TV-Script about decades old murdercase
This is written in the format of a script by fictitious film maker Guy Howard for the first eight episodes of a TV series, aiming to solve a murder that happened in his family 20 years ago. The whole thing actually consists of random dialogues and interviews of what feels like a gazillion faceless people, interspersed with very sparse descriptions of locations and camera angles, which to me made it extremely difficult and unpleasant reading. Definitely Cara Hunter‘s worst book so far, I only persevered because I was allowed to read an advance copy.

It took me a little while to get into this one, the style and format took a while to click with me but once it did, fully invested. I forgot about everything that was happening in real life when I was reading and was completely sucked in. This is one of the best thrillers I have read this year, brilliantly paced, I had no clue where it was going as it twisted and turned. Original, authentic and the absolute epitome of a page turner. Stick with this one because it might take you 40-50 pages to lure you in but lure you in , it will. Highly Recommend.

A docu-style crime thriller - after 20 years, film maker Guy Howard is re-visiting the murder case of his stepfather, who was found murdered in the backyard of the family home.
Guy develops a team, who go back the crime via testimonies and evidence.
Written like a tv script, it’s an interesting way of presenting a crime book, even if it takes a bit of getting use to - being told through interviews, emails, text messages and Internet forums.
However keep with it because you are hit with new info that you never saw coming and keeps you guessing tight till the end.
Thanks @carahunter @harpercollins & @netgalley for the eARC

Murder in the Family

It was the most notorious murder of the time. Luke Ryder, the 26 year old husband of a society widow was found murdered in the garden of their upmarket London home. The case was often referred to as ‘the cougar murder case’ due to the age difference between Luke and his wife, Caroline and has never been solved.
Now 20 years on, Guy, the youngest of the Howard children from Caroline’s first marriage has become a successful filmmaker. He has joined forces with Nick Vincent, producer of the successful Netflix ‘Infamous’ series to try and finally solve the case that has haunted the family for years. Caroline is now lost to early onset dementia but Guy’s elder sisters, Amelie and Maura, have misgivings about raking it all up again. But they agree to take part.
A team of experts has been assembled; a retired policeman, a freelance journalist, a lawyer, a forensic and clinical psychologist, a forensic investigator and a former NYPD detective. They are all apparently strangers to each other. The first programme in the series airs on the 20th anniversary of the murder.
However, as they get to work, it soon becomes apparent that nothing is what it seems and that the team may all have a vested interest in solving the cold case. Revelations come thick and fast and Guy begins to realise that he’s out of his depth. But the series is unstoppable and he is powerless to stop it reaching a powerful and shocking climax when the truth is finally revealed.
I stayed up to finish this book. I could not go to sleep until I finished it! I wanted so much to see the mystery solved and it was worth it!. I am a huge Cara Hunter fan due to her excellent plotting and intriguing storylines and this was no exception. The DI Adam Fawley series is one of my favourites but ‘Murder in the Family’ is a standalone.
The narrative is told in the form of press releases, texts, emails, call sheets, TV critic reviews and comments by armchair sleuths. It could have the effect of the reader being told everything but here I felt that the reader was only privy to the same information as the team. So as each surprising twist was revealed I had the same reaction as them. The twists and turns of the plot and the motives of the team made for a fascinating storyline with distinct echoes of Agatha Christie.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.

Murder in the Family was one of the most addictive reads of the year so far. It was so tightly plotted as Hunter masterfully leads you down her dark and twisty path.

This book is easily one of the best crime books I have read this year. I loved the writing style, through the transcript of the TV episodes, interviews and reactions via Reddit and newspaper reviews. It was such a complex, layered and thrilling story that I devoured. Hunter is onto a winner here.

This is genuinely one of the best mysteries I have read for a while. I was just completely reeled in from the very first page and could not put it down from there, which made my train journey seemingly disappear. Hunter just creates such a tense atmosphere and the narrative choice of telling the story through snippets is incredible. These come in the form of television episode transcripts, interviews and overheard conversations that you feel like you are snooping in on and the live reactions to the television show through newspaper columns and online forums. This makes you feel like you are watching right along with them, giving it an intensity and timeliness that I do not feel like I have ever had from a book before. It feels like binge watching the latest Netflix obsession and discussing it with everyone you know.

