Huge thanks to Ellie Hudson of Penguin for inviting me to this blog tour for The Whole Truth, the fifth book in the million selling DI Fawley series by Cara Hunter.
An attractive student. An older professor.
Think you know the story? Think again.
THE NEW UP-ALL-NIGHT THRILLER FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER CARA HUNTER
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…
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. All The Rage, sold in its thousands and again The Whole Truth is also a Richard and Judy Book Club choice. She graduated from Oxford University with a degree and PhD in English. Cara’s novels have sold more than a million copies worldwide. Cara Hunter lives in Oxford, on a street not unlike those featured in her books.
My Review – The Whole Truth
You’d think by book 5 of a series, you have the characters pretty sussed out. But Cara keeps evolving them to the point where it’s surprising to find new sides to them in The Whole Truth. DI Fawley’s team are really put to the test this time which leaves then stunned and means that they have some huge decissions to make.
We are taken to one of the cities Universities where it’s clear a student has accused a lecturer of abuse, it very soon becomes clear that this not as clear cut as it seems. The ‘Queen of Twists’ has of course plotted and planned the book so well that nothing is as it seems, and thats the real beauty of Cara’s writing. Even time you think you’ve got it, you never have.
The team conduct their interviews and searches, as required. They find more than they were expecting to and its not as clear cut as they first thought, of course it doesn’t help the victims parent is a VIP and that alone draws extra attention and adds pressure to solve the case, but it needs careful handling. Of course a case of hot shot lawyers aren’t going to just let it lie and forget it happened, they want a result that suits them.
The book runs two cases parallel to each other, as no police station, ever just have one case on the go. And this adds to the plot and enriches the story. Gis, Somer and Everett get to step up and become bigger characters in The Whole Truth, its great to see them build on whats already a very well established, its clear Fawley leads them, this time they have to do more of the work themselves and its apparent they really can pull together and work as a team, even when there leader is absent with Alex due to give birth at any moment.
Fawley’s nemesis is out of prison and both Fawley and his wife Alex, one of Parrie’s previous victims, are on tender hooks, always watching and waiting for him to appear. It adds a real edge to the tension, you know it will happen, we’ve come to expect these twists in the story, but when! With the references to the previous cases, its helpful to have read the first 5 of Cara’s Fawley series, but I think you could read it as a standalone, but it would lead you to want to read the others, purely as they are so good.
Cara has weaved the history, the characters and the the historical scenery of Oxford into antother amazing book and I loved it. The twists was there, I know its going to be and yet, every time, it hits me, wow – I did not see that coming…. I dont mind knowing its going to happen, some people do – it makes me scurry through the book and think oh must remember that, and then forget and then later think, oh yes! I love the way Cara uses the media, she includes screen shots from mobiles, newspaper reports, crime scene reports, its all there, WhatsApp chat, twitter – its the way the world works and these become clues or information, you don’t really notice until later when you remember it and oh yer….. so clever. It all adds to the information needed for the conclusion.
Yes please to more and Cara has said there will be more, yay Penquin!
The books have been optioned for TV and I really can’t wait to see what they do with them and who plays the characters. It will be a really thrilling watch and great to see so many of Oxfords historic and many not so known areas, local to me.
To order The Whole Truth – https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Cara-Hunter/The-Whole-Truth–The-new-impossible-to-predict-detective-/25038506
Don’t forget to catch the other bloggers reviews for the tour –
@CaraHunter @EllieHud @PenguinUKBooks #TheWholeTruth
