Roger Hyttinen

Review of The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw

August 23, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

A Little Town Called Sparrow

The story follows our main character, Penny, who lives with her mother on a small island in a town called Sparrow. Now Sparrow could be just like any other little island town except that it has a rather dark history.

Introducing the Swan Sisters

Two centuries ago, the Swan sisters, Marguerite, Aurora, and Hazel were sentenced to death for witchcraft. Instead of being hanged or burned, the sisters’ hands were bound, rocks were tied to their ankles and they were drowned off the shore of the island.

When I first picked up this book, I thought that the sisters were actually witches but as it turns out, they really weren’t. They were all incredibly beautiful and alluring young women, and their only real crime was seducing the men of Sparrow (two of the sisters were especially fond of sex). So basically, what we have here is a vicious case of slut-shaming leading to the murders of three innocent girls.

Two Hundred Years of Revenge

But that was not the last the small town heard of the Swan sisters. As it turns out, every summer the sisters rise from their watery graves and return in order to take revenge on the town that wronged them.

Each of the sisters takes over and inhabits a body of a local girl. Once in human form, the sisters then each drown at least one boy between June 1 until June 21, the summer solstice. During that time, no boys — local or tourists — are safe.

You see, once a Swan sister has her sights on a boy, he is pretty much powerless to resist and will willingly follow the sister into the sea ultimately leading to his death.

Oh, and nobody knows which local girl is possessed because while living in their host’s body, the Swan sister is able to absorb the personality and all the memories and mannerisms of their host, so it’s nearly impossible to tell who has been possessed.

But despite the danger, tourists flock in from all over in the hopes of perhaps catching a glimpse of the infamous Swan sisters who have killed innocent boys every summer in the town for the past 200 years.

There’s a New Boy in Town

So back to our main characters, Penny. So on the eve of the sister’s yearly return, a boy named Bo Carter arrives in Sparrow, utterly oblivious to the dangers he has just walked into.

Now there was kind of an insta-love thing going on with Penny and Bo which annoyed me a bit, but the story was interesting enough that I was able to overlook it, especially when we learn that they both have secrets that they are keeping from each other.

But still, they moved to the lovey-dovey stage really quickly. So they get together romantically but as we can guess, one of the sisters sets her sights on Bo, and it’s up to Penny to protect him.

The Past and the Present

I enjoyed how the story weaved back and forth between present day and the past when the sisters were still human, and it slowly unfolds how things ended up turning so tragic for them and the town. It was nice to see the human side of the Swans and not only the raging, vengeful side, which helped the reader to kind of understand where they were coming from.

Everyone’s a Suspect

The town drama sucked me in as well. Once boys began drowning, mistrust spreads like wildfire as everyone, the reader included, tries to figure out which girls the sisters have possessed.

Everyone is a suspect which means that not only is any boy safe, neither is any girl as the town turns into a literal witch hunt. So the mystery aspect of it was kind of fun. There is also a mystery surrounding Penny’s absent father which gets revealed later on in the story.

I love a story with dark legends, curses, and revenge and in that regard, this book didn’t disappoint. The writing in this book was also quite beautiful and lyrical — almost magical — and the author is obviously quite adept at crafting beautiful prose.

Lack of Chemistry

I already mentioned disliking the insta-love trope, but even apart from that, the romance didn’t really work for me. In my opinion, this was the weakest aspect of the story. I dunno, I didn’t feel the intensity and chemistry between them, certainly not enough that they would risk their lives for each other after having only met a few days earlier.

A Slow Start

I also have to admit that I had a hell of a time getting into this book. Usually, when I start a novel, I finish it in a couple of days. I kept picking this up and putting it back down for several days at a time and even considered DNFing it a time or two.

So there was an incredibly slow buildup to the story, at least for me. The characters perhaps lacked depth initially, they most of them ended up being nicely-developed later on.

But I did feel that there somewhat of a pacing problem in the story and it took a long time to get into it. But once the story picked up steam past the halfway point, my interest peaked as well, and I found myself utterly enjoying it.

An Easy-To-Guess Twist

Another niggle is that I figured out the twist pretty early on. I think maybe it could have been camouflaged a little better and not be so evident and easy to guess. But even though I figured it out, the story was still fun, and I enjoyed seeing it all play out.

And What’s with Those Festivals?

