Review
Praise for Blacklands: 'managed to glean the best word-of-mouth for any new crime novel in years' --Independent (Best Books of 2010)
`A remarkable achievement' --Independent, January 2012
`Surprise, of course, is the most potent aspect of suspense. And Belinda Bauer knows exactly how to manipulate that element, right until the very end. What's more, she's shown, not just how to keep surprise bubbling explosively away, but to do it with extraordinary dexterity, maturity and feeling' --Henry Sutton, Daily Mirror, January 2012
'Belinda Bauer hit the big time with the excellent Blacklands and continues to explore her theme of West Country cruelty and corruption, balancing the procedural and psychological aspects of crime. Once again she nails the petty grievances, prejudices and loyalties of village life, and shows how some law enforcers operate at the outer edge of competence' --Financial Times, January 2012
'Bauer has established a reputation for plunging her characters into unimaginable gore. Her third novel easily matches her previous efforts, exposing village bobby Jonas Holly...to events unprecedented in British crime fiction. The British countryside has never appeared so alien or so macabre.' --Sunday Times, January 2012
'Finders Keepers has an enjoyably creepy premise... But it's the book's humour that really shines. Bauer reveals her Gold Dagger-winning writing credentials in her neat skewering of everyday pomposities and her wry asides.' --Observer, January 2012
Book Description
Product Description
The eight-year-old boy had vanished from the car and - as if by slick, sick magic - had been replaced by a note on the steering wheel . . . 'You don't love him'...
At the height of summer a dark shadow falls across Exmoor. Children are being stolen from cars. Each disappearance is marked only by a terse note - a brutal accusation. There are no explanations, no ransom demands... and no hope.
Policeman Jonas Holly faces a precarious journey into the warped mind of the kidnapper if he's to stand any chance of catching him. But - still reeling from a personal tragedy - is Jonas really up to the task?
Because there's at least one person on Exmoor who thinks that, when it comes to being the first line of defence, Jonas Holly may be the last man to trust...
From the Inside Flap
At the height of summer a dark shadow falls across Exmoor. Children are being stolen. Each disappearance is marked only by a terse note - a brutal accusation.
There are no explanations, no ransom demands... and no hope.
Policeman Jonas Holly faces a precarious journey into the warped mind of the kidnapper if he's to stand any chance of catching him. But - still reeling from a personal tragedy - is Jonas really up to the task?
Because there's at least one person on Exmoor who thinks that, when it comes to being the first line of defence, Jonas Holly may be the last man to trust...
From the Back Cover
The eight-year-old boy had vanished from the car and - as if by slick, sick magic - had been replaced by a note on the steering wheel.
'You don't love him'...
About the Author
Belinda Bauer grew up in England and South Africa. She has worked as a journalist and screenwriter and her script The Locker Room earned her the Carl Foreman/Bafta Award for Young British Screenwriters. Her debut novel Blacklands earned her the CWA Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year. She lives in Wales and is currently working on her next novel.
