Book Review: Close to Home by Cara Hunter

-
So I follow Cara Hunter on Twitter. It happened so that her latest book was up on NetGalley for review and. the blurb sounded so wonderful that I applied and got rejected. But I discovered DI Adam Fawley in the meantime, so I had to pick up the first in the series na, keeping with my personal agenda- reading the first book in a series where a DI makes her/ his first appearance.

So here I am with the review of Close To Home the first book in the DI Adam Fawley series that was released in 2018. An 8 year old girl Daisy Mason goes missing, apparently from her house where a huge party is going on. Gradually it is found that no one can confirm seeing the child at the party. Then it comes to the knowledge of the Detective Inspector Adam Fawley who is heading the investigation that neither of the parent can say for sure if they had seen their child since the time she left for school in the morning. Things began to get shadier as it is discovered that the father has a roving eye and the mother has a sinister secret buried in her past. They also have a son Leo, whose behaviour everyone on the police team finds strange but can't put a finger on. Slowly more revelations  come to the fore and it is also known that Leo is an adopted child. DI Fawley and his team try to decipher more about Daisy by tracing her life, meeting her friends and teachers. Like the peels of an onion the detectives unravel the lives and persona of the Masons, which sometimes elicits a sigh of relief and at others tears of sheer agony. But even when the detectives manage to solve the case, the story doesn't end and then when it ends you want to go back to the beginning with a fine toothed comb to see what could you have missed to have guessed the unexpected ending.

As with almost all women writers writing crime, Close To Home is gripping and moves fast. You
might expect things to become clear at every turn but they keep getting muddling with every detail that emerges about the case and the characters involved. In the meantime we get stories about the other characters that form the detective team like Everett and Gislingham woven alongside Daisy's story deftly. Leo's story strikes a chord with Fawley and we discover his son and the tragedy that visited his family sometime back. But I must really thank the author for ensuring that DI Adam Fawley is not an addict or depressed (maybe, but then who wouldn't be in his shoes but that doesn't lead to drinking bouts or anything else harmful or provoking rage).


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Decade of Motherhood: Give in

-
Image
Generally age is counted according to the number of years that you have been on this planet. But then  how do you know what your age is when the role that you are accounting for is a not as old as you? The simple answer would be to say that it would be equal to the number of years you have been in the role.  So, this is one of the most important lessons that I have learnt as a decade old mum. My daughter Netra, more commonly referred to as BhindiSood on social media, was born in 2007. Ah! your eyebrows go up. She bluffs, you think, to keep up with the theme. Dear reader but that is not the case. I might be being generous with myself when I m saying that I am a decade old mummy but I am not really bluffing. I did not (and maybe even now) know how to be a mother to a child who I was desperate to get but knew nothing about raising her for all the unaccounted years in between. But then fear not, this isn't either a self pitying sort of a post nor I intend for it to be a te
Read more

To, The Enablers

-
Image
तबस्सुम कैसी हो? हम सब यहाँ बिकुल ठीक हैं।आशा है की तुम भी सही सलामत होंगी। आज मैं ये चिट्ठी इसलिए लिख रहि हूँ की तुम्हे बता सकूं की मैं अक्सर तुम्हारे बारे मैं सोचती हूँ। सोचती हूँ अब तुम क्या करती होगी, काम पे जाती हो अब भी? कोई मना तो नहीं करता? सास बच्चे संभाल लेती है तुम्हारे पीछे से? वो तो अब बड़े भी हो गए होंगे न? स्कूल जाते होंगे? मुझे अब कोलकाता मैं रहते हुए ६-७ साल हो गए  हैं। जब चंडीगढ़ से निकले थे तो उम्मीद न थी की इतना समय इस परायी नगरी में निकल जाएगा। नेत्रा को याद करती हो कभी? वो इस साल १२ की हो गयी है। उसे तो तुम्हारी याद नहीं लेकिन आज भी जब वो ज़िद्द करती है की मैं उसे खाना खिला दूँ और मैं बहुत थक गयी होती हूँ, तो झट से तुम्हारी याद आ जाती है। तुम होती तो मुझे चाय का कप पकड़ा कर उसे प्यार से फुसला के ले जाती और खुद ही खिला देती। कहती, "मेरे पास आओ नेत्रा, माँ को रहने दो। आओ मैंने तुम्हारे लिए कुछ स्पेशल रखा है।" कितने सारे अंग्रेजी के नए नए शब्द सीख गयीं थी न तुम. कुछ तो तुम्हारे ख़ास बन गए थे। जैसे बॉय, गर्ल, रेफ्रीजिरेटर, टेलीविज़न और स्पेशल जिसे त
Read more

This Pujo, things feel different

-
Image
Yesterday was Mahalaya. I have been living in Kolkata for about 7 years now and have been in the city for every single Pujo since we moved in here.  I just like the vibe of the city, the aura of this place when it is time for the Devi to descend to her parental home from the heavens above. It is a different air that the city breathes in and out. It is different colour, sometimes sharp and sometime languid in its shade that dresses the city of Kolkata when the Durga Pujo approaches. Like a veteran of sorts I know this isn't the best time to be on the roads. I know better than to plan anything because beside eateries everything is going to come to a stand still. Nothing will move and no-one will budge their stomachs filled with Biryanis, Aalooer Dums, Jalepis and Chicken Kashas. But this year things have been different. it seems as if the Pujo has just crept quietly upon us. It seems as if Maa did not come down with the usual fervour. Maybe there is a reluctance in the air that
Read more