Very good, kept me guessing until the end.would recommend and buy this book as gifts

Cara Hunter begins her series featuring DI Adam Fawley of Thames Valley Police with a mix of police procedural and psychological thriller set in Oxford. It begins with a scene of a fearful Daisy Mason. The precocious 8 year old Daisy goes missing at her parents barbeque and fireworks party for parents and neighbours. The police are called in, and DI Adam Fawley instigates local area searches. Adam has a focused and highly competent team that are determined to find Daisy that includes DS Gareth Quinn, DC Gislingham and the sharp eyed DC Everett. However, the parents, Barry and Sharon Mason are displaying strange behaviour and refusing to countenance a detailed search of their home. Leo, their 10 year old son, is clearly not opening up about all that he knows. In the meantime, the media have parked up outside their home with no intention of leaving anytime soon. A social media storm takes off, firstly mostly concerned but later a more trolling, toxic presence with its vilification of the parents, threats and more worryingly, incitement to violence and murder.

As the team delve into Daisy's life and her family, it soon becomes clear that they are a dysfunctional family mired in secrets and lies. Sharon is insecure, vain and lacking the maternal instincts to nurture her children. Barry has a secret life of other women and dodgy business practices. Daisy is painted as a exceedingly bright child, who feels like a fish out of water with her more intellectually pedestrian family. She is given to eavesdropping on the conversations of others, has her own secrets and emotional fallouts amongst her own coterie of schoolfriends. We are given flashbacks that go back a considerable number of years to the more recent past. Adam and his team slowly find that every assumption they have made begins to slowly fall apart as they try to find out what happened. Matters are further complicated as we become aware that Adam and his wife, Alex, recently lost their son, Jake, in highly emotionally upsetting circumstances. In a investigation where nothing is as it seems, suspicions focus on and oscillate between Sharon to Barry, as Adam believes the perpetrator is usually close to home.

This is a fast paced and well plotted story peppered with social media postings, news bulletins and police interviews. It authentically replicates the reality of how outrageously people behave on social media in real life missing children cases. There is twist after twist in the narrative that has you desperate to keep reading to find out how it all ends. The final twist requires a huge suspension of disbelief in my view, as indeed does the portrayal of Daisy as a 8 year old, but this did not stop me from enjoying the novel. One of my favourite parts is just how well Adam's police team worked, their absolute commitment to the case and how they support one another. A highly entertaining and absorbing read. Many thanks to Penguin for an ARC.

I absolutely loved this book, it was gripping from start to finish with many twists and turns in the plot

The ending was a great twist, would highly recommend this book to anyone

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.

*thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Books (UK) for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

5 amazing stars!! (And worth every bit!)
Holy shit!! Sorry. Im not one to swear but.....omg....!!!! THAT ENDING!!! My heart is still racing from the shock. I was 100% NOT expecting THAT! Wow!

Ok. Ok. Calming down now. As soon as I requested this book, I was soooooo hoping that I would get it. I love the cover so much and the description sounded so so good! So when I was approved I was ridiculously happy. Now having read it, I am even more thankful to the author and publisher for a copy. 

From the beginning I was hooked once Id started reading and it only got better and better. There are so many discoveries along the way that it makes you feel like you just need to keep reading. I wasnt fussed about the twitter and facebook entires but then again im not a fan of those sites anyway so they werent really for me, but for people who like twitter and facebook will probably enjoy reading those throughout the story. There is so much I cant say because I wont spoil it for anyone but, you seriously need to read this if your considering it. 

Ohh wow, ok so still calming down from the ending. Those who have read it will know exactly what I mean. I havent read anything from this author before but shes definally on my radar now!

When 8 year old Daisy goes missing at a family party questions are soon asked why the parents claim to have not actually spoke to their daughter since before the party began. As we delve into the story searching for Daisy we learn that mum and dad aren’t quite as they seem. I enjoyed this book and there were many different endings opened up by the author but with a great twist at the end it kept me hooked.

I did enjoy some things about this book and would encourage others to read it but there were just some elements that spoiled it for me. It’s hard to put my finger on exactly what I was not keen on but I never felt convinced by the characters. Many of them seemed to behave in ways I could not ever believe people would believe of a child was missing.
I was often confused by who was telling the story too and add to that the odd way bits of the story never seemed to get explained properly and that left me a tad dissatisfied.

