A devastating fire rips through an Oxford house, leaving a trail of destruction, and both the fire and the police services have their work cut out trying to piece together the sparse clues which the fire has left behind. DI Adam Fawley and his investigative team start a complicated investigation to track down the parents of two small children who were pulled from the wreckage of the fire.

The story pulls you in from the dramatic start which it is particularly emotional as it shows this unknown family at their most vulnerable, I especially enjoyed the countdown to the event which explains what's been happening to the family in the months before the fire devastated the family home. The police procedural aspect of the story is as tight and tense as ever and, as we have come to expect in the series, the author really cranks the tension to high as the team race  against time to discover just what went so badly wrong for the family involved in the house fire.

No Way Out sees the welcome return of this team of intrepid crime investigators and it was good to meet up with them in the aftermath of the previous story in which some of the crew suffered more than others. As always, they work well together however this investigation is especially challenging as they have so little evidence to go on, and seem to be thwarted at every turn.

This is now the third DI Adam Fawley thriller and I've followed this series from the start. There's no doubt that each book is as strong as the one before and whilst it's possible to read each as a standalone, it does work best to read from the start, that way you get to know the CID team really well and come to understand all their faults and foibles.

The author has certainly made her mark on this genre as her crimes stories are now really popular, and rightly so, as she is such a talented writer whose stories captivate from the start. The ending of No way Out certainly ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, so I really can't wait to see what happens next for DI Fawley and his team.

Another great DI Fawley story. A house fire has tragic consequences for the Edmond family - but where are the parents? 
As the story unfolds, it’s full of brilliant twists and turns which I won’t spoil, as well a pot full of red herrings! 
I really liked the way the story skipped between now and the run up to the fire. It gave an insight to what happened before the police worked it out, yet still left some surprises to the end. 
As I’ve seen someone else say, the fact the story is split into small chunks of writing makes for easy reading, but I always wanted to “just read the next page” to see what happened 
Can’t wait for the next one!

Having been blown away with the quality of the first two books featuring DI Adam Fawley I had high expectations of this, the third in this series set in Oxford. The expectations were completely met in this topical thriller.
The crime this time is arson, a particularly brutal means of killing and in this the victims appear to be a young boy Zachary Esmond who has been killed in his home in North Oxford. His elder brother Matty is desperately ill in hospital and their academic father and mother are nowhere to be found. Family annihilation is suspected but only time will tell if the facts fit the theory. First job is to find Michael Esmond and find out if he has deliberately sought to wipe his family off the earth and that is Adam Fawley’s job.
I particularly enjoy the style of Cara Hunter’s writing. All her crime fiction books have been pacey with the main story told in the first person present tense while the reader is treated to news extracts and on-line comments at regular intervals throughout. In this book we are provided with the storyline on what led to the fire, a story covering the best part of a year. The investigation is rapid and a master in police procedural while the on-line excerpts keep the storyline feeling exceptionally current given how most of us digest the news these days and I enjoy having a flavour of the crime being investigated alongside some more generic local news from the Oxford area.
The plotting was, as always, superb. The author manages to provide the reader with a whole host of red herrings without giving this reader the feeling that it is simply a complex puzzle to be solved. I need to feel the potential suspects are there because that’s how the investigation has unfolded rather than they are being conjured up just for the story’s sake.
One of the things I enjoy about this police procedural series is that the team get along with each other. There is little in the way of politics and they provide the reader with a solid team that although aren’t devoid of personality, this isn’t the defining part of the story. I will admit I often like the forays into personal lives of our detectives but I have to admire those writers who manage to keep the investigation itself in the frame through any personal ups and downs the team may encounter. Cara Hunter’s writing falls into the latter camp.
Of course in crime fiction it isn’t just the detectives that need to keep you entertained, we also need to feel something for the victims, the potential perpetrators and all the witnesses that we meet along the way. Cara Hunter has a real knack for bringing the whole cast together with a lightness of touch that certainly kept me turning the pages as the book worked its way towards an accomplished finale.
I'd like to say a huge thank you to the publishers Penguin Books UK who allowed me to read a copy of No Way Out which was an enormous honour. I've already put the fourth in the series (due out in December 2019) onto my wishlist.
Previous Books in the DI Fawley Series
Close to Home
In the Dark
First Published UK: 22 March 2019
Publisher: Penguin Books Uk
No of Pages: 367
Genre: Crime Fiction - Series
Amazon UK

The third outing for DI Fawley 

The opening chapter of this excellent thriller starts with a harrowing account of a major fire in a house in Oxford.  Two bodies of children are found, one is dead, the other barely alive. The police join the fire officers on the scene and questions are immediately asked, was there anybody else in the house and if not, where are the parents?  This starts a problematic and unpredictable investigation for Adam Fawley and his team. It is soon evident that the fire was deliberately started and when the second child dies, it becomes a priority to find the murderer.

