Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2018 A thrilling new novel from the author of Rubbernecker. 'The best crime novel I've read in a very long time.' – Val McDermid Snap decisions can be dangerous… 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. Jack's in charge, she'd said. I won't be long. But she doesn't come back. She never comes back. And life as the children know it is changed for ever. Three years later, Jack is still in charge - of his sisters, of supporting them all, of making sure nobody knows they're alone in the house, and - quite suddenly - of finding out the truth about what happened to his mother… Described as ‘Thomas Harris crossed with Kate Atkinson’ by the Daily Mirror who called her a novelist who ‘has shifted the boundaries of what makes a truly gripping, terrifying thriller, Belinda Bauer is a crime writer with a knack for getting under the skin of her characters. Her latest thriller, which considers the devastating long-term impact of momentary snap judgements, confirms her as one of the most exciting novelist writing today.