Thoroughly enjoyed this book with the surprise ending. It has everything that you want in a spellbinding novel.

This was the perfect holiday read. I enjoyed it from the first page and it was easy to engage with the characters. Eight year old Daisy Mason has gone missing from her parents' party, wearing a daisy costume, but no one can quite remember when they last saw her. The Twitter comments add authenticity and give a contemporary feel to the story. It is every parent's worst nightmare and the main character, DI Adam Fawley, has all the more reason to be affected by it as he has been in a similar position. He is a likeable character. We can see that he is struggling but he is doing his best. The story is handled sensitively and reaches a memorable conclusion. I really enjoyed it.

I was a little worried about reading a story about a missing child. The story is told in the first person by the DCI in charge who has his own demons to live with, and cope with. It is goes backwards and forwards in time, and is done very cleverly. Telling you just enough to keep you guessing. I couldn't put it down, I needed to find out what had happened to Daisy. The twists and turns kept you going, and as the book goes on you begin to hate both of her parents, but there is also a hate campaign on social media.. Suspicion is also cast onto the brother., comes together nicely at the end.

An insight into modern policing techniques as the story follows the investigation into a little girl missing from home during a house party given for her school friends and their families. With no one seeing anything and not leads, the police investigation then turns to unearthing all her and her families’ background and friends. While search parties find nothing and as the days go by there is much public speculation on her possible death as depicted in social media excerpts. The police interview many witnesses and possible suspects and the results of those are shown as transcripts and flash backs of the events that the police are interested in are given to reveal the actual events. As the story unfolds we learn that behind a facade of respectability there lies a most troubled and dysfunctional family with dark secrets and troubled backgrounds. Neither the little girl nor her body is ever found but the police are able to bring charges and so justice is served. With an added twist to the end, that all’s well that ends well so everyone gets the justice they deserve.

A frustrated police investigation in to a missing girl called Daisy. Nothing is what it seems, the Mum, Dad or brother. Personally, I found it frustrating in that there were too many hidden histories for it to be believable. Yes, I know it's fiction and one can bend reality but I like something to be a little more plausible. I'm not sure the social media transcripts really added much either. The ending too..........well, really? For there to have been a plan, so many coincidences would have had to join up perfectly and life isn't really like that. Want to make God laugh? Tell Him your plans! Quite a good read nevertheless.

I thought long and hard about writing this review. On the one hand, whilst reading the book I quite enjoyed it, on the other hand, after finishing it I felt quite differently. It is always hard with a murder story not to give anything away and I shall try not to. I thought the book was well written but there is just too much going on, sometimes less is more. There were just too many elements to the story, too many coincidences to give the edge of reality that would make it believable. I found the ending to be totally unacceptable, in my opinion a murder mystery book should have clues, however obscure, throughout that lead the reader to the culprit, I found none of these. I am ambivalent about the use of twitter, could see how it contributed to the story but it did nothing additional for me. I think there is a good story in there, but it is totally obscured by everything else that is going on.

A really great well written thriller. It's a gripping read which keeps you guessing throughout, I couldn't put it down and read it in a day.

The twist at the end was SO good and very unpredictable.

One of the best crime thrillers I have read this year. I'd love to see it made in to a TV series, very Broadchurch-esque!

I'm looking forward to other books in the series.

Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Books and Cara Hunter for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Close to home by Cara Hunter.
A child goes missing Daisy Mason. They are having a party. Everyone is looking at the family but did they do it?
This was an absolutely fantastic read with brilliant characters. What a twister of a read. I did not see that coming. A very gripping and shocking read. This is a must read and I would highly recommend this book. Definitely worth more than 5*. Netgalley and penguin books UK.

A fabulous innovative debut, this book captures the readers attention immediately and does not let it go. Largely told through DI Adam Fawleys perspective it is so much more than a police procedural. Full of twists and turns, the almost lyrical prose offsets the bitter, gritty core that lies at the very heart of this novel. Suspicion envelopes many of the key characters like a fog creating a cloying feeling of mistrust.

Torn between not wanting it to end and an utter compulsion to keep reading, I raced towards the breathtakingly extraordinary conclusion and was left blinking with astonishment!

