Close to Home

Cara Hunter's Adam Fawley series is a crime and thriller highlight for me and I know I'm going to love each book. I came to the series on book three and whilst I always intended to read books one and two, I never felt I had missed out. However, book seven is on the way in February 2025 and as it returns to the case in book one I felt the time was right to read the book that started it all.

Eight year old Daisy Mason has gone missing from a party at her family home. DI Adam Fawley and his team are called in to investigate and right from the start there are strong suspicions as to what might have happened to Daisy. It was nice to see how the series started and the roles of each member of the police team. I recognised them all from later show more books and there were also some characters who have developed more fully throughout the progression of the series.

The use of emails, transcripts, newspaper reports, forums etc is a common device in Hunter's books and I do love to see this mixture of formats. The lack of chapters may dismay some readers but trust me when I say that this book is very fast-paced and there are plenty of stopping points. In fact, I think defined chapters would have actually slowed the pace for me.

This is an excellent crime/police procedural novel and the start of what has become an auto-read series for me. I didn't see the clever ending coming and I'm really looking forward to reading Making a Killing to see how Hunter brings Daisy's case back to life. show less

This is a debut novel for this author and I have to say that she told a twisting tale with plenty of reveals as the story proceeds and that kept me reading and guessing. It was one of those books that made you choose a different suspect about every 10 pages...but I really didn’t commit to the real conclusion until only a few pages before the end...and I was wrong. The author did an incredible job of throwing out numerous red herrings that seem not only plausible, but entirely likely. I liked DI Adam Fawley even though he had a tragic backstory. He was a great cop and a good man at heart. A great start to what will be a very good series.

Eight year old Daisy goes missing from the garden during a family party. Adam leads the police investigation.

I found this a page turner until the last quarter, which dragged a bit. The transcripts of interviews and threads from Facebook and Twitter provided excellent variation in the narration. I did have a few quibbles:

SPOILERS

How did the prologue fit into the narrative?
I don't like it when the police are duped.
The leap to suspecting Sharon on the basis of one newspaper clipping seemed a stretch.
Why didn't Leo eventually confirm the scene with the cardigan in the kitchen?

The ending was a disappointment.

The narration of the plot in this book was slightly confusing because it was a little all over the place. But the plot itself was quite mysterious and gripping that I kept reading and didn’t want to put the down.

While the investigation and all the detective procedures were great, the ending was such a shocker. The ending was filled with coincidences that it’s really impossible to believe.

Since this is the first book of the DI Adam Fawley series, I am quite excited to read the next book and see how the series progresses.

Holy. Moly!

Close to Home by Cara Hunter is one wildly epic ride that mystery and thriller lovers will absolutely be OBSESSED with! I sure was!

Eight-year-old Daisy Mason suddenly vanishes during her parents party. When the investigation about her disappearance begins, things seem fishy. The family is strange, there's no clear leads and something just isn't right... There were tons of guests at this backyard barbecue - friends, family, school mates. Could one of them taken Daisy? The police force won't stop until they locate this youngling.

For my first point, I did NOT see this ending coming. There was an inkling there, but I was never fully convinced of which way this story was going to go. Cara set this story up so wonderfully that show more there was never a dull moment and my inner Detective was constantly at work.

I also really appreciated how Cara slowly unwound the story behind this dysfunctional family. They aren't what they appear to be, and slowly but surely we see what's truly going on behind the scenes. Because of this, my theories about what happened were constantly being molded and changed, which was really fun! Throw in the fast-paced nature, the epic Tweets and News Reports and the character dynamics presented and you've got one amazing book.

My biggest negative about this book was that there was no chapters. This book was continuous which led to me being unsure of where to stop. There are breaks in the story, but I like having a full stop at a chapter. This doesn't affect the story at all, it's more of a personal pet peeve.

Another note: This book features child pornography, child kidnapping and abuse, and potential child murder. It's not for the light-hearted. Reader beware!

I can honestly say I'm surprised this book doesn't have more ratings, reviews and people talking about it. It's one of the best books I've read in a long time! This book needs to get in the hands of readers because Cara Hunter is marvelously talented! Cat and mouse tales like these are just splendid.

Overall, DI Adam Fawley should be among the top mystery books out there. I'm not kidding - it was one of the best I've read in a very long time, and I read a fair about of thriller, suspense and mystery books. I'd highly recommend this! 110% recommendation! I haven't had this much fun in a mystery in a very long time.

Five out of five stars.

I received an ARC version of this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. show less

DI Adam Fawley of the Thames Valley Police and his wife, Alex, have suffered an unspeakable loss. Although Adam is burdened by guilt and grief, he and his team of investigators are now preoccupied with a new and troubling case. An eight-year-old girl named Daisy Mason has vanished. She was supposedly last seen at a party that her parents hosted at their house. Law enforcement officials and volunteers search for the child, to no avail. After interviewing Daisy’s parents, brother, teacher, and friends, Adam, DC Verity Everett, DC Chris Gislingham, and Acting DS Gareth Quinn still have unanswered questions. They suspect that certain witnesses may be lying or withholding vital information.

Fawley is a tortured soul who sometimes loses show more focus because of haunting memories that give him little peace. Nevertheless, he is a conscientious police officer who does everything in his power to trace Daisy’s steps on the last day that she was seen. Daisy’s mother and father, Sharon and Barry Mason, are troubled individuals whose odd behavior suggests that they have something to hide. We learn that the Daisy was pretty, bright, and imaginative, but she was also unhappy at home. We wonder: Did a random predator abduct her? Did she foolishly get in a car with someone she trusted? As the days pass, Adam and his colleagues redouble their efforts to discover what happened to Daisy.

Hunter uses flashbacks effectively to enlighten us about past events and keep us guessing about the story’s outcome. She depicts Fawley, Everett, Gislingham, and Quinn as dedicated professionals with distinct and colorful personalities. The fascinatingly complex and suspenseful plot involves dark secrets, dysfunctional families, and the difficulties inherent in meting out justice fairly. Eventually, the police unearth evidence that points to a possible suspect. Then, unexpectedly, the author stuns us with an improbable but striking epilogue that few will see coming. show less

During a costume party at her home, 8-year old Daisy Mason disappears. The entire family acts strange. The mother is obsessed with appearances. The father is coldly distant. And the 10-year old boy seems a bit too withdrawn and quiet. DI Adam Fawley knows something is amiss and he is determined to find out what happened to the bubbly, beautiful little girl. Did someone in her family do her harm? Has she been abducted? Did a stranger do this, or someone else at the party? Little does he know just how horrible and vile things really are......

OMG! This book is amazing! The story grabbed my total interest from the beginning, and the suspense kept going strong until the very last word. The story moves along at a good pace, and there are show more plenty of suspects. I like DI Fawley as a main character. He's had a lot of pain in his life including the death of his own child, and that makes him go after this case with determination. The author does a great job of portraying these totally crappy parents. I wanted to jump into the book and punch both of them. The mother is completely narcissistic. And the father is a total Wanker (yes, with a capital w). There are some magnificent twists and turns of plot in this crime story....I didn't know exactly what had happened until the very end. I LOVE suspense novels that always have that one last surprise in store. Just lovely!

This is book 1 in a series featuring DI Adam Fawley. I will definitely be reading more of this series!! (and yes, that gets two exclamation points) This is Cara Hunter's debut novel. Awesome job! The second DI Fawley book, In The Dark, will be coming out in July 2018. Can't wait to read it!

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Penguin Books via First To Read. All opinions expressed -- including capital letters and extra exclamation points -- are entirely my own.** show less