BOOK REVIEW: No Way Out by Cara Hunter

It's one of the most disturbing cases D.I Fawley has ever worked.
It's the Christmas holidays, and two children have just been pulled from the wreckage of their burning home in North Oxford. Why were they left in the house alone? Where is their mother and why is their father not answering his phone?
Then new evidence is discovered, and D.I Fawley's worst nightmare comes true. Because this fire wasn't an accident. It was murder.

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 361

No Way Out is the third instalment in the D.I. Fawley series by Cara Hunter. I knew I would be in for a treat as the previous two have been fantastic.
The author goes straight into the action with a house fire in an affluent area of North Oxford. Two young children are pulled from the burning house. Fawley must investigate why the children were left alone, where are their parents and was this a tragic accident or was it murder?
No Way Out is an excellent thriller which had me riveted from the very first page. Children being caught up in a house fire is the stuff of nightmares, I was desperate to find out how it happened and why there were alone.
We slowly get to know the children's family, the Esmonds, throughout the book and we gradually build a picture of how they lived their lives. Hunter is so good at literally showing that you never knows what goes on behind closed doors. To the outside, the Esmond family would appear to be a happy, successful middle-class family. But there are so many intricacies within that family unit, many secrets and lies that Fawley and his team must pick apart.
I love the way that Cara Hunter presents the procedures involved with such a case. She shows how the investigative team work together and the many different tasks they must complete to move the case forward. The surprising finds and the frustrating dead ends. The narrative is interspersed with newspaper reports, interview transcripts and fire and postmortem reports. These extra details add to the reality and bring the case to life for the reader.
D.I Fawley is leading the investigation again but trouble at home means he is distracted. It's interesting to see how Fawley tries desperately hard for his personal life not to interfere with his professional role but it's not always that easy.
As I said, the action in the book begins immediately and Cara Hunter maintains a breathtaking pace. I worked one aspect out and I was pretty pleased with myself until the final twist at the end which I had not seen coming at all. I had to re-read pages as I wanted to enjoy it more than once, it is a very clever twist.
No Way Out by Cara Hunter is a fabulous book that I can highly recommend. It is unpredictable and beautifully clever.

Many thanks to Penguin for inviting me to be part of the blog tour, don't forget to check out the other blogs!