This book arrived on my desk for review a little late in the game for me. It came early in February and most of my February review schedule was set and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to try and add one more book to the month.
However, this book sounded positively horrifying—a woman and child are found in the basement of a house barely alive and can’t speak and no one knows who they are? What in the world—was the first thing that went through my mind.
I was instantly curious and eager to find out what this book was all about. So I did what any sensible book worm would do—a fit it in to my schedule even if that meant that I would need to log a few extra long reading session to make it happen!
Summary
A woman and child are found locked in a basement, barely alive, and unidentifiable: the woman can’t speak, there are no missing persons reports that match their profile, and the confused, elderly man who owns the house claims he has never seen them before. The inhabitants of the quiet street are in shock—how could this happen right under their noses? But Detective Inspector Adam Fawley knows nothing is impossible. And no one is as innocent as they seem.
As the police grow desperate for a lead, Fawley stumbles across a breakthrough, a link to a case he worked years before about another young woman and child gone missing, never solved. When he realizes the missing woman’s house is directly adjacent to the house in this case, he thinks he might have found the connection that could bring justice for both women. But there’s something not quite right about the little boy from the basement, and the truth will send shockwaves through the force that Fawley never could have anticipated.
A deeply unsettling, heart-stopping mystery of long-buried secrets and the monsters who hide in plain sight, In the Dark is the second gripping novel featuring DI Adam Fawley (summary from Goodreads).
Review
I read this book in a couple of big chunks at a time because it was captivating. It was a little slow in the beginning so stick with it, because once I got into it, I GOT INTO IT. The other books I pushed aside to fit this one in had to wait and with those books I ended up having to do so marathon reading to finish, but this one was so interesting that I couldn’t put it down!
This was more of a police procedural book which was fine by me. I love things like that so I thought it was interesting and kept me reading. There were numerous suspects with different motives and I loved watching DI Fawley narrow them down one by one. This was a smart mystery and struck a balance between thriller and police procedural.
While this book is second in a series, I wasn’t lost at all. Hunt did a great job orientating the readers within the story and characters so that I never felt lost or like I was missing bigger bits of the narrative. So for those wondering if you need to read the first book to enjoy this—the answer is no, this worked as a stand alone for me, no problem!
There was so much to puzzle out in this book and I was excited every time I picked this book up! If you love police procedurals, this is a don’t miss.
The Lit Bitch 