Close to Home by Cara  Hunter:

Average score 8/10

Cara Hunter lives in Oxford in a street not unlike those she writes about and this thriller has more twists and turns than a corkscrew. Its clever, compelling, with masses of misdirection and ambiguity. This was her debut featuring Adam Fawley, a DI who battles his own private trauma as he attempts to make sense of the case of the missing girl. For most of us it was  a good easy read with an ending that deserved re-reading or disbelieving, Published in 2018,  it was ahead of the game highlighting “rage bait”,   the Oxford English Dictionary word of the year for 2025 , describing online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or  outrage.

 Our next book is:  My name is Why by Lemn Sissy