In The Dark by Cara Hunter

I was pleased to see that the format of the previous book in the DI Adam Fawley series followed the format of the first with no clear chapters but rather broken in to descriptive prose of the events and the investigation with snippets of the media surrounding the case and excerpts from transcripts of interviews with various suspects and witnesses.  Somehow the author manages to bring the investigative side to the fore and thoroughly absorbs you in it - sadly I see a whole slew of copycats emulating her style and, likely, failing.

Nothing is what it seems in this tale.  It seems so cut and dried in the beginning - young woman and her child locked in a cellar, the owner of the house has Alzheimer's and his responsibility is severely impaired.  The only real question is how long has he kept her prisoner and why.  The investigation takes a darker turn when the police realise that the garden is overlooked by the former home of a local reporter who went missing 2 years ago and is presumed dead.  When a body is found in the garden it soon looks like this is far darker than kidnapping and imprisonment.

There are plenty of twists and turns in this book and a large cast of civilian characters.  Like their Constabulary counterparts the characters are drawn sparingly but still manage to exist on the page as fully fleshed people.  However. this is not a tale about the people - even the lead character has only sparing detail about his personality and home life (although, we do find out much more about him in this book) - this is all about the investigation and the little things that can make or break the case for the team.  The things they miss, the things they notice all bring about a cohesive whole.

This is a gripping read that is hard to put down with twists and turns being crafted rather than just appearing by some deductive leap.  For me, being able to figure things out based on logic and reasoning makes it a far better read than the denouement being reached by some miraculous deductive leap (even Sherlock Holmes always had a sound reason for his leaps of deductive prowess) which seems to be all to prevalent in the genre these days.  I am looking forward to the third book being published and hopeful that Ms Hunter can continue in the same vein.