Another very enjoyable read. I couldn’t put this down. I will be waiting for the next book by this author and recommend to everyone who enjoys a good thriller.

Brilliant story with an ending I never saw coming.. Can't wait for the next book in this series.

My review as posted on Goodreads:

This is the first time I have read one of Cara Hunter's books. It certainly won't be the last.

I liked the use of so many real Oxford locations. This helped to give a sense of geography to the story for me. However, if you don't know the area, don't be put off, the plot lines and the narrative make this a good novel.

I like the way the characters were developed.

There are so many twists in the story line and several suspects along the way.

Red herrings a plenty, with the biggest twist saved for the very end.

Who can you trust?

I like the fact it is listed as DI Adam Fawley # 1. I look forward to future outings with this team of detectives.

My thanks go to Netgalley and Penguin UK (Viking) for a copy of this book in return for this review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this brilliant first novel of Cara Hunters and an introduction to DI Adam Fawley and his team. It’s every parents nightmare when your child goes missing although Daisy Moons parents left a lot to be desired. I liked the way Cara bought in the communities thoughts on Twitter because that’s what happens isn’t it and also the press releases. This was a real page turner and had me sweeping from one suspect to the other. The ending was shocking and surprising. A great debut novel. I am looking forward to what seems to be a great series.

This was quite a good story relating every parent's nightmare. The 1st person narrator was a little too "chatty" with the reader for my liking but the story unfolded nicely.

Close to home is the first book in the D. I Adam Fawley series set in Oxford and also Cara Hunter’s debut novel.
It’s starts with 8-year-old Daisy Moon goes missing from a Barbeque party that has been held at her Oxford home. But everyone is adamant that they didn’t see a thing. Nobody saw her all evening D.I Fawley is in charge of the investigation. In most cases that the first 24 hours is critical and in these cases and it is usually someone that the family knows that has taken her. Daisy mother is a cold, vain woman, where an incident in her childhood made her this way. Also as the investigation progresses we learn that daisy’s father was having an affair with someone that he met on a dating site. Not only that but, brother Leo is not their biological son. The parents both end up under suspicion of the murder of Daisy. They both get very defensive and blame each other for her death. DI Fawley not only having difficulty ascertain who the killer is. But, he is still grieving of the loss of his son Jake. Which happened the previous year and the hate scam on Twitter when they hear of the disappearance of Daisy.
This is a gripping, fast paced thriller, with lots of twists and turns. But for me I didn’t like any of the characters and the excerpts of Twitter feed I found quite annoying. I liked the ending I didn’t see it coming. I will look forward to the next instalment of this series.

Really enjoyed this book, nice easy read, keeps you gripped and guessing throughout, and with an unexpected twist at the end. Thoroughly enjoyed.

This book was a real page turner which when I started reading I didn't expect. But the way the author writes from different perspectives of the characters made it more exciting and although I think I am usually good at spotting the culprit in this instance I was gobsmacked totally
Very enjoyable book would recommend to young and old alike

I would never have guessed the final twist in the tale!

I loved the Twitter feed throughout the story and the story just twists and turns all the time. Upsetting continually all that you thought you knew and understood.

This has a low key UK non-sensationalist  tone to the storyline, factual but....

Really enjoyed this book. Totally up my street with an ending that I didn't predict. Well written with believable characters.

Great cover and thoroughly intriguing,dislike for the parents from the word go with a suspicion raised over the Son, no l didn’t guess the ending and maybe it was a little weak but generally a very good read

Close to Home

I have a morbid draw to books about child abductions, I can’t get enough of them. I think it makes me pull my children that much closer to me.

Daisy has gone missing from her family party, her parents don’t seem that bothered...could they be involved?

This is a gripping, compelling read that genuinely kept me guessing until the end. The first book in a new series, I’m really looking forward to book two! Four shiny stars from purplebookstand.

I was lucky to be provided with an ARC of this book and I voluntarily provided this review

4.5* A great mystery story that I thoroughly enjoyed. Plenty of plot twists and turns with always something to think about and consider.

Some great characters, plenty of villains and suspects!

Thank you to Netgalley for an early copy. I haven't come across this author before but I will definitely be looking out for in future.