Stevie‘s review of No Way Out (DI Fawley, Book 3) by Cara Hunter
Contemporary Police Procedural published by Penguin 22 Mar 19
Three books in, I’m already very fond of DI Adam Fawley and his team. I’m also a great fan of the way different storytelling styles are brought together to move the plot forward, as well as chapters that either get right inside Fawley’s head or follow one or more of the others around at a slight remove, we also get extracts from online and print news sources and transcripts of interviews and video footage. So far, the main factor linking the cases and the characters’ background plots has been children, those directly affected by crime and those within the team’s families – including Fawley’s deceased son and the problems within his marriage resulting from the unexpected death of a much longed-for child. This third book follows that theme as two youngsters – apparently left home alone in the Christmas holidays – fall victim to a serious fire that soon transpires to have been started deliberately.
Late at night on the fourth of January, the Fire Service are called to a blazing building by residents of neighbouring houses. Although they are able to pull the two children out – the younger boy dead, the older barely alive – before the house collapses, there is no sign of either parent or any other responsible adult. As Fawley’s team begin their investigation the next day, they find that neither parent is contactable. The boys’ maternal grandparents, living some distance away, are unable to provide any clues as to their whereabouts, nor is the children’s uncle when he makes contact from a boat still further away.
Understandably, there is a great deal of media interest in the case, some of which is reproduced, complete with online comments, throughout the story. Alongside the investigation, readers also learn that the seemingly perfect family, as initially reported to Fawley and the other investigating officers, had a number of ongoing problems. These were both helped and exacerbated during the previous year by the actions of a young man, who came to help with the garden but then gradually became a bigger part of the family’s lives – particularly, it seems, by helping to take care of and play with the children. As the body-count grows, Fawley learns that the man had another connection to the family and their house that he had not disclosed to them. However, he is nowhere to be found and concerns grow as to whether he is the perpetrator or another victim of the tragedy.
In the background, Fawley and his wife have temporarily separated following a seemingly insurmountable difference of opinion over whether or not to adopt a child, following their past difficulties conceiving and then losing their son. Other members of the team also have romantic and professional complications to deal with, and there’s the possibility of a new connection for at least one of them.
I loved this book so much. Several of its twists and turns caught me out, but all made sense in the end. I’m not sure how patiently I can wait for the next book, but in the meantime, I’ve tracked down a radio series mentioned in the story and in the author’s notes which may shed some extra light on Fawley’s background and domestic situation.
Grade: A
Summary:
It’s one of the most disturbing cases DI Fawley has ever worked.
The Christmas holidays, and two children have just been pulled from the wreckage of their burning home in North Oxford. The toddler is dead, and his brother is soon fighting for his life.
Why were they left in the house alone? Where is their mother, and why is their father not answering his phone?
Then new evidence is discovered, and DI Fawley’s worst nightmare comes true.
Because this fire wasn’t an accident. It was murder.
And the killer is still out there…
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