The central mystery is fascinating, with so many evil twists and turns. I did not see many of them coming and Hunter always reveals them with such showmanship. It plays into the salacious drama of it all with the television format. These reveals are positioned as dramatic highlights or cliffhangers for the episodes, but also as jaw-dropping moments for readers. Hunter seems to use this form to examine our modern relationship with these kinds of crimes. There is a real debate to be had around the ethics of this and how often the victim is forgotten in favour of the headline-grabbing details of it all. This is a devastating family tragedy, blown up and captured in high definition. For me, it reminds me of my favourite episode from the latest series of Black Mirror. Hunter has her finger just so on the pulse, able to blend that social commentary with the very same style of crime narrative she is critiquing.

For me, Murder in the Family is the crime release of the summer. I will be enthusiastically recommending it to everyone I know.

The first stand-alone from the brilliant, clever, PHENOMENAL Cara Hunter. WOW! WOW! WOW!. This gripping, page turning, one more chapter, one sit read is bloody brilliant. I devoured it. It's written as a true crime show and it has great characters, the plot is awesome and OMG the secrets and twists are just to die for. I thought I knew which direction it was heading, but I got it wrong, the deliciously dark secrets and twists blew me away. HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Cara, I can't wait to see this book bought to life on our TV screens. PHENOMENAL, PHENOMENAL, PHENOMENAL, LOVE IT.

Wow! Utterly captivating! This book is a serious page turner and I flew through it.

A seriously gripping plot with so many twists, turns and cliff hangers.

I love the epistolary format as it gives the book another standout quality.

I loved the drama throughout the book and the ending really made you think, you need to keep track of the evidence!

Absolutely gripping, plenty of characters to love and hate. A great read.

Oooo this was a bit juicy :) and something a little different...
We start with an unsolved murder. That of Luke Ryder who was found dead in the garden of his home. He was step-father to the now acclaimed filmmaker, Guy Howard, then 10 years old.
Fast forward to the present and Guy is collaborating on the Netflix show - Infamous - now on its seventh series and which features, yes you guessed it, the unsolved murder of Luke Ryder... Its release scheduled to coincide with its 20 year anniversary...
But to do that, the whole cast of twenty years ago has to be assembled and interviewed... family - mother and sisters, the police who investigated, journalist who reported, as well as some other professionals who could interpret and shed light... forensics, psychologists, detectives... but can they succeed where many others have failed and... more importantly, what will the truth bring alongside it...?
Woah... buckle up... strap on in... cos, once this gets going, you will be in for a very wild ride indeed. Delivering shock after revelation after secret exposed, this book never lets up... All the way through interspersing the usual narrative with transcripts and other information delivery mechanisms, emails, social media, correspondence, and the like, which all go to raise the pace and deliver said information very concisely and effectively, peppering the reader with shot after shot. And with each "episode" leaving the "viewer" on either a shock or a cliffhanger, often both...
Characters are also excellent, well described and all play their parts very well. Most saddled with secrets lies and dysfunctional behaviour so I had great fun working them all out... Pacing, as already mentioned, was good, high octane all the way through but also the occasional slower bit to allow the reader to breathe! And the story itself held me captive all the way through as it delivered twist after shock as it meandered and then raced to the rather shocking but satisfying conclusion.
All in all, another winner from another of my favourite authors. Also highly recommended is her Adam Fawley series, go check that out if you get chance. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Whaaaaaaaat?! This was my reaction to the last page of Murder In The Family and it’s a definite candidate for my favourite book of the year. I LOVE books with an epistolary format so I was excited to get started on this book and boy, it did not disappoint. I was pretty much hooked from the first page. I loved how the background to the murder was revealed and the infighting between the experts trying to solve the case. I couldn’t read fast enough and was resentful when “real life” meant I had to stop reading for a while. I am sad to have finished the book, bur glad to have found a new author to explore. What a brilliant, thought provoking ending too.

If murder mysteries, twisty reads and epistolary novels are your thing, snap this book up and push it to the top of your to be read pile. Thank you so much to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

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

wow get a group of experts together and a cold case and this turns into a formula for an exciting tv show shown over 8 episodes

luke ryder is the murdered man and nobody was ever arrested for his horrendous murder

but that is all about to change with the advent of new technology and with expert help all will be revealed

the concept for this book was brilliant and i have to say i was engaged with it the whole way through reading it, couldnt put it down

shock after shock happens after each episode...

brilliant written cant wait to read what comes next from this author

Good solid, interesting story based on a cold case however for me personally, I didn't really like the format of the book as there were too many different aspects and information to take in and therefore there wasn't a strong character base to get into. It had a great pace and is certainly almost a unique way of story telling but just not for me. (Maybe this is the future way of doing things?!?!?)