One aspect of the story that struck me as odd was the festivals and celebrations that the town would hold during Swan Season, complete with parties and various festivities. I mean every year during this time, several young men are murdered.

Were people so desensitized to these deaths that celebrating the Swan Sisters seemed okay to them? I can’t believe that people in a small town would act like this. You’d think they’d close off the town, shut down their shops and head for the hills during the month of June rather than engaging in merrymaking.

My Verdict

I liked the premise of this story, and The Wicked Deep ended up being a heavy tale about revenge, murder, betrayal, and forgiveness. In this way, it was a darker story, kind of spooky, and positively heartbreaking in places.

Once I got past the halfway point, I became more invested in what happened to the characters and the story enthralled me much more than it did initially.

But the plodding start and the predictability of the plot kind of dampened my enthusiasm for the book. I didn’t dislike it. On the contrary, I thought that the story was compelling and entertaining with interesting characters, and I am glad that I read it. I just didn’t love it quite as much as I hoped I would. And I ended up giving this 3 stars ⭐ ⭐ ⭐.

You can purchase The Wicked Deep here at Amazon or at The Book Depository.

The Sumage Solution by G.L. Carriger

August 15, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

I won this book in a Goodreads Drawing so first off, a big thank you to Ms. Carriger for providing me a copy of this book. Of course, the reason I entered into the drawing was that the blurb intrigued me and I’m glad I got a chance to read it.

Introducing Max

The Sumage Solution is an urban fantasy/LGBT romance that follows two characters: Max and Bryan AKA Biff and takes place in the San Francisco Bay Area. Max is a gay and hysterically snarky, foul-mouthed, somewhat grumpy sumage, which is a mage who can’t actually do any magic and is stuck in a crappy government job as a bureaucrat – basically doing paper-pushing drudge work pushing papers.

Max works at DURPS which is the supernatural equivalent of the DMV. I can’t remember what the acronym stands for but any supernatural being who comes into town has to register at and be approved by the DURPS. One of Max’s paper-pushing duties there is to process incoming supernaturals.

Enter the Werewolf

So enter Bryan — called Biff by his pack – who is an extraordinarily well-muscled and gruff beta werewolf with a heart of gold. But he’s also in the closet and is not even out to his pack.

So it’s worth mentioning that typically, werewolves can’t stand being around mages because mages smell horrible to them – they have kind of a chemical stench to them. What’s interesting is that Max actually smells good to Bryan. Bryan also finds the mage to be exceptionally good-looking and there’s a good chance that the hunky werewolf might be willing to leave the closet if he can only get the mage to go on a date.

Bryan/Biff is really a sweetheart of a character, and you can’t help but love him as the story progresses, especially once we figure out that he has somewhat of a White Knight complex – extremely protective of everyone in his life and willing to swoop into the rescue at a moment’s notice.

He basically fits as the caretaker archetype. Max, on the other hand, takes snark to a whole new level but he is laugh out loud funny. He becomes all the more endearing when we learn that a lot of his grumpy and snarky exteriors is basically a façade to hide the fact that he’s been very hurt in the past and as such, has deep relationship issues. Oh, and Daddy issues as well.

But There’s Trouble

Needless to say, Max and Bryan end up getting together, but it’s not smooth sailing for them. Max has many hangups that he has to get past and then there’s the whole reaction of Max’s pack who didn’t even know he was gay, much less dating a mage.

There’s also a mystery to solve surrounding Max’s dead father, his childhood homestead which is protected by strong magic and a powerful and dangerous codex — and ancient manuscript in book form that resides is Max’s father’s house.

Which is probably why there’s a steady stream of mages trying to get past the house’s magical barriers.

Impressive World-building

I really loved the world that the author has created here, giving us a modern day San Francisco but populated by all manner of shifters, magicians, and the enigmatic Kitsune, which are foxes who appear in Japanese folklore. There’s also the riveting history of the mages and magicians and the one event that lead to a whole new world and the death of thousands.

Heat Warning!

Now this being a gay romance, there is sex in this book — a lot of it actually. But the majority of the sex scenes were relevant to the plot, and we learned a lot more about the characters from these scenes.

But it is quite steamy. So if you prefer your novels squeaky clean, then you might want to pass on this one.

