Stevie‘s review of All The Rage (DI Adam Fawley, Book 4) by Cara Hunter
Contemporary Crime Fiction published by Penguin 26 Dec 19
In some senses, it’s hard to figure out what makes Oxford such a credible setting for murder mysteries and other police procedurals. If the real crime rate was a fraction that calculated from taking all the books and series as one, the tourist trade would have died off and few students would survive long enough to complete their degrees. On the other hand, it’s that very combination of short-term visitors, academics, and long-term ordinary residents that lends itself to such a wide range of imagined misdeeds. The cases in Cara Hunter’s novels are more likely to involve the latter class of inhabitants than either of the two former, and yet the misdeeds her protagonists investigate are anything but ordinary. And as for her characters’ personal lives, well, it’s a wonder they have time to keep track of everything else that’s going on around them.
Detective Inspector Adam Fawley is settling back into domestic bliss with his wife and daring to hope that her latest pregnancy will run according to plan, giving them the child they’ve longed for since the death of their son. He’s not told his colleagues as yet and has snuck off to attend an ultrasound scan, when the team’s new case is delivered to them. Faith Appleford, a popular teen fashion vlogger, has been found wandering in a state of confusion along a main road, showing every sign of having been kidnapped and assaulted. The report has not come from Faith or her family, however, but from the taxi driver who stopped to give Faith a lift home.
When Fawley and his team start to investigate, they find that Faith and her family want nothing to do with the case, and Fawley is particularly concerned because he’s strongly reminded of another case from earlier in his career in which several young women were killed or seriously assaulted. There was always a degree of doubt in some people’s minds as to whether the right man was convicted, and now a TV team are planning to do their own investigation into the evidence. When a second girl goes missing, the tension is really ramped up, and some members of Fawley’s team begin to wonder just how well they know both their boss and his conduct over that past case.
I enjoyed the twists and turns in this novel. As with previous books in the series, nothing is quite what it seems. Faith’s reticence to seek justice is very understandable, once the team learns more about her family’s past, and the motivations of those who set out to harm others, both in the flesh and online, are truly chilling at times. Red herrings abound, as they always do in this style of story, and some did detract a little from the main issues covered by the central plot. On the other hand, I found it as fascinating as ever to see how the different members of Fawley’s team reveal more of themselves as the series progresses and to watch the various areas of friction between them develop and, in at least some instances, resolve.
Not my favourite out of the series so far, but I’m keen to keep on reading about the central characters in DI Fawley’s life.
Grade: B
Summary:
A teenage girl is found wandering the outskirts of Oxford, dazed and distressed. The story she tells is terrifying. Grabbed off the street, a plastic bag pulled over her face, then driven to an isolated location where she was subjected to what sounds like an assault. Yet she refuses to press charges.
DI Fawley investigates, but there’s little he can do without the girl’s co-operation. Is she hiding something, and if so, what? And why does Fawley keep getting the feeling he’s seen a case like this before?
And then another girl disappears, and Adam no longer has a choice: he has to face up to his past.
Because unless he does, this victim may not be coming back…
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