This is a book that keeps the reader guessing right to the end, with endless twists and turns.  As more bodies appear in the house, the plot thickens with frustration setting in as no answers are immediately found.  The story is even more poignant as it takes place over Christmas and the tension is heightened by newspaper articles and the public’s reaction to the reporting on emails and twitter.

The storyline is masterfully put together, and the characters are well drawn. The only slightly unnecessary area is the frequent reference to the home life of Adam Fawley, who is struggling with his marriage in trouble.  This rather held up the main plot of solving the complicated mystery of the fire.  The case is a disturbing one for all concerned, and the final twist comes as a great surprise.

No Way Out is a good detective thriller and fans of D I Fawley will eagerly be waiting for Book 4.  

Jane

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

Although this is at times  a heartbreaking read, as it contains the deaths of two children in a house fire, the investigative arm of this book provides excellent food for thought. There are so many false leads and misapprehensions but the determined and dogged team under DI Fawley just never give up. I liked all the team members, and thought their interaction seemed very realistic. Poor old Quinn coping with his demotion and, at the same time with Gislingham's, (albeit temporary) promotion. I vacillated between who I thought had 'dunnit', never once landing on the actual perpetrator. A well written and intelligent book that I am thrilled to recommend.

With every volume of the Adam Fawley series, it becomes easier to recommend it as a must-read. Having read all of the books in the series, I’m happy to say that No Way Out is the best yet!

Adam Fawley returns with his team still suffering the fallout from events in book 2, In The Dark. Although there are tensions in the team from this earlier outing, you can easily read No Way Out on its own merits as it is only briefly referred to, and then backed up with a small amount of recapping.

There is an excellent mix of characters who have their own reasons for reacting the way they do to a fatal house fire involving the death of a young child. There are differing levels of professionalism and conflict within the team, but they are united in finding out what happened and who was responsible for the explosive start to the book (literally!).

I find Cara Hunter’s books excellent in their mix of straight up prose, and also clippings of interview transcripts, twitter postings and local news articles. It allows a lot of pertinent information to be summarised, without characters having to recap, or tell each other something in an unnatural way. It’s very cleverly done and can lead the reader up the garden path too…

In all three of the Adam Fawley books, the crimes have been very well set up, and all with a major twist. You have to applaud Cara Hunter for being able to write such a left-field twist, while all the evidence is really in plain view – there is nothing that you couldn’t have guessed at yourself if you go back over the book in detail, but so far I have failed to guess the true outcome of each title!

As I said, I definitely recommend the Adam Fawley series – I can’t wait to find out what the next novel has in store.

A perfect holiday read, oi curl up with and enjoy.  Brilliant story, great and well padded characters, and of course a completely amazing thriller of a story.

Another cracking read from Cara Hunter! This series seems to go from strength to strength and I can't wait for the next offering. Full of intrigue and loved the insertion of the evidence (interviews etc) as the case progressed. I was gripped from start to finish and as always, the writing style is effortless and makes you want to keep reading.

When emergency services attend a house fire they discover one child dead, another taken to hospital with smoke inhalation and the parents nowhere to be found. The police have plenty of questions including what sort of parents leave their children alone waiting for a tragedy like this to happen. The pressure mounts when the surviving victim dies and the fire is confirmed as arson.
This is the third in the DI Frawley series and gives the reader insight in to the lives of each of the main characters including the police working the case. The author has the ability to lure the reader in, provide plenty of suspects to keep them guessing and ensures the nail biting tension is turned up all the way through. Even though I had my suspicions I still wasn’t quite sure who was behind everything.
My favourite characters include Everett who was struggling to cope with an aging father who needed assisted care and a senior positon in the police force. I can only imagine how much stress would be involved in that sort of situation. I also sympathized with the recently promoted Gislingham trying to fit into his new position and struggling to cope emotionally after a trial separation from his wife. The glimpses into the lives of these characters make them seem like real people.
This is a cracker of a psychological thriller you wont want to miss. I have read a few of Cara Hunter’s books and this is encouragement to keep doing so.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free digital copy of the book in return for an honest review.

No Way Out is the third installment of Cara Hunter's highly successful British crime thriller series featuring DI Adam Fawley. Having now read them all, this latest novel is my least favourite. Although the plot was good, I found it lacked excitement. I so much wanted to enjoy it as much as its predecessors but for me it fell a little flat. I hasten to add I'm in the minority here - other reviewers are loving it and currently extolling its virtues.

