I am delighted to share my review today of Close to Home by Cara Hunter. This is the 7th book in the DI Fawley series, and it is the first one I have read. I don’t want to mention names, but, I can hear certain other Bloggers that are reading this and shaking their heads! 🤣😉 I hope that by mentioning that I have read Murder in the Family by this author I do gain some brownie points back🤞🙏
Expected publication date – 13th Feb 2025
My huge thanks to William Morrow Books and Harper Fiction for accepting my request to read this title via NetGalley.
DI Adam Fawley series comes a brand-new gripping thriller in which a true-crime TV show turns up the heat on a controversial case from Fawley’s past…
When Nick Vincent, producer of true-crime show Infamous, hears about an explosive new angle on a high-profile case—the 2016 murder of an eight-year-old girl in Oxford—he leaps at the chance to send a researcher to verify the claims.
Two months later, a dog walker discovers a woman’s body, bound and buried in a shallow grave in the woods. Forensic evidence links the corpse to the disappearance of that same child.
DCI Adam Fawley, the original investigating officer, is called in to run the enquiry. And he remembers the case well—he arrested the child’s mother for murder. A murder he now knows she didn’t commit.
The investigation raises more questions than answers. What connects the two crimes? Where has the dead girl been all these years? How did she manage to disappear? For Adam Fawley, this is personal…
MY REVIEW
I have not read any books in this series, but I have read Murder in the Family by this author and I really enjoyed the mixed media format. I know that some readers do not like this format, but I enjoy it a lot. I had to change over to my Kindle Fire to see the graphics as my basic Kindle reader struggled a little with it.
The story is very twisted, dark and absolutely devious from the beginning to the end. The synopsis does a great job of highlighting the key facts; the death of an 8-year-old from several years ago, the discovery of a body, forensic evidence suggests it is from the dead 8-year-old!
This is the 7th book in this series, the case of the dead girl is one in which DI Adam Fawley was part of the original investigation in which the girl’s mother was arrested and imprisoned for the murder of her daughter.
The story had me hooked from the beginning and I really liked the way the author gave a cast list and their roles. I didn’t bother with this as I am new to the series. But, when I have read books in the past that have a cast list I find it incredibly helpful.
Fawley is joining the case with the recently discovered body as well as looking into the old case, this could cause upset as he is effectively running an investigation on someone else’s turf. While this is mentioned, the professional attitude of those involved is brought to the front, but it was nice to see some expected anticipation.
Working with a mix of new and old staff, Fawley is soon in the midst of things. Several characters are introduced and the reason why the story of the 8-year-old has become to the forefront of a true crime show. There is also a character in this story that is an anonymous one, this one gives you chills as their account of things is told within a diary. The mixed media in this involves images, diary entries, and emails and as I mentioned at the start I do like this.
There are many things I want to mention about his story and I have rewritten a couple of these paragraphs but then deleted them as I think it will give things away. There is a lot of subterfuge, second guessing and twists. When you think you have your head around things, the author knocks the wind out of your sails and then you off on a different tangent.
I really enjoyed this, and while it is an advantage to have read previous books in the series, especially as the first book deals with the death and investigation of the dead 8-year-old!
This is one for fans of crime, thriller, police procedural and psychological thrillers. I enjoyed the twisted nature and the suspense that built up as well as the story line itself. It is one I would definitely recommend.
Many thanks for reading my post, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx
