‘The Whole Truth’ by Cara Hunter is the fifth novel in Hunter’s series featuring DI Fawley. It is brilliant, suspenseful, and addictive. I liked that the novel opened with a short ‘previously on the Fawley files’. It worked as a refresher (or introduction) to the primary characters.
A male graduate student accuses his female teacher of sexual assault. Engineers found a body under a bridge, however managed to warn the approaching train on time. A young lady is reported missing when she fails to appear for a job. Police found her flat empty, with an open door, and her wallet, purse and keys on the coffee table.
DI Adam Fawley, and the team are not just going to be Deeply involved in crime, but their own lives are going to collide and explode too. Mysteries that have been building and tantalizingly dangled in us readers in the initial four Books. It reached at a critical stage, and things are getting serious and very hairy for Fawley and team. The resentments fester, loyalties are divided, outrage rises to the surface, and there is another rival in the police force. It is someone whom I continually needed to punch in the face. The peacemaker of the team, DS Chris Gislington, is on vacation for the majority of the novel.
Once more Cara Hunter’s inclusion of texts, podcasts, voice mails, emails, social media posts, notes, diagrams, and News stories added realism and variety to her stories. The sex crime storyline was a fascinating twist on the typical he said/she said situation. It featured the double standard, stigmatization, and stereotypes that exist among male and female victims based on sexual violence. I believe I should specify that there are a few scenes that are fairly explicit. So they might be confronting certain readers – likely setting off for overcomes of abuse, so approach with alert.
My suggestion is to read the series in appropriate order. Trust me you will not be disappointed as every one of the five Books are 5-star quality. In any case, The Whole Truth by Cara Hunter could be read as an independent. There is a helpful ‘Previously … in the Fawley files’ guide toward the beginning, and the actual plot works really well of clarifying what’s gone on previously.
Also Read: The End of Men: By Christina Sweeney-Baird
