Pages: 380
Published: 6th March 2018
Genre: Crime Thriller
Last night, 8-year-old Daisy Mason disappeared from her parents’ summer party. No one in the quiet suburban street saw anything – or at least that’s what they’re saying.
DI Adam Fawley is trying to keep an open mind. But he knows that nine times out of ten, it’s someone the victim knew. That means someone is lying. And that Daisy’s time is running out…
For a long time I have been wanting to read this book. The DI Adam Fawley series has really caught my eye, so I finally got around to it last week and it certainly did not disappoint! This is an excellent thriller, which presents a gripping mystery so full of twists and turns, that it never ceased to invade my thoughts until the very end of the book.
Let’s start with the mystery itself. An eight-year-old girl, Daisy Mason, goes missing. It is an intricate case that ploughs deep into Daisy’s life, and those of everyone connected with her, and it is forever captivating. The twists are relentless, and just when you are led to assume one thing, the next revelation makes you think entirely the opposite.
So much detail went in to putting together this book, and Cara Hunter does such a wonderful job in successfully weaving such a complex plot. She deserves even more praise for telling the story in a variety of formats and perspectives, and for writing such an array of believable characters, all of whom are very strongly developed.
DI Adam Fawley himself is the narrator. I did wonder at first why this book was told in the first person rather than the third person, but as the story moved on, I understood why. Aside from Everett, the other police officers in the book are fairly rudimentary and to a degree, unsophisticated, but I found Adam to be empathetic and multi-layered, especially with his own personal trauma still fresh in the memory.
Daisy’s parents were both magnificently unlikable, but I found both of them, along with many of the supporting characters, to be very realistic and in sad circumstances. I was almost moved to tears for Daisy’s brother Leo at one point. Most of this is thanks to some very well executed dialogue.
I loved the way social media was incorporated into the book, with sections showing Twitter threads and Facebook pages relating to Daisy’s disappearance, and also online news articles and interview transcripts. It was a very innovative way of storytelling, and added to the very modern and generally fresh feel of the book.
You will spend a lot of the book guessing who is guilty, or what happened to Daisy. I guessed the person responsible quite early, based on a hunch and my prior experience of reading thrillers, but I did not get it completely right! I was also surprised by the way it was revealed. There was me waiting for a final twist that I thought would never arrive, and then came the ending!!
My two slight issues I had were the fact the book skips very abruptly to a trial late on without any warning, and I also noticed one or two little plot similarities with another book that I read this year; The Stolen Child by Sanjida Kay. However, these are very minor and do not stop me from loving it.
Overall, it is a fine showcase of police procedure, but also intricate, intelligent plotting, perfect pacing, spot-on characterisation, and a mystery that had me hooked right until the end. Now I cannot wait to get started on the next book in the series, which very conveniently happens to be next on my TBR!
The whole plot of the book surrounds the mystery of a missing child, so that is an obvious trigger warning. There are also references to sexual abuse and exploitation. It would be best to skip this book if any of these are likely to cause a negative reaction.
This is an excellent book, so full of twists and posing never-ending questions. I was torn over the rating because there was the odd thing I had issues with, but the quality of storytelling and the mystery itself shines through.
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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