In the Dark

Title: In the Dark (DI Adam Fawley #2)

Author: Cara Hunter

Published in: 2018

Date read: Not yet read

Score: /5

Genre:

Plot: (Warning, may contain spoilers):
Published in 2018, this is the second gripping installment in the DI Adam Fawley series. Set in Oxford, it’s a masterclass in modern police procedurals, utilizing a "multi-media" storytelling style—incorporating news clippings, social media threads, and police transcripts—to keep the reader guessing.

The Plot:
The story begins with a shock to a quiet residential street. During a routine renovation on a semi-detached house, a builder knocks through a basement wall and discovers a terrified young woman and a small child locked in a hidden room. They are malnourished, filthy, and have clearly been held captive for a long time.

The woman is unable to speak, and the child’s identity is a total mystery. Even more baffling is the owner of the house: a confused, elderly man named William Harper, who insists he has no idea how the victims got into his cellar. He claims he lives alone and has never heard a sound from beneath the floorboards.

The Mystery:
DI Adam Fawley and his team are called in to untangle a case that feels like a living nightmare. As they dig into the history of the house and its eccentric owner, they realize the neighbors have been keeping secrets of their own. The investigation branches out into several chilling directions:

• The Captive's Identity: Who is the woman, and where did she come from? No missing persons report seems to fit her description.
• The Elderly Owner: Is William Harper a mastermind hiding behind a facade of dementia, or is he a victim of someone else’s cruelty?
• The Neighborhood: Why did no one notice anything unusual in a busy suburb where the houses are literally joined together?

The Investigation:
Fawley must navigate a web of decades-old secrets and modern-day deception. The team discovers that the history of the house is far darker than a simple kidnapping, reaching back into unsolved disappearances from years prior.

As the media circus descends on Oxford, the police realize that the "hidden room" might not be the only secret the street is hiding. Every time Fawley thinks he has a lead, a new piece of forensic evidence or a witness statement flips the case on its head, leading toward a conclusion that challenges everything the team thought they knew about the victims and the perpetrator.

Comments:

Books that we've read by Cara Hunter (1):
Close to Home (DI Adam Fawley #1) (2017)