Stevie‘s review of The Whole Truth (DI Adam Fawley, Book 5 ) by Cara Hunter
Contemporary Crime Fiction published by Penguin 18 Mar 21
This feels very much like a lockdown novel – and it was indeed mostly written during the UK’s first lockdown of 2020 – although it is set in pre-pandemic times, following on almost immediately after the previous mystery in the series. DI Adam Fawley’s wife, Alex, is still pregnant and under orders to take things easy in the middle of a long, hot summer. Fawley and his team, meanwhile, have a new and perplexing care, which challenges all of them to confront their immediate reactions and assumptions.
A male student has accused one of the female professors at his college of sexual assault, the alleged offence having supposedly taken place while he was babysitting the professor’s son. Various of those investigating the case find themselves wondering whether he is telling the truth more so than they perhaps would were victim and offender reversed, and why he didn’t do more to fight her off. The case is further complicated by reports of an altercation between the accused and his girlfriend earlier that night, and by the discovery that a similar accusation was made against the professor some years previously.
Meanwhile the convicted perpetrator from the cold case that was under investigation by the media in the previous book has been released to a halfway house, and Alex believes him to be stalking her. When a woman with links to the Fawleys is kidnapped and murdered, Alex’s fears intensify, fuelled by her secretive fascination with the podcast series aiming to prove the wrong man was convicted in the cold case – which she was a part of. When evidence from the scene links Fawley to the case, he is arrested, and his team are transferred to other duties. However, they are determined to prove that their boss is innocent and continue to investigate in their own time.
I loved all the twists and turns in both the cases that were central to this book, and the use of various media sources and interview transcripts were as inspired as ever. I never quite figured out what was going on before our heroes did, but everything fell into place for me as they made their discoveries. The personal lives of the different team members were also as complex as ever, and I particularly enjoyed the contrasts between their very different relationships away from their day jobs.
This series is definitely picking back up to the standard of the earlier books, and I’m very much looking forward to whatever case the team is handed next.
Grade: A
Summary:
An attractive student. An older professor.
Think you know the story? Think again.
She has everything at stake; he has everything to lose. But one of them is lying, all the same.
When an Oxford student accuses one of the university’s professors of sexual assault, DI Adam Fawley’s team think they’ve heard it all before. But they couldn’t be more wrong.
Because this time, the predator is a woman and the shining star of the department, and the student a six-foot male rugby player.
Soon DI Fawley and his team are up against the clock to figure out the truth. What they don’t realise is that someone is watching.
And they have a plan to put Fawley out of action for good…
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