Good Morning All,

We’re nearly at the end of the week. The last few weeks have flown by for me and I feel like Christmas has crept up on me. The decorations have officially gone up and we’re pretty much ready to go in our household. I hope that you’re all enjoying the December festivities.

Book 📖

I have been really excited to read this book so when I had the opportunity to get an ARC I was so happy. Thank you to @PenguinUKBooks and @CaraHunterBooks for this advanced copy of The Whole Truth in return for an honest review. The Whole Truth is due to be published on 25th February, 2021 and you can get a copy here.

Description 🔖

DI Fawley and his team receive a report of sexual abuse from an Oxford student. It all seems like a familiar story until they learn that the predator is a female Professor and the victim a stocky male rugby player. The investigation starts to get quite interesting but the truth is not very forthcoming.

Though DI Fawley is intent on getting to the bottom of the investigation, somebody else is watching and they have very different plans for him. Will DI Fawley remain as DI for much longer?

General Thoughts 🤔

There was no stopping me with this book, I could not put it down. There were no good places to pause. I’d finish a chapter or a section and need to know what was going to happen next and therefore had to carry on just that bit longer. There is no messing around with getting straight into the story and I was hooked immediately after I started.

What I really loved about this book was the two mysteries that were running in parallel. I spent so long trying to work out if/how they were going to link together. I won’t give away any spoilers by giving that answer away. I think this is part of what kept me so addicted to reading this book. There were two mysteries that my little brain had to work out and I needed answers to both.

Characters 👫👭👬

This is the fifth book in the DI Adam Fawley series so the characters are pretty established. I haven’t read all five; only this one and the previous. I didn’t at all feel at any kind of disadvantage and I honestly don’t think anyone would if they started here at the fifth. This is helped by the lovely touch right at the start. Cara Hunter has included a list of DI Fawley’s team and a bit about their background. I wish all books in a series would do this, it was so helpful!

There are so many characters in this book, I wouldn’t know where to start with giving my thoughts on them all. I will however say that I love DI Fawley’s team. They’re like a dysfunctional yet productive work family. They may have their quibbles between them, but they are a solid team.

Writing Style ✍️

There is one thing about this book that stands out for me as unique and just oh so very good. I adore the way that the story is told through different mediums; screen grabs of text conversations, transcripts of podcasts, copies of police documents. It made me feel like I was in on the investigation with the team and was a fantastic way to keep the story moving along.

A lot of the book is told from DI Fawley’s perspective, but not as much as I remember from the last book. As readers we get a lot of perspectives from the rest of his team as well as some of the victims and suspects. For me, this made the book fast paced and I loved that.

Conclusion & Scoring 🏅

I knew I loved this book as I was reading it and when I’d finished but having had the night to reflect on it I think I love it even more now. It’s so cleverly written and everything about it felt exciting. I’m toying with whether or not I want to go back and read the first three books in the series. I’ve heard that the TV rights have been sold so we can expect a dramatisation in the future which is VERY exciting. I may wait and watch that, but I may give in and just read the first three. Who knows. Either way, this book and this series is fantastic and I can’t wait for more.

😍😍😍😍😍