinced is evidence of his mother’s murder. He's actually quite skilled at what he does, (breaking and entering) but he only strikes when he knows the householders are away - less risk that way! The sensitivity in how this loss was described added to the authenticity and sets it apart from other thrillers.

The plot is completely irrelevant as long as you can take people on that journey with you, say to them: ‘You know what?Three years later, Jack is supporting himself and his sisters by breaking into people’s homes and stealing things, including healthy food to feed the family. I highly recommend it for mystery/thriller fans who enjoy a masterfully told story with empathic characters. However, he is about to make a surprising discovery that will once again alter the course of his young life. The only subversive thing about this novel ends up being the fact that there really is no twist, no shocking reveal, just a resolution that plateaus far too early to make the payoff feel remotely rewarding.

Pros: The plot was intricate and the clues slowly lead the police, with Jack's help, to the murderer.Not that’s not to say there weren’t surprises because there were a couple of surprising reveals along the way. I don’t even know what the worst part was: the running commentary on how pregnant women are essentially moronic (apparently ‘baby brain’ doesn’t mean ‘where did I leave my car keys,’ it means ‘my house was broken into and the burglar left a death threat on my pillow, but I won’t tell my husband, I don’t want to worry him! 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. But she’s blissfully unbothered, and understands the snobbery around crime fiction, because she used to feel it. Bauer focuses more on her deep character development here as her story grasps simple humanity in the palm of her hand.