In 2003, step father, Luke Ryder was brutally murdered in the family home. No one was ever charged with his murder. Now 20 years on, stepson Guy Howard, an acclaimed film maker, brings together other family members and experts to discuss to case and the ongoing of that particular night.
A lots of revelations that went untold at the time are exposed, providing plenty of twists and an very interesting plot.
The format of different social media within the kindle edition made it difficult to read at times, but doesn’t deter from an original read.

Thanks to HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for the chance to read an advance copy of this terrific book.

I've read and loved all of Cara Hunter's output, and IMO this one top's the lot.

The format is unique in my experience. The plot is, at turns, twisty, exciting, confusing, (in a good way) and always thoroughly engaging.

The skill employed to define all the characters, to keep them real and believable is off the charts.

This deserves to be a smash hit for the author, and I look forward to the tv adaptation.

Five stars.

Round of applause for Cara Hunter please 🙌🙌🙌🙌 what an amazing read this was!

I am a huge fan of Cara Hunter's Police procedural series so this was an easy one for me to get my teeth into and devour in one sitting.

This is Cara's first stand alone thriller and it's got me wanting more!

I absolutely LOVED the format of this story, the documentary script, the case notes, the character assassinations.. every single piece of the puzzle fit together brilliantly and flawlessly. I'll admit the format took a little getting used to as it feels like you are reading a documentary but within a couple of chapters it just felt to natural yet so unique. The clever use of newspaper articles and text messages just made it feel all the more real.

The story is set around one single question.. Who killed Luke Ryder?

20 years ago in 2003 Luke was found dead at the bottom of some stairs in the garden of his home in the elite suburb area of London W8.

Now his filmmaker stepson Guy who was only 10 at the time of his death wants to investigate that one burning question on a podcast and enlists the helps of some specialists to help him try and crack the case, all he wants is the truth.

I wont go into any detail as it will definitely give spoilers but this is easily in my top 3 reads this year!

Huge thanks to Netgalley Harper Collins UK for the ARC.

I was given the opportunity to read an early copy of this book because I loved Cara Hunter's previous novels. However this is very different and I'm disappointed.
The opening is of Guy, a film maker, creating a documentary with several experts, to open the cold case of the murder of Guy's step dad.
As the novel is laid out in the style of stage directions, call sheet and scene layout, it just felt 'clunky' and irritating to read. Many of the characters lines were laid out with stage directions. I don't know if it's because I read on the kindle, but some pages had text that was too pale to read, or the words were not spaced out and impossible to decipher. It was just tiresome,
From the plot perspective, it just seemed pointless having all the experts presenting evidence, when in fact the director had information that he didn't reveal or dropped in afterwards in a big reveal that just made everything else irrelevant, so what was the point?
Disappointed.

I really loved the way this book was laid out, in episodes and with the news clippings, text and voicemail formats. I loved just reading it like a script, and forming my own opinions of the people involved. The story was a good one, it was compelling, and the need to try and pick up on certain hints as the story goes through. I did guess the killer early on, though then changed my mind on it a few times. I you want an enjoyable "who-dun-it" then you have to pick this book up, it is like being in a bumper car as you work your way towards the end.

A stand alone story from this brilliant author. Based in Oxford which I know from my days living there and was researched exceptionally well as you’d expect (but often authors get the feel of the place so wrong - not so in this case)

It was yet another unputdownable tense read which took me less than 2 days to devour. The characters all seemed real, the twists and turns keep you guessing and the end is brilliant.

Thank you to the author, publishers and Netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review

I was really looking forward to reading this book the blurb sounded great and I love murder mysteries.

Unfortunately this book did not do it for ne. I got 66% of the way through and realised I didn't have a clue who some of the characters were, there were so many of them. I gave up reading at this point. I also found the script layout a little confusing and some of the writing that was supposed to be newspapers was too small to read. This all maybe netter in a physical book rather than a kindle.

This was a well-written and enjoyable book. It is presented as a true crime series with newspaper clippings and texts. It was frustrating at times trying to read this format on kindle but the bulk of the book was readable. Good characters and there were twists and turns in every chapter. A good read.

Wow what a book. Honestly I devoured this in one sitting and loved it. The story is based around a real crime reality tv show that is being filmed around an unsolved murder twenty years before. With the stepson of the victim part of the team they are desperate to solve the murder that has haunted their family for years. The layout of the book is told as if it’s a real show being filmed with emails, voicemails, press reviews, fan responses and then the full running of the show which was a bit odd to begin with but I was soon so engrossed it felt like I was watching it live on tv. The ending just blew my mind. Loved it.