Thank you so much to the Publisher and to NetGalley for the advance copy, I can not wait for In the Dark which Is hopefully coming very soon!

This is a brilliant novel by Cara Hunter, and anyone who has enjoyed the first Broadchurch Series I think will really enjoy this.
It involves the disappearance, and subsequent police investigation, of eight year old Daisy Mason from a summer party held at her parents home. It details how the disappearance affects the relationship between her parents Barry and Sharon Mason, and also her brother Leo.
The detective investigating the case also has a back story, which is gradually revealed as the novel progresses. I liked the way that the author introduced social media into the mix, with excerpts from Facebook, showing how it can be a good source of support and information, but also can be stressful when it is used to spread rumours, abuse towards the parents, and speculation, potentially ruining their reputations.
It is a very intriguing, well written book which has a very good ending, with a interesting twist, I would love to see it turned into a tv drama.
I look forward to reading more from this author, many thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely fantastic book by Cara Hunter. This book grabbed me from the very beginning and the story developed brilliantly with each page i turned. Very fast passed with loads of twists and turns which will keep you guessing until the end. Cant wait for Cara's next book.

Absolutely fantastic book. A family torn apart before a death occurs. A little girl gone missing. Why? Who took her?

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this amazing book

and what a book it is...a psychological thriller with many twists and turns dealing with the harsh reality of a childs disappearance and the hunt for her

loved how we had the social media aspects added in between chapters a very real up to date version of what life is very much like now with facebook and twitter

i very much loved this book and couldnt put it down...i had to know what happened in the end...like i said before so many twists and turns, but i am not going to give any spoilers

hope to read more from this author in the future, loved how it all flowed

Often books listed as psychological mysteries are nothing of the sort.
Not so Cara Hunter's Close to Home. It delivers. It grabbed me so quickly I just could not put it down. Now that I have finished reading it I want more.
The disappearance of a pretty eight year old is an unnerning starting point. My head jumped straight to the end - a gruesome, sick death or a miraculous find.
Once I had the low down on her parents it was never going to be the hugs and kisses family reunion.
Cara Hunter and her police team lead us through the findings, or lack of them. Did her brother, Leo, walk her all the way home from school? Are her friends keeping secrets?
I am fairly good at working out who is responsible. I can conjure up horrific hows. A pretty little girl is a built in why.
I was wrong on all counts. I knew the 'guilty parties' were innocent of Daisy's abduction but they were so horrid in other ways I'm not worried about the wrongful imprisonment.
I did not, even for one split second, see this coming.
Congratulations, Cara Hunter, on another winner.

I hadn't heard of carla hunter before but the description of the book sounded good and it didn't disappoint, I was engrossed from the first page and stayed up till 4am to finish it. I am looking forward to reading more of carla Hunter's books and would recommend.

I would like to thank Penguin Books UK and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Close To Home’ by Cara Hunter in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
Eight-year-old Daisy Mason disappears during a barbecue party her parents are holding one evening. DI Adam Fawley know that the first twenty-four hours is critical in the disappearance of a child, but the problem is that nobody saw Daisy disappear, in fact nobody saw her at all that evening.
The plot is gripping, the characters believable and with the added Twitter postings throughout it felt more like being in the middle of a real police investigation than a fictional novel. I was so gripped with discovering what had happened to Daisy that I was unable to put the book down and read it in a day. The twist at the end was totally unexpected and left me open-mouthed with astonishment. In my opinion ‘Close To Home’ is one of the best crime thrillers to be published this year and one I wholeheartedly recommend.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Penguin Books for an advance copy of Close to Home, a police procedural set in Oxford.

DI Adam Fawley is called in a couple of hours after 8 year old Daisy Mason goes missing. This is not standard procedure but the circumstances surrounding her disappearance are sufficiently suspicious to warrant it as Daisy disappeared from a large party in her back garden at about 10pm.

I thoroughly enjoyed Close to Home which I read in one sitting, unable to put it down. It is part police procedural, part psychological thriller as Adam tries to unravel the lies, half truths and evasions he is faced with. Every twist and kink in the story is fascinating, difficult to guess and makes for compulsive reading. It is incredibly well done with excellent pacing as just when Adam and the team think they have a grip on the situation Ms Hunter throws in another twist. I will admit, however, to having an inkling in advance of the final twist.

