Pages: 416
Published: 29th April 2021
Genre: Crime Thriller
Content warnings: Sexual assault storyline, descriptions of rape, drug references
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.
This is a pulsating addition to a series that shows absolutely no sign of letting up. Over the course of a plot that serves up two equally interesting and complex mysteries, there is an addictive quality that never relents, complemented by the presence of familiar protagonists and the use of an even wider range of mixed media to enhance the storytelling.
Whereas the series has followed a continuous narrative, it does so here to a far greater extent as the events of the previous book gave an indication of what was to come. The results are explosive and eye-opening, making it very difficult to stop turning the pages as multiple revelations emerge and unthinkable questions are raised.
For their latest case, DI Adam Fawley and his team are called to investigate an allegation of sexual assault at an Oxford college. They are immediately thrown when learning that the victim is a powerfully built male student named Caleb Morgan and the accused is Marina Fisher, an influential female university lecturer. When interviewed, they both have very different accounts of what took place.
Meanwhile, Fawley and his pregnant wife Alex are on edge following the release of serial rapist Gavin Parrie from prison. Fawley was influential in Parrie’s arrest and subsequent conviction, and a true crime podcast has now been released which claims his innocence. With Parrie out for revenge, the death of a woman goes on to rock the Thames Valley police force to its core.
The story is unpredictable to begin with as the sexual assault case proves impossible to untangle, but then the twist happens and that takes everything to a whole new level. The author craftily pulls the wool over your eyes and makes you reconsider everything, and the obsession of getting to the whole titular truth persists right up to the final chapter.
There are moments where the investigation into the incident involving Morgan and Fisher is rather buried under the more overarching sub-plot of Gavin Parrie, but it still manages to remain fascinating. The way it was resolved left me with some mixed feelings as it did not completely live up to what was promised in the blurb, yet that took little away from the book as a whole.
Unlike the other characters, Adam Fawley is written in the first person and his voice has become realised to an increasing extent throughout the series, but it has never been as interesting as it is here. The events that take place are so dramatic and presented in such a way that he is made to come across as a potentially unreliable narrator, while he also breaks the fourth wall on several occasions. All of this is done very effectively.
With most of them having been part of the story since the beginning, the other police officers all have an important role to play, too. The likeable Gislingham is absent for much of this book but makes up for lost time with his loyalty and efficiency; Quinn at last seems to be maturing ever so slightly, while it was good to see Asante right at the centre of the investigation.
My favourite character is DC Everett for all of her introverted ways, and here I loved her approach towards the sexual assault case, which was worthy of even more respect. There is a curious sub-plot involving Erica Somer that will definitely be something to look out for in the next instalment, leaving Baxter as the only one not to have been given any serious development.
Some other members of the force are introduced and among them is DS Dave King, who is unlikable in just about every possible way, becoming a kind of secondary villain in the process. He is rude and often makes derogatory remarks, behaving almost like an officer from a previous era who is set on proving his preferred view of a case regardless of the facts. As for Morgan and Fisher, they were both enigmatic and you are soon left wondering which one of them is the most dishonest.
The mixed media elements are what help to set this series apart from others, and as well as the usual interviews and newspaper articles, this time we are given episode transcripts for a six-part podcast, diagrams from a forensic examination, and an initial report of sexual assault. In all of these, the devil is truly in the detail as some of the information contained within these excerpts becomes extremely significant later on.
There is a fast pace to the writing and the frequent changes of focus are the primary reason why it is so hard to put down as they always tempt you to read on just a little bit more. With familiarity comes a more informal tone as we often see light humour and abbreviated names in the general prose, and also I must give a special mention to the character profiles at the start that are included for the benefit of readers who are new to the series.
Overall, this is a gripping read that definitely ranks as one of the best Adam Fawley novels to date. The characters continue to be developed well, the storytelling is as sharp as ever, and the two cases are neatly woven with the Gavin Parrie saga especially high in intensity. All of those things and more make it an excellent police procedural.
With two cases running concurrently, this book plays out similarly to an episode of the British crime series A Touch Of Frost, but the uniqueness that makes this particular series stand out is there in abundance. It does not let you go until the very end, providing thrilling twists and intriguing turns of events.
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Stephen Reads Books 