Our Take

The Impossible Thing showcases Belinda Bauer's exceptional ability to craft compelling crime fiction that explores unusual criminal worlds with both authenticity and narrative sophistication. Following her award-winning mysteries like The Beautiful Dead, Bauer demonstrates her versatility by tackling the fascinating and little-known world of illegal egg collecting, creating a thriller that educates as well as entertains. Her dual-timeline structure effectively connects Victorian-era crimes with contemporary trafficking, showing how certain criminal enterprises persist across generations driven by the same human obsessions. The novel's exploration of the egg collecting underworld echoes the specialized criminal milieus found in The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant, but with Bauer's distinctive crime fiction sensibility and meticulous research. Her character development, particularly the relationship between Patrick and Nick, provides the emotional anchor that keeps readers invested in both the mystery and the broader themes about human nature and obsession. Bauer's prose combines the accessibility needed for crime fiction with the depth required for literary exploration of complex moral questions. Perfect for readers who enjoy crime novels that delve into specialized worlds, historical mysteries that connect past and present, and thrillers that combine educational elements with compelling plotting. This book confirms Bauer's status as one of Britain's most innovative crime writers, capable of finding fresh angles on the genre while maintaining the tension and satisfaction that mystery readers expect.