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC to review

The way this book was set out really irritated me at first. It is designed as the script of a TV show with social media commentary after each episode. It makes getting into the book quite choppy and disjointed. However, as I got into the story and more familiar with the characters it really didn't bother me at all. The story itself involves looking at a famous unsolved cold case on TV using 'celebrity' sleuths who discover new clues about the case as the story progresses. This soon becomes ever more complicated and tangled in ways that would be plot breakers if I revealed them here. However, I would just say I could not put this book down. It is absolutely brilliant! A must read 5*
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

This new stand-alone novel from Hunter is just great. The format and concept is original and exciting. The brilliantly twisty and cleverly plotted storyline really does keep you guessing. I thought I had it all figured out by a third of the way in, but it turned out I did not!
If I have one criticism, it would be that there is just one or two red herrings too many. But overall it is a really good thriller to get stuck into. The climax built, and kept building, and when I thought it was all over something else happened! There is much going on and it truly is a page-turner. I read it really quickly and would certainly recommend.

I usually love a Cara Hunter thriller but I just could not get into this one. It's a boldly executd take on a traditional murder mystery with the narrative replaced for the most part by a multi-media approach to the story. And so we're presented with fragments of interviews, stage directions, newspaper cuttings, maps and family trees, along with multiple viewpoints in order to piece together the story ourselves. I can see how it should work, but it did not engage me, and the disjointed approach meant I found no rapport with the characters. Sadly, not one for me, but I'm sure many readers will enjoy this fresh approach to a traditional genre.

So very very clever. A really interesting take on a cold case murder investigation. A group of experts presenting a tv series about the murder of Luke some 20 years after his unsolved case. The unusual formats will keep you binge reading and the wonderful twists and turns will keep your head spinning.

Each of the police procedurals by Cara Hunter has been breath-taking, so I could not wait to read this, her first stand-alone novel. Its format is a little different, in that the plot is interspersed with snippets of modern media, but the storyline is as gripping as we have come to expect from Cara Hunter: TV producer Guy Howard has decided to produce a true-crime documentary about the murder of his stepfather some twenty years prior in London. Having activated all sorts of contacts and brought in all sorts of experts, Guy is confident he can finally identify the killer who has remained at large for two decades. But is he prepared for the secrets he will unearth and the things he will find out about his family history?

Brilliantly written, this will keep you up all night. Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the free ARC that I received in exchange for this honest and unbiased review.

I haven’t yet read a Cara Hunter book yet I haven’t enjoyed and this one is no exception.
I couldn’t help turning the pages quick to follow the story but I also did not want it to end. A real ‘who done it’ with clout.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review. I absolutely loved it.

As usual in my reviews, I will not rehash the plot or the publisher's blurb - there will be reviews like that out there already if that's what you're looking for.

Having read several of Cara Hunter's previous novels, I was delighted to be invited to read this.

This novel is something of a departure for CH, as it deals with what is effectively a "cold case" murder - reminiscent of the "Lord Lucan" era, revisited in the present day. I really liked the way the book was structured - basically in the format of a TV show, with the usual mix of social media comments etc, that always adds to the authenticity of Cara's novels.

As usual there are plenty of twists and turns to throw the reader off the scent - and as usual I ended up suspecting most of the characters! The eventual identity of the murderer was quite a surprise...and not just to me!

Already looking forward to reading more novels by this talented author!

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.

What a book!!!
I loved everything about it. The format, the story, the fascinating characters & the ending of the book.
Who Killed Luke Ryder? A team of experts was put together by producer Nick Vincent to identify the killer on a global hit programme, 'Infamous'. The seven part series would follow the team when they re-examine the evidence twenty years after the murder.
So many twists & turns make this a gripping read that I just couldn't put down. Buy it & enjoy. You will not be disappointed!

📖BOOK REVIEW📖
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#MurderInTheFamily by #CaraHunter

⏩for synopsis

I want to start by saying this book is actually excellent - once you’re used to the format you read/binge it just like a Netflix documentary and personally I loved it. Would I want all my reads like this? Probably not, but as a standalone read it worked perfectly.

As always with CH read your treated to a very modern, clever and multi format read; a mix of text messages, voicemails, emails and newspaper clipping are all used along with the chosen experts discussion to investigate the murder of Luke Ryder. I found the information and revels were timely with cliffhanger episode endings made it an addictive and entertaining read.

With thanks the author, #netgalley and #harpercollins for allowing us to read this one early!

RELEASING: July 20th

-EMILY

@the_book_girls_1