My Verdict

Overall, the Sumage Solution was a fun, humorous madcap romp that was charming and intriguing, with lovable, quirky characters. This light-hearted character-driven story was a joy to read, especially with all of the witty banter between our two main characters. The author does snark and sass exceptionally well, and this book had me laughing out loud on several occasions.

This book also has quite a diverse, entertaining and lovable cast of secondary characters, many of them leaning towards the “sassy” side as well. I adored Bryan’s pack and loved how protective and loyal they are to each other. They were definitely a huge, messy and complicated family.

I do believe this is going to be a series and if so I’ll for sure be reading the next one. I loved this little gem of a novel, and I give it: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

You can check out The Sumage Solution here at Amazon or at The Book Depository

Review of Woof at the Door by Laura Morrigan

August 14, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Talking to the Animals

Woof at the Door is the first in a cozy mystery series revolving around Grace Wilde, an animal behaviorist or trainer who has an ability to converse telepathically with animals, both domestic animals and wildlife and she uses her skills to save animals from harm and help solve behavior issues for problem pets for her clients. Think Doctor Doolittle or Animal Whisperer.

But Grace keeps her abilities a secret from everyone except her sister. So her clients all just assume that she simply has a knack with animals.

There’s a murder and a witness

So the story starts when Grace is called out to aid the police with a traumatized and angry guard dog, a Doberman named Jax. Jax witnessed the murder of his owner, the star quarterback of the Florida Jaguars, Mark Richardson. Richardson is also the son of the current Governor, so he’s a relatively high profile person.

The poor dog is suffering from trauma and Grace knows that it’s going to take a while before the Jax’s mind allows him to fully remember who was responsible for the death of his owner. At the moment, all Grace can sense from him is his feelings of utter betrayal. So Grace takes Jax to her home to care for him – a home that she shares with her sidekick and best friend Moss, a wolf hybrid fiercely protective and loyal to Grace.

Being a veterinarian herself, Grace is able to calm the Doberman and hopes to find him a home. It’s interesting to note that the reason that Grace didn’t pursue a career in veterinary medicine, by the way, was because of constant chatter in her head from all the animals. It’s also worth mentioning that Grace’s “pet whispering” talent is handled in a realistic and entertaining way in the book, and the author does an excellent job of presenting her talent has believable.

Chatting with a Jaguar

So Grace hopes that the police will solve the case so she doesn’t have to get involved any further in such a high profile case but the crime just will not go away. In fact, Grace is next called back out to calm a Jaguar owned by a friend of hers. It just so happens that this friend also had an altercation with Richardson shortly before his murder, making him the primary suspect in the killing.

The jaguar, however, shows/tells Grace that her owner did not commit the crime and was home asleep on the couch when the murder took place. The problem is how does Grace inform the police sergeant in charge of the case without disclosing her abilities, and will he believe her?

Grace becomes an amateur sleuth

Now its up to Grace to figure out exactly what Jax has seen, so she takes it upon herself to find concrete evidence to give to the homicide detective in charge, the handsome Kai Duncan leading to some quite humorous situations, especially when giving obviously vague answers to the detectives questions, making her look guilty in the process. Not that Grace is in any hurry to let anyone else know about her ability. She was once burned pretty badly when she revealed her talents to a boyfriend, so she’s determined not to disclose her gifts to anyone else.

The Verdict

This was a lovely cozy mystery and a fun whodunnit, with plenty of suspects, along with numerous twists and surprises, that I didn’t see coming. It had a gripping multi-layered plot with a superb supporting cast of characters. I especially loved Grace’s character – she was feisty, independent and strong, an all-around lovable character. The story was also wrapped up nicely at the end with a satisfying conclusion.

If you’re an animal lover and a mystery buff then you might want to check out Woof at the Door. I give this 5 stars, and I can’t wait to read more books in this series. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

You can check out Woof at the Door here at Amazon or at The Book Depository

Review of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew J. Sullivan

August 9, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

I love me a book about bookstores and other bookish things, so I was happy when this little gem crossed my path. Judging by the bright, happy-looking cover, I guessed that this might be a cozy mystery with lovable characters and a gentle plot line. Well, there was nothing cozy about this book. It just goes to show you one indeed cannot judge a book by its cover.

