Hope to Die

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Long held secrets from the past are about to be revealed, cold cases will be re-examined, and tough as this case will be to crack, Fawley and his team pull out all the stops, to bring one cold, calculating individual to justice. What I did like was the character ‘recap’ as such at the start of the book, with specific things about them and what rank they were.

Once again the book has clever little chapters from different points of view and I particulary enjoyed the “Netflix” series which ran alongside the narrative from the main characters. However, the case does not add up on several fronts and a major challenge is underway as the mystery deepens as Adam and his team enter a veritable minefield. An amazing ride for fans of the previous books; it will also be positively thrilling for many who are new to Cara Hunter’s writing. One of the main characters (and I won’t spoil why) was largely absent from this book, and they were missed. The Oxford setting of these novels always takes me back to reading the brilliant Inspector Morse stories by Colin Dexter.When links are discovered to a past child murder, it seems that DI Fawley and his team have a very complex tale to unravel. And despite a large cast of characters, I feel connected with them after reading 5/6 books in this series. The only problem was that some of the transcripts included were in a tiny typeface making them really tough to read.

At first DI Adam Fawley’s team is pretty stumped, there is not much to go on but gradually through a lot of hard graft they learn that the couple had changed their names some years ago. However, the identification of the killer and reason why all seems to be described in somewhat of a rush, leaving the reader slightly deflated. The dead man, his face been destroyed by a blast from a shotgun, is holding a knife in his hand and the Swanns claim they woke to him breaking in and shot him in self-defence.When the police arrive and knock at the door,at first no one answers then the door is opened by pensioner Richard. In the time it takes for the police to arrive, all of his identification documents have been disposed of and the elderly homeowner is immediately taken into custody.

But that is matched by the meticulous care and attention to detail that goes into the plot, the twists, and each facet of the case. Once again Cara has supplied the reader with a little “who’s who” at the beginning of the book, giving us a quick recap and enabling us to jump straight back into the world of crime in Oxford.To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Police arrive at the scene, and even with their past experience, they find the sight of a dead man, shot in the head at very close range, pretty hard to stomach. Creepy, disturbing, exciting, fast-paced, with a high level of suspense maintained throughout, culminating in an explosive, satisfying conclusion. I really loved that the story is told through a mixture of narrative, transcripts of interviews, Wikipedia-style entries, online chats, letters, news headlines and lots more.