Set in Oxford, the reader is reunited with coppers Fawley, Gislingham, et al, who find themselves investigating a house fire - believed to be arson - in which a mother and child are killed. The story is told through events leading up to the tragedy and the present-day police investigation.

As with the previous books, newspaper reports and online comments are inserted into the story. To be perfectly blunt, I found them distracting and unnecessary. I think the book would work better without them.

Don't get me wrong, the plot is solid and there are plenty of twisty, unexpected developments as the police investigation progresses. The characters are exceptionally well developed; feeling both believable and real. It's not that I didn't enjoy the story; I did. I just didn't love it.

No Way Out is the third in the DI Adam Fawley series, I have enjoyed the first two immensely and this one kept me glued to the pages till the early hours.

The story opens with a house fire in which two young children are involved, this is such a heartbreaking start, but I was immediately immersed as we discover that it was deliberate and not some tragic accident.

The story moves along at a fast pace, with Fawley and his team trying to piece together the family's lives, where are the parents is the first of many questions going forward.  

Interspersed with the investigation we're given glimpses of the family's life in the weeks and months leading up to the fateful fire, all it not as it seems, and I thought I knew where it was going but, of course, author Cara Hunter keeps the guessing game going with twists and turns.

Alongside the narrative, there are newspaper reports, together with comment tweets on the reports, enabling us to get a feel for the way the case is perceived by the general public and to feel involved.  I really liked this style of writing and thought it worked really well.

Good characterisation, loved the interaction between the colleagues, there is mention of past cases but no spoilers, I was hooked after the first page, full of little teasers and clues along the way, lies and secrets, I thoroughly enjoyed this riveting thriller, and was kept guessing till the end.

Even though I ended up buying my own physical copy in the end, I would still like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for also providing me with a copy to read and review.

The Christmas holidays, and two children have just been pulled from the wreckage of their burning home in North Oxford. The toddler is dead, and his brother is fighting for his life. 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 uncovered, and DI Fawley's worst nightmare comes true. Because this fire wasn't an accident. It was murder. And the killer is still out there... 

What a read! A truly breathtaking, compelling read from start to finish! I loved Cara Hunter's last 2, and with this one being the third book in the DI Adam Fawley series, It is every bit as good, if not better! 
The policework itself is very realistic and believeable. There are no quick silly finds, or magical 'lucky' evidence that just appears - instead brilliantly-written characters that do real policework. Nothing about this story seemed far-fetched or over-the-top. 
Now the case/story itself..... shocking. I was completely shook right from the very start. After that very first chapter, I NEEDED to find out what had happened. The whole book kept me guessing and guessing, while feeling all sorts of emotion and empathy for certain characters. And that reveal?! Had me in tears. 
A fast-paced addictive page-turner that I really do recommend!

Another gripping DI Fowley investigation. A good blend of police procedural and background of the main characters who populate the series. There are twists and turns aplenty on the way to finding out who set fire to a home with the family in it? Interesting method of interspersing the police records with in the storyline .

4.5
No Way Out is a realistic, gripping crime thriller that I couldn’t put down! I found myself hiding in the kitchen trying to read a few more pages and taking my kindle everywhere with me in the hope I could read a bit more.

Our house going on fire is one of my worse nightmares, especially if the kids were at home so I felt myself immediately drawn into the story. It led to lots of discussions with my husband about what we’d do if a fire started and led to us purchasing an escape ladder. I therefore read this book with a lot of anticipation and dread as my mind went through all of the scenarios that could happened.

The story is told from multiple points of view, which is a little confusing to start with but I soon got used to. It was great to follow the investigation as well as getting an insight into the drama happening in the detectives lives. This made the detectives seem a lot more real and meant I had a lot of empathy for them and all they were going through. They make a great team and it was lovely to see the interactions between them.

I’m normally quite good at guessing what has happened in a book but the many twists in this book made it impossible to figure out. Just when I thought I had figured it out something would happen which would have me scrambling in a completely different direction. The tension in this book slower increases as things get more complicated which makes the book hard to put down as I needed to know what was going on.

This is the third book in the series but can easily be read as a standalone, like I have done, as anything you need to know is explained. It might help to have read the books in order just so you knowing more about the background of the detectives but it doesn’t detract from the story not knowing everything that happened.

Huge thanks to Ellie from Penguin Books for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book via Netgalley.