DEATH AT THE BOOKSTORE

So this follows Lydia Smith who lives a quiet life with her handsome boyfriend with whom she’s been living for the past five years and is an employee at — you guessed it — The Bright Ideas Bookstore. There’s a group of eccentric, unemployed and lonely regulars who frequent the bookstore to read, nap, play chess and lose themselves amongst the shelves and whom the bookstore’s employees lovingly refer to as The BookFrogs. A couple of these Bookfrogs play a pivotal part in this story.

One night while Lydia is working her shift, Joey Molina, the youngest and more sensitive of the BookFrogs, hangs himself in the bookstore’s upper room. Lydia is the one who finds him and is devastated by Joey’s death, as Joey was one of Lydia’s favorite of the Bookfrogs.

THE END OF CALM

But Lydia’s quiet life becomes unglued when she discovers a picture in Joey’s pocket — a picture of her and her best friend Raj at her 10th birthday party — a picture nobody should have or even know about. Because you see, Lydia is on the run and has been ever since she was a child, now living her life using a fake name after having severed all her past connections. Throughout the majority of her childhood, she lived in isolation in the mountains with her father after a horrible event drove them to leave town. Now twenty years later, she has started a new life with a clean slate and has done her best to forget about the past. But the existence of this picture taunts her and is a harsh reminder that we cannot always escape our past.

Her life unravels even further when a reporter takes her picture at the suicide scene and, to Lydia’s utter horror, it ends up in the newspaper where anyone could see it. Anyone.

BOOK BEQUEATHAL

As it turns out Lydia was Joey’s favorite bookseller, and as such, he bequeathed his meager worldly possessions to her, mostly books that she herself had sold him.

But Joey had defaced every book in a strange, disconcerting way, cutting words and parts of words out of the page. Lydia eventually discovers that the books which Joey defaced was actually a puzzle and contained hidden coded messages meant especially for Lydia. As Lydia slowly deciphers Joey’s strange messages, the story begins to transform into somewhat of a darker and much more unsettling tale of a heinous unsolved murder as Lydia connects and links the contents of Joeys messages to her own troubled past.

A VIOLENT CHILDHOOD RESURFACES

As Lydia untangles the mystery of the defaced books and of Joey’s suicide, in so doing she unearths long-buried memories from her own violent childhood, namely those of The Hammerman, a murderer who came into Lydia’s life long ago and she now finds herself reliving an experience that still chills her to the bone.

Her nerves are further frayed by several other events: First, there’s the reappearance Raj, her childhood friend who she hasn’t seen in twenty years; then a postcard from the police detective from the unsolved murder case; and finally there are the numerous telephone calls from her estranged father.

Now she can’t help but wonder whether Joey’s cryptic messages might help her to solve a crime that nobody else ever could and she takes it upon herself to find answers to the questions that have haunted her ever since she was little.

THE VERDICT

I ended up loving this imaginative literary mystery story because what bibliophile doesn’t love a book about books? In fact, most of the characters in the story were readers, so books were mentioned quite often in the story.

But this was actually quite a complex, incredibly well thought out and somewhat disturbing mystery — a tale of murder, suicide and coming to terms with one’s past. I loved how this suspenseful story unraveled ever so slowly, feeding us bits of information only a little at a time which kept me glued to the book as the puzzle pieces slowly came together.

So as such, this clever book had layers upon layers weaving in and out of both past and present events and really, kept guessing and engaged until the very end. And the characters were not only totally human and relatable, but they were quite multi-faceted with distinctive and well fleshed out personalities.

This was one of those novels where various seeming minor events and plot threads are tied back into the main storyline in extremely intriguing ways. And the ending was immensely satisfying.

All in all, I loved this book and gave it 5 stars.

You can check out Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore here at Amazon or at The Book Depository.

Review of The Ghost of Buxton Manor by Jonathan Ferrara

August 8, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

100 Years of Boredom

The Ghost of Buxton Manor follows the ghost of 17-year-old Rupert Buxton who, for close to a century, has been tethered to his childhood home and living more or less a perpetual fog. He pretty much lingers in limbo, passing his time reading and desperately — and unsuccessfully — trying to remember his former life. You see, he has no idea how he died or why he’s stuck at Buxton Manor. Hell, he doesn’t even remember his family. At the beginning of the novel, you really got a feeling for the specter’s crippling loneliness.

Strange Visitors Arrive

But Rupert’s life — or should I say afterlife — is drastically about to change.

