Review: Snapshot by Craig Robertson (4/5)

I read Craig Robertson's first book last year and loved it. There was a long gap between finishing that and starting this book however and much of that was probably due to the reviews for it on both Goodreads and Amazon. I have lost count of how many books reviews I have read either slating a book or saying it wasn't very good only to then read the book myself and feel the opposite. I feel that this book was so much better than reviews would have you believe, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Rachel Narey is one of the main characters and she featured in the previous book. I can't for the life of me however remember any of the other characters but I have read about 100 books since then so it's to be expected! It can be read as a standalone book, it does contain minor spoilers from the first book but it isn't really a 'sequel'. 

Tony Winter is a police photographer and is the main character in this book. Or one of them. He's the person we read the most about throughout the book anyway and the character that we follow. It's interesting to read a crime fiction book from the point of view of someone like Tony. Usually it's a predictable case of one chapter being written following the police, another following the killer and perhaps one which is a chapter from 20 years ago or so telling you something which will make no sense until further on in the book. What it essentially means is we as a reader are as confused as Tony, what leads do the police have? Tony's girlfriend is police as is his best friend but that doesn't mean they tell him everything whereas usually we follow the police and the killer and pretty much know the whole story. So in that way it was certainly a more enjoyable read.

The premise for the story was a good one too. Much like the Dexter series where he kills only bad people, the people being killed here were all connected to the drugs trade and so nobody really felt any sympathy for them. Does that mean however that it's okay to kill them? Of course not but it doesn't stop people from thinking it. The only thing I would say is that it was kind of obvious who the killer was and why although this was improved a bit with the little twist at the end that I didn't see coming.

Overall I felt the chapters could've been shorter, I'm a big fan of short chapters which end on cliffhangers and don't like leaving chapters unfinished! The writing was spot on, the scenes with Tony especially were the most vivid and descriptive. His fascination with photographing dead bodies and the scenes around them become clear later on in the book. I will definitely be looking to read Craig's other two books ASAP.