This is the third book in the series and perhaps my expectations were too high after the excellent first two, but I didn't think No Way Out was as good. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it, but it just lacked the sharpness and suspense of Cara Hunter's previous work. It was almost as if she tried too hard to shock and surprise the reader and it felt rather contrived. I found some plot lines predictable and the others unnecessary, the pace was up and down, even repetitive at times. I am still eagerly anticipating the next book though and have high hopes for it. Overall, an enjoyable but unremarkable police thriller. 
Many thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Books for the ARC.

Standing ovations for Cara Hunter....once again this author has blown me away with the third novel in the DI Fawley series.
It had me hooked from the first page right until that beautiful ending.
Heart stoppingly brilliant.

DI Fawley and his team are back in Cara Hunter's latest book No Way Out and what a gruesome case they have in store for them.  A suspected arson where a toddler has died, his older brother is critically injured and it looks like they were home alone as there is no initial trace of either of their parents.  But it's not long before the body of the mother Samantha is found amongst the debris which leaves the lingering questions 'Where is the father Michael?' and 'Could he really have torched the house with his family still inside?'

Slowly the team begin to piece together a picture of the couples life, their marriage and family dynamics, and it's almost voyeuristic as we soon discover how Samantha was struggling with the effects of post-natal depression, a case of sibling jealousy from 10 year old Matty towards 3 year old Zachary, and Michael is not without his own fair share of problems, professional, personal and financial, that he was struggling to deal with.  But despite everything that unfolds it's still hard to believe that a father could do this to his family and disappear without a trace.

As with the previous books in this series interspersed within the narrative are media reports of the initial fire and subsequent discoveries along with the related reader comments, official police and pathology reports, as well as flashbacks to periods prior to the fire which gives us an insight into the mindsets of Samantha and Michael and certain events in the months leading up to that fateful night.

But as well as Fawley having to deal with another case involving young children, which is always a reminder of the loss of his own young son, we are also privy to the fact that he has recently separated from his wife which is something not many on his team know.  Deciding to take a back seat he hands over to acting DS Gislingham to lead the investigation which creates tension within the team itself especially from recently demoted Quinn.  At the time of reading No Way Out I had not finished reading book two In the Dark so wasn't completely aware of the history as to how this change of roles came about, although it is hinted at, but as you'd expect when these types of role reversals happen it's always hard to accept change so it's no wonder there's resentment by Quinn towards his now superior.   

By now I've gotten used to the writing style of Cara Hunter and the absence of definitive chapters, which I will admit I found a little jarring at first, instead the story unfolds almost like scenes from a play as piece by piece information is discovered and the team establish the facts surrounding this tragic case.  But of course it's not all plain sailing and there has to be some misdirection and a few red herrings thrown into the mix as otherwise it wouldn't have been such a gripping read for us readers.  I had one theory worked out in my head as to what the motive was and on conclusion it turns out I was partially correct but I was still a little surprised by the eventual outcome. 

And as for that finale I was so pleased that there was finally some good news for Fawley and something for him to look forward to so here's hoping there's no more surprises in store for him in the next book All the Rage which is to be published later this year.  In the meantime I'm hoping to finish reading In the Dark this afternoon so hopefully I can review it later this evening or tomorrow.

This is the third in Cara Hunter's Adam Fawley series set in Oxford. I have read & enjoyed them all. Although this could be read as a stand-alone, I think they are best read in order so that you get to know what has shaped the police team up to this point.

Adam Fawley is having a hard time emotionally, so when a fire kills a two children & there is no sign of their parents he makes the recently promoted Gislingham  as officer in charge whilst still being part of the team. This puts a different focus on the group dynamics & I found this a really good way to get to know the rest of the team better.

 Part of Cara Hunter's style is to add press announcements & social media posts to add to the story. In previous books this did not bother me. This time I found these sections were disjointed, often broke off in the middle of a sentence & were downright annoying! That apart this was a good read that kept me guessing. I'm already looking forward to the next one!

Michael and Sam live in a beautiful house in Oxford with their two son, Sam is suffering from post natal depression and Michael has been trying to keep everything together, but things start to fall apart and then there is a terrible house fire killing Zachary and leaving Matty  in a critical condition. The police quickly start searching for Sam  and Michael but cannot find them. A good book that keeps you turning the pages.

Very dark read with lots of twist and turns. Not an easy read what with the possibility of a man killing his own family. I had to put the book down a couple of times and remind me that this is just a story. I wanted to shake Michael and make him talk to Sam about his fears and what was going on in his life. Maybe, just maybe things would have been different. Same goes for poor Matty. He so desperately needed someone in his life helping him through the difficulties with his little brother. Brilliant story and highly recommended series.