Review: In The Dark by Cara Hunter @penguinrandomhouse @CaraHunterBooks

In The Dark by Cara Hunter

Published by Penguin Randomhouse/Viking

Publication date 5th July 2018

448 pages

Crime fiction - Book #2 DI Adam Fawley Series

Book Description:

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEY'RE HIDING IN THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR?

From the author of CLOSE TO HOME, comes the second pulse-pounding DI Fawley crime thriller.

A woman and child are found locked in a basement room, barely alive...

No one knows who they are - the woman can't speak, and there are no missing persons reports that match their profile. And the elderly man who owns the house claims he has never seen them before.

The inhabitants of the quiet Oxford street are in shock - how could this happen right under their noses? But DI Adam Fawley knows that nothing is impossible.

And that no one is as innocent as they seem . . .

My thoughts:

I have to begin my review by saying that I received this book as an advance copy from the publisher but I can guarantee that this has absolutely no bearing on my views which follow. 

I left this book on the shelf for a number of weeks before picking it up purely due to the fact that I had read a fair few crime novels and psychological thrillers, got myself into a bit of a genre slump and needed a few lighter titles to get myself motivated again. But O...M...G!!! Once I started reading, well... what can I say? The pages just wouldn't turn quickly enough for me to find out what was going on.

A young, arrogant professional has bought a house and has plans to make it the best in the street.  The architects have been paid good money to get the plans drawn up and passed and now the builders are in making it all a reality.  That is until a misplaced chisel blow to the cellar wall causes progress to come to an abrupt halt. Nobody expected what they saw through the hole in the wall - least of all me!

Who is the young woman in the cellar next door and how long has she been there? The old guy who owns the house says he knows nothing about it, but how can that be possible - and why hasn't his social worker been aware of what has been happening beneath his feet?  And how - if at all - does the case link to the disappearance of another young woman years earlier? The questions just keep on rolling in your mind even when you have had to put the book down and do boring real life stuff.

The storyline feels like it goes in waves; the tension builds, questions pop up but go seemingly unanswered, then another fact is revealed or a possible scenario suggested and the reader is swept away in another totally different, yet seemingly linked direction leaving the loose ends hanging without resolution. 

The relationships between the detectives is another constant under-current which if you have read the first book in the series, Close To Home, you will be familiar with.  Old resentments simmer under the surface in the incident room and the new uniform officer helping on the case is causing a stir in some quarters with her sharp mind and willingness to get stuck in.  The story is exceptionally well-paced with the clues and discoveries being drip-fed at perfectly timed intervals right through from the first page to the last.  I defy anyone to suss out the details of this novel as they are so intricately written you won't even realise how relevant some of the facts are until the final page is turned and Hunter has delivered her signature flourish to the story. Pure brilliance. 

I loved Close to Home and wondered how on earth Cara Hunter would be able to top that debut novel, but boy has she stepped up a level with this second book in the series.  There are more plot twists and darkness than I thought possible in one novel and I cannot put into words how impressed I am with this author's writing.  I would easily rank her up with the likes of well established crime writers such as Peter James and Susan Hill.  I quite expect this series to be signed up for TV rights as I think it would transfer very well to the screen.

Bring on book 3 - I really cannot wait!

About the Author:

Cara Hunter is a writer who lives in Oxford, in a street not unlike those featured in her series of crime books. Her first book, Close to Home, was picked for the Richard and Judy Book Club, and this is her second featuring DI Adam Fawley and his team of detectives.