All The Rage – Cara Hunter – Blog tour

Big thanks to Ellie Hudson for asking me to join this blog tour – I adore this series of books by Cara Hunter – DI Fawley and his crack team have a special place on my bookshelf, as they are not only brilliant books but they are based not far from where I live and have worked, in the iconic city of Oxford, so lots of the street names and places used are familiar to me. I have also had the pleasure of meeting Cara a few times now, when she has attended crime panels at Blackwell’s, Waterstones or Mostly Books in Abingdon. So this was a very exciting read for me.

All the Rage – is the fourth book in a series – Close To Home, No Way Out and In The Dark preceded it, and yet it is readable without having read the first 3 books, though I doubt if you read All the Rage you won’t go ahead and read the others, as they are so plausible and so well written its hard for one not to lead to the others.

Our Author: Cara Hunter

Cara Hunter is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling crime novels Close to Home, In the Dark and No Way Out, all featuring DI Adam Fawley and his Oxford-based police team. Close to Home was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick, was shortlisted for Crime Book of the Year in the British Book Awards 2019 and No Way Out was selected by the Sunday Times as one of the 100 best crime novels since 1945. She graduated from Oxford University with a degree and PhD in English. Cara’s novels have sold more than three-quarters of a million copies worldwide. Cara Hunter lives in Oxford, on a street not unlike those featured in her books.

Cara and I, at Mostly Books in Abingdon, after a Crime Panel evening

My Review: All The Rage

What sets Cara’s book apart from others is her use of graphics to show social media – web site pages, maps and text messages in her books, so you see crime reports, newspaper cuttings, social media posts from Twitter or Facebook – and they form part of the story, they hold information and often clues as to what the team then follow up on.

We find DI Adam Fawley’s team firstly interviewing a taxi driver, having picked up a distressed girl, he gives them the details of where he dropped her off. They go round to speak to the homeowner, Diane Appleton and she confirms Faith, her daughter was involved in a nasty April Fools joke. She was indeed grabbed from the roadside, had a bag placed over her head and cable ties used on her wrists. A rather harsh April Fool’s joke! Faith doesn’t want to have it investigated and this strikes the team as odd.

They follow these details up on social media, details about a girl being taken from the roadside. Its all very similar to crimes committed 20 years ago and Fawley cant shift this from his mind, he worked that case too and put who he considered of being guilty of the crimes behind bars, Gavin Parrie – ‘The Roadside Rapist’ as he was coined by journalists back in 1999. Does he have a sidekick committed these crimes in his absence or is a copy cat emulating the attacks from 20 years ago?

Was it an April fool’s joke, gone too far? A hate crime? Somer, Everett, Gishlingham, and Ashante aren’t going to let this lie and dig deeper. Taking them into the dark corners of the web and beyond, the plot is fast-paced and has an edge to it this time. Then it happens again, another girl is taken, but shes somehow linked to Faith’s disappearance. Teachers and Faith’s sister are questioned. Are these attacked linked, Fawley is convinced he had the right man, but then his involvement is more important to his family than others may realise.

All The Rage covers a subject that’s timely, relevant and current to today’s society, positively in a way that engages the reader and highlights it passionately but with understanding and the humanity, it deserves. However, to actually say what it is, would be a spoiler and I don’t do those. So you will need to read it to find out more.

Brilliant. A truly engaging and authentic plot with an excellently written set of characters, proving that teamwork does get the job done. I personally flew through this book All The Rage sets the scene and follows through on the clues given. 5 * for me, top-class police procedural, fast-paced, twisty and enthralling. Read it!

To purchase All The Rage https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/All-the-Rage-by-Cara-Hunter-author/9780241985113