First, there is the unexpected visit by Dr. Wyman, a ghostly therapist who offers his services to Rupert, promising to help Rupert to remember his past. But Wyman isn’t Rupert’s only visitor. There is also the strange ghostly trio of Bloody Mary, the Weeping Bride, and the Headless Horseboy who show up on Rupert’s doorstep also claiming to want to help Rupert.

Buxton Manor Gets Sold…and There’s a Boy

The most significant change and challenge facing Rupert, however, is that Buxton Manor has been sold, marking the arrival of a new family moving into Rupert’s home: Caroline, George and their son, Aaron who I believe is around the same age as Rupert. Now Rupert feels an immediate and unexplainable connection to Aaron, and it seems that on some level, Aaron can sense Rupert as well.

Despite Dr. Wyman’s warnings to stay away, he’s unable to resist. Of course, Rupert eventually is able to reveal himself to Aaron, and the door to both of their worlds is blown wide open. Lots of angst, intrigue, and drama follow as Rupert begins to put together the pieces of his past and once they both discover Aaron’s essential role in that process. There’s a lot of talk of Rupert’s unfinished business, and it becomes clear pretty quickly that Aaron may be the key to that unfinished business

An Interesting Peter Pan Tie-In

What I found especially interesting about this story is that the characters are loosely based on actual historical figures, Rupert Buxton and Michael Davies (who is also a character in the book), and they were lovers, and both drowned together in 1921. Michael Davies, along with his brothers, he was the inspiration for J. M. Barrie’s characters Peter Pan, the Darling brothers, and the Lost Boys and the story of Peter Pan, in fact, plays a huge role in this book.

Verdict

This was a beautiful book that I absolutely loved, and I say this in all seriousness — I hated for it to end, I got so invested in these characters and cared about what happened to them. This book had ghosts, a necromancer, mystery, intrigue, lots of twists and turns, big surprises, murder and most of all, love.

You know, I read quite a few LGBT romances, but this was the best one that I’ve read in a long time. Though I found this a tender love story, it was a lot more, and it dealt with some very loaded issues such as grief, betrayal, regret and loss and the paralyzing emotional suffering that follows.

But without giving anything away, it’s also a story of hope and second chances. So though this novel does have a romantic lean to it, that is not the main point of the story. There was so much more to it than that. It was a fantastic story with endearing, carefully crafted characters and I loved Rupert and Aaron. They are both lovable, wholesome characters with strong, unique personalities and wonderful, tender chemistry between them.

It’s funny – I read this a couple of weeks ago, and it is still on my mind. I was totally mesmerized by The Ghost of Buxton Manor and continued to ruminate over the characters and story long after completing the story. Truly unforgettable. This book is just so, so, so….magical and it’s just the kind of story I adore — funny, heartfelt, ghostly and seriously freaking romantic. Plus there’s that whole soulmate thing going on.

Unfortunately, I don’t believe the author has written any other books. I do hope he does because he has a lovely talent from bringing a story and a story’s characters to life. Yeah, I gave this one 5 stars.

You can check out the book here on Amazon or at The Book Depository.

Review of Snap by Belinda Bauer

August 7, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

“Sometimes you have to bend the rules to get your man.” John Marvel

This book is on the Man Booker long list so I thought I’d give it a go, especially since it created a bit of controversy, being, I believe, the first crime thriller to ever make the Man Book finalist.

How It All Begins

So picture it – 1998. It’s a blisteringly hot summer’s day Eileen Bright’s car breaks down on the highway leaving her and her three children stranded. Eileen decides to leave the car and go in search of an emergency telephone and instructs the children that they are to stay in the card.

After waiting and waiting and waiting, the children leave the vehicle in search of their mother. Finally, coming upon the emergency phone, they notice the receiver dangling loosely from the phone box. Soon thereafter, a car stops and a policeman approached the kids.

But Eileen Bright never returns, and several days later, her body was found off the road, stabbed to death, with an unusual looking bloodstained knife discovered nearby. The case was never solved.

Majorly Abandoned

But things get even worse for the kids when their father, unable to bear his grief any longer, “goes out for milk” and never returns, abandoning his children.

Fast forward three years to 2001. The children are living alone pretending that their father is still at home, so they don’t get taken into the social services system. The children mislead their neighbors into believing that Mr. Bright is often away for days at a time working.