I absolutely love Cara Hunters books and I really enjoyed this one too - the format really worked and I loved the fact that I felt like I was solving the puzzle/doing the work even though I wasn’t! This will appeal very much to true-crime fans as well as Adam Hawley ones! Just a note to the publisher - you can’t currently expand the text on the newspaper articles on a Kindle - I’m really hoping you can on the ‘real’ (none Netgalley) version

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.
I initially thought I wasn’t going to like this book, put off by the the structure.
A true crime TV series is focussing on a 20-year-old unsolved murder. A group of ‘experts’ - from police, forensics, psychology and other fields are gathered, given pretty much free rein to dissect the existing evidence and follow it wherever it takes them.
You are introduced to the main characters as a series of fact sheets with photographs. The story is then told as a series of episode transcripts, interspersed with newspaper clippings, private texts and emails, and chat from an online forum.
Surprisingly, after my initial doubt I found myself drawn in to the story, though it was more like ‘binge-watching’ the series than reading a book.
Some reviewers felt this format didn’t allow for good character development, but I felt that there was enough, and it was in keeping with the idea that you were watching a TV programme.
It kept me well hooked, though I had a strong suspicion early on what the outcome would be, but there were plenty - too many, maybe - red herrings thrown in, and each ‘episode’ ends with a cliffhanger to keep you guessing.
This is in part an Agatha Christie-style whodunnit with an unusual format. But the author gradually introduces more layers of intrigue.
The pace got a bit frantic towards the end - with a few too many ‘A-HA!’ moments, and some scenes which stretched credibility a bit. And I felt the final twist was a bit of a ‘step too far’ for me, but overall I really liked this story.

Hats off to Cara Hunter for applying a unique and thoroughly modern spin to a familiar trope. There were some technical issues with reading it on my Kindle - in particular, the final extract from The Times didn’t show up in full so I almost missed a crucial detail - but apart from that I thought it was an innovative and topical twist on a conventional crime story. Thoroughly gripping and definitely a book I’ll recommend!

A well-written, compelling and enjoyable read. A unique concept as the story unfolds as a true crime series using transcripts, texts, newspaper clippings and documentary directions. It took a few pages to get into the format, but soon became immersed in it and it felt like watching a drama unfold visually. The characters were well developed and the plot was gripping with plenty of twists and turns. Recommended.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley UK for the ARC.

I have enjoyed Cara Hunter’s DI Fawley series and the blurb for this book sounded amazing. It had an unusual format of a true crime documentary and was solving a cold case, two of my favourite tropes in murder mysteries. Unfortunately it just failed to translate into an engaging read. The format did not help in giving any kind of depth to any of the characters and the plot seemed to focus on throwing curveball after curveball which after a point made it all seem completely unrealistic. I was hoping for some amazing twist at the end that could maybe save it but then again it turned into a very stale ending that was underwhelming. So all in all this was a bit disappointing. I think the audio version of this book would be a better option for anyone planning to read it but I personally would not be recommending it.

This is a cold case murder delivered in an unusual setting. A group of experts have been brought together to try to solve the murder of Luke Ryder, a toy boy husband found murdered in his garden. Some of the experts have connections to the case. As they pursue their investigation they are being filmed for television. The basic murder story is well created but would probably have been better delivered as such without the distraction of the televising. The case becomes more complicated that the group first bargained for but unfortunately the title gives the outcome away. This is a good read but not the best murder story ever.

This is a good story - a lot happens and there are a lot of surprises so it certainly keeps you reading, keen to solve the mystery. So well done for the plot (3.5 stars). I thought i had solved it quite early on but I was wrong. Even if you do solve it there are still enough twists about the various characters and their motives and backgrounds to keep it entertaining.

What i was not so keen on was the format of the book which is written out like a script for a Netflix True Crime series investigating the 20 year old cold case murder of the stepfather of the man who is directing the series. I found this to be very gimmicky, especially all the camera directions "cut to X who is sitting in such and such a room wearing such and such clothes". I found this so irritating that I almost gave up but, given that I had been provided with the book for nothing and asked to give my thoughts on it, I felt i should continue. I did get used to the format and I just skimmed the "cut to" bits but apart from one near the very end, I would say they were just padding and added nothing to the story.

The text has other features which I also considered to be gimmicky, padding and adding little to the story - copies of excerpts from newspapers relating to the case, a review of each episode by a TV pundit and extracts from twitter conversations about the series. Even with glasses I have vision issues and very annoyingly I was not able to enlarge these excerpts so I had to take my glasses off and put the screen right up to me eyes to read them. The last newspaper report is incomplete although I think that might have been intentional.

I also felt that some of the characters were less well drawn than others and were just plot contrivances really. With no spoilers, it turns out that the selection of these people to investigate the case was not random but i did find it a bit far fetched that all these folks just happened to have the skills necessary for the investigation.

I would say that on balance, it is worth ploughing through all the irritations for a light, quick and entertaining read

I am absolutely blown away by how amazing this book was! It's uncommon format of a series of interviews had me curious from the start, and with shocking revelations at every stage keeping me turning the pages, I was hooked from start to finish. I read a lot of murder mysteries, so it really takes something special to get me raving and this book is certainly that!

In 2003 Luke Ryder was found murdered in the garden of hi London home. He was married to an older wealthy woman and had three step children. The murder was never solved.
Years later a panel of experts revisit the crime to try and solve it. This takes place live on a television show the last of a very successful series. Revelations occur in each episode and prove to be compulsive viewing . It also reveals that some of the experts know more than they have been letting on.
Whilst I found it an original way for the story to be told and had the usual twists expected from this author I did find the format quite difficult to read and the flow was affected

This book started out great, i loved the pace, the writing style and the characters. Unfortunately towards the middle it lost the pace and became a little bit repetitive, still overall a good book though

Wow!!
As a big fan of the Fawley series, I was unsure what to expect from this standalone book- but Cara Hunter absolutely did not disappoint. It had so many twists and turns, I found myself continually shocked! Brilliant book, thank you so much Netgalley