Cara Hunter's fast paced crime fiction, the third in the DI Adam Fawley series, with Thames Valley Police set in Oxford, is hugely compelling reading. In what is now her trademark style of including phone calls, emails, interviews, news websites and social media in the narrative, she provides a style that works brilliantly in immersing the reader in the story. In this police procedural, DI Fawley takes a more backseat role, and for good reason, he is an emotional wreck as a schism has opened with his wife, Alex, who has left him to stay with her sister. After the death of their son, Jake, Alex was pushing Adam to adopt, something he is not ready or capable of doing, leaving him terrified that this will signal the end of their marriage. This leaves his police team, led by Acting DS Chris Gislingham, demoted DC Quinn, DC Erica Somer, DC Verity Everett and others to play the primary and pivotal role in this most harrowing of investigations.
Southey Road in North Oxford is the home of the academic Michael Esmond, wife Samantha and their children, 10 year old Mattie and 3 year old Zachary. Over the festive season, a fatal fire at the house claims the life of Zachary, although Mattie is pulled out alive but it is not clear if he will survive. Michael is at a academic conference in London and the police hunt for Samantha. Right from the beginning the fire brigade suspect arson, who would want to commit such a heinous crime? In a narrative that goes back and forth in time, we become intimately acquainted with the Esmond family that includes Michael's carefree brother, Philip, who spends time sailing round the world, Michael's university colleagues, Samantha's severe post-natal depression, their employment of Harry who tends to their garden. DC Quinn is resentful and struggling to accept DS Gislingham leading the inquiry and has yet to come to terms with his demotion. The police struggle to locate Michael, and have to sift their way through a host of suspects before the horrifying truth begins to emerge.
I have begun to really like and appreciate Cara Hunter's style of writing, the way you see how the general public respond to the fatal house fire and their opinions on social media and news websites, and the insights, such as with the documentation, emails, interviews and more, into the police team's investigation. The slow reveals into this most disturbing of cases is expertly done and the impact it has on the police team, particularly on Adam given his personal tragedy, provide the team with the determination to get to the bottom of the case, despite the many obstacles they face. This is a chilling, utterly gripping crime fiction that grabs the reader so effectively that it keeps them glued to the novel right up to the final pages of the novel. Cara Hunter is fast developing a reputation as a must read crime writer! Many thanks to Penguin UK for an ARC.