So having to fend for themselves, Jack, who’s exceptionally resourceful, is taught the art of burglary and ends up being quite adept at breaking and entering, stealing food for family survival. He’s doing his best to provide for his siblings, but it’s not an easy life for any of them.

Jack starts to think more about his mother’s death, and he is filled with rage at the fact that his mother’s murderer was never caught. All he wants is justice for his mom. Then one night while cat burglarizing a house, he finds a clue, and Jack’s life begins to change.

Enter Catherine

Meanwhile across town, heavily pregnant Catherine wakes up to a noise in her house. Her husband Adam is out of town on business, so she is alone and a very scared. She calls down the stairs, threatening and shouting at the burglar who then flees.

When she returns to her bedroom, she finds a knife threatening note beside her bed that reads, “I could have killed you.” Strangely enough, instead of calling the police, she hides the knife and decides to do nothing.

Enter Goldilocks

We then get introduced to a third plot-line in which the police have over a hundred of unsolved burglaries on their books at the hands of a burglar, nicknamed “Goldilocks” because he only comes when the homeowners are away and not only does he steal, but he sleeps in their beds, eats their food, takes a bath and basically makes himself at home.

Bringing it all together

We then learn how these three storylines are related, though it takes a while for these plot threads in the book to converge. But when they do, the tension escalates as long-buried secrets come to light.

In my opinion, Jack’s character really made this story. Here we have a 14-year-old boy thrust into a parent role without the necessary resources that an adult has access to.

Thus, he has to come up with creative ways to support his siblings. His emotions as he struggled with the burden of putting food on the table and protecting his sisters all the while struggling with his anger and grief was heart-wrenching at times and made for an intense reading experience.

I couldn’t help but fall in love with his character and couldn’t help but root for him and hope that he somehow finds closure with his mom’s murder.

I also really admired the way that even though only a child himself, stepped up to the plate and did whatever he had to do to survive, even though most of it was outside of the law.

Lack of Twists and Turns

I enjoyed how the story was told from several different character’s perspectives, and it really worked in this story. But what I found interesting — especially in a crime thriller — was how the author doesn’t rely on twists and turns to keep the reader interested and move the story forward.

In fact, I figured out who the murderer was before even halfway through the book, and I figured that I was probably wrong and expected a huge twist. I wasn’t wrong, and there wasn’t a huge, shocking twist.

Not Really a “Whodunnit”

It then struck me later on that this story wasn’t about figuring out “who done it” but rather the actual mystery was about how Jack, along with the detectives, find a way to link the suspected killer to Eileen Bright’s murder and pull up enough proof for an arrest and conviction.

Not that’s not to say there weren’t surprises because there were a couple of surprising reveals along the way. There were just no major shockers or plot twists that we often see in this genre.

What especially struck me about this books was the vividness of place as well as the characters. I could feel the sweltering heat as the children walked along the highway in search of their mother. The author really had a knack for creating vibrant and evocative settings and realistic, passionate and memorable characters that leaped off the page.

Final Verdict

Snap was a clever and engaging story that I ended up loving. It’s a multi-layered, meticulously plotted tale filled with quirky, original characters and a gripping plot – and at the center of it all, is a family all by destroyed by the pain of one crushing, vicious act.

This story drew me in immediately and after I figured out that it was in fact, not a “whodunnit” story, relaxed and enjoyed the ride.

Snap was a strong character-driven story about senseless loss, grief, violence, courage, heartbreak, and betrayal, but also about hope, survival, kindness and the love of family.

Oh, and there was also the theme of snap decisions which ran throughout the story — and how such hastily made decisions can ultimately change the course of our entire lives in a single moment.

Though Snap was a slow-burner and wasn’t filled with one action-packed scene after another, it kept me turning the page, mainly because of the realistic and relatable characters, with tension building slowing and steadily throughout the story. Additionally, it painted a vivid portrait of how characters manage to cope even in the most nightmarish of situations.

Now would I say this is a prize-worthy story at the Man Booker Prize level? I don’t really think so. Though the story is engaging, well-structured and undoubtedly worthy of a read, I’ve read far more exciting and thrilling crime novels than this one. I’ll be curious to see if it makes the shortlist. But regardless, I’m glad I read Snap. It was an enjoyable, satisfying read and ended up giving it 4.5 stars.

You can check out Snap here at Amazon or at The Book Depository.