Cara Hunter - In the Dark

From the author of the massive bestseller 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. 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 ...

Comment: This is the second installment in the DI Adam Fawley series by Cara Hunter. I had read the first book in the series by pure chance, an impulsive choice at the library back in November of 2025, but it was a good read and I felt like reading the next one, at least.

In this story, the police team is investigating the case of a woman and her child, found in a basement, with clear signs of prolonged hunger and thirst.The house they are found at belongs to an old teacher, who has some sort of dementia, and investigating him reveals he divorced his wife fora younger woman, although both women are now dead. What is the connection between these people? How did the woman get locked in the basement? Who is the child's father? How could the neighbors not see anything? And does it seem that a woman missing for two years is also connected to this house?

The plot of this book was an incredible exercise in twists and discoveries. the author must have had a lot of fun thinking and plotting this story because I really could not see the big twist coming until the obvious moment it was revealed.

The story happens some time after the events of the first book, and there are some hints about what happened then, but not to the point in which a new reader would not understand. This plot is isolated from the other, but the police team is the same, so it is to be expected that many references are continuous or sequential about them and their personal lives.

The case investigated was actually very interesting and I did not see the twists coming, which made this story very refreshing, even though the secrets aren't that original or the characters acting on them that special or amazing. Still, the author was able to present this in such a way that the sequence of events and how things are shared to the reader make the surprises really well planned and timed. In terms of plot, I think this book was a lot more impactful than the first one.

I also liked the new insights into the main characters' lives and their behavior at home and at work. Some are clearly meant to be characters we look for and root for (like Adam, or officers Everett and Sommer) and others are meant to be the morally grey ones, such as officer Quinn. The juxtaposition of all these people and their respective personalities helped to sustain the story and strength of the characterization of everyone. I cannot say I liked them all, but I do feel interested in them and in what will be there for them in the next story.

However, in spite of the good elements, and even some better ones here than in the first installment, I did give the same grade to both books. I cannot pinpoint exactly what I feel could have elevated this more, considering how incredible some elements truly were, but perhaps the atmosphere wasn't always very likable or the characters didn't make choices I think would be consistent with other aspects of their personalities. I confess I wasn't fond of the plot device in which Adam and his wife actively participate in a specific situation related to the boy found with his mother in the basement. I understand why it matters for the characters as they further develop, but I didn't like the unlikeliness of this situation.

Still, this was a fascinating story and I read it in practically one day. I'm fully invested in reading the next too, when I can.

Grade: 8/10

Cara Hunter - Close to Home

Someone took Daisy Mason.
Someone YOU KNOW.
Twists galore, a gripping race against time, and police characters you'll love - if you were addicted to Broadchurch and Line of Duty, then CLOSE TO HOME is for you.
How can a child go missing without a trace?
Last night, 8-year-old Daisy Mason disappeared from her parents' summer party. No one in the quiet suburban street saw anything - or at least that's what they're saying.
DI Adam Fawley is trying to keep an open mind. But he knows that nine times out of ten, it's someone the victim knew.
That means someone is lying.
And that Daisy's time is running out...

Comment: I brought this book by impulse from the library. I knew some people I know had read and liked it, but I had no expectation about it before starting.

The Masons are having a small party in their backyard and it's hours before they realize Daisy, their 8 year old, is missing. The police starts an investigation and the parents appeal on TV but the more time passes by, everyone knows Daisy's chances are fewer and fewer. However, as the police starts connecting the dots, some weird details start to come to light. Are the parents telling the whole truth? Did someone see something they didn't tell? Was Daisy in danger before this party begun? And what is the Masons other child, Leo, hiding? Time does not wait for Daisy, but is the truth closer to home than anyone would believe?

I liked reading this novel. It was an easy, fluid read and the story grabbed me completely. I had never tried anything by this author but now I feel compelled to read the next story in this series, for it seems this is the first book in a series featuring the main police detective, Adam Fawley.

The plot is quite simple, young Daisy is missing and all of those who were at the party claim they had seen her running around with the other kids, but as the police investigates, we realize it wasn't like this after all. Of course, everyone is a suspect, and I did have my own theory but I never imagined the actual road this plot takes towards the end. I will say the author was quite imaginative, even though there is one detail that I felt was a bit hard to accept. Not that it cannot be so, but it isn't easy to accept it from a social POV.

Of course, the first people to be investigated are the parents, as any crime series viewer can attest, the closer family members are always somehow suspects. At first, some behavior seemed to suggest a certain status and personality, but it turns out these people have secrets and as we unravel them, they are revealed to be very different people from what they seemed, and I usually like these kinds of plots if the evolution/development is well established, has a recognizable pattern. I like it when there's some depth and psychological justification for the characters to act a certain way.

The police members were also captivating to follow, and not only because they seemed to interested in following protocol and in doing things properly. I also liked the hints at their individual personalities and backgrounds. One or two seem to have their quirks and/or secretive past which I assume will be handy as the series progress, but they seemed genuinely good people, without any weird or dark secrets that make them too distant or aloof to be likable. I hope things continue on this course in the next book.

I will share I never picture the actual resolution for this novel. This isn't the most complex investigation I've read about nor is this one of those intricate plots with lots of twists and elaborated webs of elements that we are supposed to be wowed. I liked it that the police investigated things in a believable manner and reached their conclusions in a way I think made sense, but this did happen as the secrets come to light, one by one. Still, the end was not what I imagined, and it made one or two scenes feel very differently, when I went back to re-read. Very clever without it being too brainy.

All things considered, this was an interesting read, with a lot of elements to keep it interesting until the end. I will read the next book for certain.

Grade: 8/10