Normally I'm not a big fan of a first person narrative as is the case here but I think it adds a certain intimacy to the novel as Adam lost his son a few months earlier and this is his first case involving a missing child since then. Ms Hunter augments her linear timeline with flashbacks to illustrate other characters' version of events with Daisy. It has to be said that she does not come across as an attractive character, rather sly and nasty. I don't find her convincing as an 8 year old, 10 or 12 maybe. I do think, however, that the Twitter feeds and news bulletins she inserts are brilliant, totally realistic and a sad indictment of trolling.

The characterisation is spot on, especially Daisy's mum Sharon who is a self absorbed mixture of jealousy and insecurity. Strangely Adam Fawley whose first person narrative drives the novel remains something of an enigma.

Close to Home is an excellent read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

Close to Home is a gripping police procedural with psychological thriller elements following DI Adam Fawley, a man who lost his own child, searching for another child who has gone missing.

What I liked about this is how it was plotted and developed – following the investigation in real time and then with flashbacks starting close to the disappearance and moving outwards in time, enveloping the reader into two strands as the police uncover clues and we see where those clues originated. It keeps things moving in a pacy and engaging manner, also giving somewhat of an insight into whether the police assumptions were bang on the money and when they were not. It was kind of like being part of it.

The author also digs into our current social media trends as we see people tweeting and commenting on Facebook posts as the family undergo trial by public opinion – in this case we have a family who garner literally no sympathy – a mess of contradictions and nasty personality, they were really quite fascinating.

The resolution is not easy to see here, which I always like, the writing is immersive and the story is taut and cleverly emotive. I think if I had one bugbear it was that Daisy, when we saw her in the past or heard people talk about her seemed older than her age sometimes, then was pure child again – and her family sat on the edge of being perhaps too horrible for any of us to care – but in the end the story tells and I read this one fast, wanting to know, enjoying finding out. Also Adam Fawley is a character I want to know more about and the series is set in my neck of the woods which made it all the more realistic as I know the area’s described. So bring on the next in this series – I’ll be there.

*Review also on Goodreads

This book fits precisely into the "police procedural" category and follows the disappearance of an 8 year old girl (Daisy) from her Oxford home. It is quickly ascertained that her parents are both pretty awful - the mother vain, selfish and uncaring, the father a philanderer. Much is cleverly revealed in the flashbacks, starting with the recent past and gradually going further back in time so that we discover more and more about the family and their circumstances.

The book is well written and could certainly be described as a page-turner. I became intrigued with the story and looked forward to each new reveal, wanting to know what happened to lead the family to where they were. Needless to say, the dramatic opening left much to the imagination and gave rise to assumptions that were not necessarily borne out later (a technique well established in crime literature). There was also a sub-plot involving the Detective Inspector assigned to the case, who had lost a child less than a year previously. However, I did not feel that this sub-plot meshed with the main plot that well.

I did enjoy the many voyeuristic Twitter and Facebook extracts, witnessing the trolling and abuse the family had to endure from the nastier elements in society, egging each other on with their assumptions and uninformed opinions. What I did not enjoy about this book was the character of Daisy herself - basically she was far too sophisticated, clinical and impartial for someone of that age and this did not ring true. Her behaviour and attitudes were more like a sulky teenager than an 8 year old.

Overall this book is definitely worth a read and the ending came as a surprise.

CLOSE TO HOME by Cara Hunter

Real twist at the end, and not who'd you think!

I read this book more or less in one sitting. In fact I couldn't put it down. It does go backwards and forwards quite a bit, but it is one of the best books I've read for a while.

I have to say, I did find the child Daisy quite precocious at times, and not quite as saintly as everyone thought. I felt sorry for her brother as he seemed left out a lot. The mother and father were something else!!! However, as an avid crime reader, I would never in a month of Sunday's suspected the end. It was jolly well written, even I was surprised!!

I hope there is more from Cara, and my thanks to the publishers and net galley for the advance copy.