Release Date: May 25th 2023
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 400
Find it on: Goodreads. BookDepository. Waterstones.
Source: I received an E-ARC of this book through Netgalley
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Synopsis
Mega-bestselling British crime novelist Cara Hunter makes her big American debut with a shocking thriller about a cold case, a fictional Netflix true crime series, and the family caught in the middle.
SIX EPISODES. ONE KILLER.
It was a case that gripped the nation. In December 2003, Luke Ryder, the stepfather of acclaimed filmmaker Guy Howard (then aged 10), was found dead in the garden of their suburban family home.
Luke Ryder’s murder has never been solved. Guy Howard’s mother and two half-sisters were in the house at the time of the murder–but all swear they saw nothing. Despite a high-profile police investigation and endless media attention, no suspect was ever charged.
But some murder cases are simply too big to forget…
Now comes the sensational new Netflix series Infamous, dedicated to investigating–and perhaps cracking–this famous cold case. The production team will re-examine testimony, re-interview witnesses, and once again scour the evidence. The family will speak. The key players will be reunited–on camera. The truth will come out.
Are you ready to see it?
Review
Cara Hunter’s DI Fawley series is one of my all time favourite thriller series so when I heard she was releasing an all new standalone novel, I was dying to read it. This compulsive and unputdownable thriller tells the story of the mysterious murder of Luke Ryder who was killed in his own back garden in 2003. The case was all over the news, but it was never solved. Now his stepson is working alongside the team of the hit Netflix series Infamous, in an attempt to discover what really happened to Luke. Bringing in a crack team of experts, they will interview old suspects, talk to the family and perhaps finally uncover the truth.
I made the mistake of starting this book late at night, thinking I would read a few pages and then go to bed. From the outset, I was completely and utterly hooked and I ended up staying up till the wee hours of the morning because this story was just so captivating. The story is told in a mixed media format so there are interviews, transcripts, newspaper clippings, and documents. I really enjoyed this style of storytelling and I think it had me turning the pages faster and faster. The story is quite quick paced and the tense atmosphere had me completely glued to the page.
I loved the way Hunter executed this story. As we got to know the different experts and members of the family I had absolutely no idea who to trust and it stayed that way right until the very end. One of the things I love about the DI Fawley series is the shocking twists that I never see coming and it was exactly the same in Murder in the Family. I also found the dynamics between the experts really interesting, especially as information about the murder was revealed and it began to look like not everyone was who they seemed to be on the surface. The ending was of course a shock, but very cleverly executed.
Murder in the Family is a compelling, page-turner of a read and if you’re a fan of Cara Hunter you’re going to absolutely love this one.
The DI Adam Fawley series is without a doubt my favourite police procedural series. Everything about this series is so well done and Hope to Die is another terrific installment. In Hope to Die we follow Fawley and the team as they are called to investigate a shooting at a remote farmhouse. Shootings don’t happen often and there are a few things about the scene that don’t seem quite right. As the team dig deeper they soon discover that this was far from a burglary gone wrong and may have connections to one of the country’s most infamous crimes.
Cara Hunter is back with an all-new thriller in the DI Fawley series. This time Fawley and the team are dealing with a sexual assault case at Oxford University, but the victim is a six-foot rugby player and the accused is a professor at the top of her field. As the team work to uncover the truth they soon learn there’s more to this case than meets the eye. As the team race against the clock, the body of a missing woman is discovered and as the investigation begins it seems the only real suspect is Fawley himself.
When a young girl is abducted off the street, DI Adam Fawley and his team jump to investigate this horrific incident. The young girl refuses to press charges and doesn’t want to talk to the police. The team get the feeling she’s hiding something – but what could it be? Another girl goes missing and suddenly a case from Fawley’s past is back to haunt him – but could the two be linked and will they find the missing girl before it’s too late?
The Bibliophile Chronicles 