Snatch!

by Rennie Airth

Everything was going fine for you, Harry. You had a decent income from trading in phony passports, a lovely French mistress, and all the pleasures of Paris at your fingertips. Then Morland showed up. You should have been wary from the first moment you saw him. You should have ordered him to leave, but you didn't. You listened to his line, and that led to an apartment in Rome, a fantastic chick name Paula, a menacing ex-Nazi named Herman, a pimp named Rifai, and an elaborate plan for a royal kidnapping to net you more money than you ever dreamed of. But the dream is over, Harry, and the most horrifying nightmare of your life has only just begun...

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime

256 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1969

About the author

Rennie Airth was born in South Africa and has worked as a foreign correspondent for Reuters. The first novel in his John Madden trilogy, River of Darkness, was published in 1999 to huge critical acclaim, was shortlisted for four crime fiction awards and won the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière in France. The sensational sequel was The Blood-Dimmed Tide, and The Dead of Winter forms the final part of the trilogy.

Currently resides in Italy.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been a favorite book of mine since it was published as a Reader's Digest condensed book in the early 1970's. I have re-read it every five years or so since then and recently purchased a copy of the "full" book from Amazon. The story is a humorous tale of a not-so-bad, bad guy named Harry who has historically dealt in the stolen and resold passport business. He gets talked into kidnapping the baby of a wealthy man by Jonathan Morland an old crony he would rather not do business with again. Ever. However, the story unfolds and Harry find that he and Morland will be working with the beautiful Paula and a German bodyguard, Herman, who works for the wealthy man. Harry and Jonathan rent an Italian baby named Alberto and Harry, Paula and Alberto pose as a family in the hopes that when the wealthy man's baby is kidnapped, no one will notice the switch in babies. Well, you know how babies are. They are all different in looks and personality. Where Albert is a plump, happy little guy, the other baby is not. He's fretful and whiny and does not eat with the gusto that Alberto does. I won't give away the rest of the story. It's good and the ending is great. This book would have made a great movie.

[Karl Jorgenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Airth's debut novel in 1969. He wrote another that century, and then several excellent historical police procedurals this century. This novel is a brilliant, clever, funny crime caper in the same league as my favorite author, Donald Westlake. While Airth was writing this, Westlake was likely writing 'The Hot Rock.'
'Snatch!' holds up well over 50 years. The narrator is Harry, a young man migrating from scam to scam to avoid hard work. Of course he has a sexist view of women and contemptuous opinions of everyone who is not British. This is as it should be for this character. Harry is roped into a scheme to kidnap a wealthy gangster's baby in Rome by Morland, an older man whose overly-complicated schemes always go wrong and leave Harry broke and on the run. Joining them are Hermann, a large, strong German who misses the time he was in the war, and Paula, the designated woman to care for the kidnapped baby.
At every turn things go wrong and are patched with ever-thinner patches; at every turn Harry becomes more frustrated and more convinced the enterprise will end in disaster. Hilarious on every page and worth the read.
My Minneapolis library copy of this book is from the 'Companion Book Club, Borough Green, Sevenoaks, Kent.' The printed price is 7/9 to members only, which might be 7 shillings, nine pence? Huh. I wonder how and what the library paid for this.
Airth has obviously had some other profession for most of his life. A pity he didn't write more of these.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This comic crime caper is one of my favourite books of all-time - fast-paced light-hearted entertainment with a wonderful cast of small-time crooks, most of whom turn out to have soft hearts. I was reminded of it recently in a conversation with a bookish friend and couldn't resist yet another re-read. Some of the attitudes are outdated now, of course, since it was written in the 1960s, but it's still great fun. If you've read any of Rennie Airth's more recent books, which tend to be slow and thoughtful, this one will surprise you. For a long time I genuinely thought there must be two authors with the same name, but no, it really is the same one. Back on the shelf now, till the next time I need a medicinal dose of Harry, Morland, Paula, Herman and baby Alberto!

It's been out of print for decades, but if you're interested, the above-mentioned bookish friend tells me it's available to borrow from Internet Archive.

[Scilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

This earlier book (1969) by Rennie Airth is very different from his John Madden thrillers. It is somewhat humorous tale of Harry Brighton, who gets roped into the kidnapping of a baby from a rich Italian widower, Rifai, by John Morland. They arrive in Rome and Harry meets the others in the caper which include a beautiful young woman, Paula, and one of Rifai's burly guards, Hermann. They rent an apartment and a baby, Alberto, and pretend that Paula, Harry, and Alberto are a family, with the idea that when the babies are switched, the neighbors won't realize. However, everyone loves Alberto, including the neighbors, Paula, Harry, and even Rifai.

[Sarahaacton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my all time fave books! I think I've only read the reader's digest condensed version, but it's sooooo good. And so funny! I re-read it every few years just because I love the narrative voice and the humor.

[Paul Beijer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Likeable Brit in Italy, with a thriving business in forged passports, lets himself get involved in the kidnapping of a gangster's baby with life-changing results for himself. A comic gem, very different from Rennie Airth's later John Madden novels. Highly recommended!

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a surprise! I came to this early work of Airth's (1969) after reading his John Madden series, so it was news to me that he had written other books prior to those. This one is NOTHING like the mystery series; it is very funny and begs to be brought to the silver screen. I can just visualize Michael Caine in the lead (it would have been a perfect role for him in 1969!)
Anyway, the clever plot revolves around two petty criminals, Harry & Morland, who aren't really friends but who have done illegal deals together, always with disastrous results. Harry is sick of doomed schemes and tries to avoid being dragged into another one of Morland's plots, but because Harry makes fake passports for a living, he is vulnerable to blackmail and so he goes along with the new plan to kidnap a super-criminal's baby. As the caper develops, other members of the "gang" include a redheaded bombshell & a former Nazi soldier-turned-bodyguard. Added to that, is the genius bonus of a duplicate baby boy named "Alberto," who charms everyone! The snatch lurches along, more or less according to plan, until the gang finds out that switching the adorable Alberto for the screaming, whining criminal's boy was a strategic mistake! How it all resolves may be predictable, but getting there is all the fun! I romped through this book in one easy day.

[Michael Pilgaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hehe... underholdende bog om hvordan en kidnapning også kan gå galt.

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

First novel from Airth who later wrote the John Madden series is very rough around the edges and never really grabbed me, a quick read no doubt but one that will be forgotten pretty quickly.

[Alexia García · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una gran novela, impredecible y divertida

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hilarious, enjoyable read. I was hooked on the first page and knew it was going to be a charmer. What fun. Highly recommend. I had a smile on my face throughout.

[Vuely · Rating 1 out of 5]

Este libro es un timo. En la sinopsis te dicen que irá de equis cosa y que la historia es divertida por las consecuencias de los actos de los bebés y eso no sale en ningún momento.

Dan a entender que encontrarás algo que realmente no hay.

Decepcionante.

[Harry Bartlett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this while on vacation, a very old paperback copy, just a random find on a book shelf - I hadn't read a whole fiction novel in years and this hit the spot. Very humorous, light but with some nice character nuances.

[Emily]

I read this in a volume of condensed books of 1969, put out by Reader's Digest, and I would love to read the whole thing, but I can't find a copy!

[Betty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy read, and entertaining (also predictable)

[Diane Wachter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Snatch, Rennie Airth, RDC-B V78, Summer 1969, 1972.