Making a Killing by Cara Hunter is a captivating addition to the crime thriller genre, earning a well-deserved 4-star rating. The novel seamlessly blends intricate plotting, well-drawn characters, and an engrossing narrative that keeps readers hooked from start to finish. Even though this was the seventh novel in the DI Addam Fawley series, I think it works well as a stand-alone novel as I had not read any of the previous novels in the series.
The author has created characters that resonate with readers. DI Adam Fawley is a compelling protagonist, balancing professional dedication with personal struggles. His team, each with their own quirks and strengths, adds depth to the narrative.
The author masterfully builds tension, employing cliffhangers and red herrings to keep readers on edge. The dialogue is natural and engaging, further enhancing the characters' believability.
Expertly paced Making a Killing has a balance of fast-paced action and slower, introspective moments. The format for the Kindle was very clunky. Newspaper articles and photographs were splayed onto several pages making them difficult to read.
Making a Killing by Cara Hunter is a compelling crime thriller that delivers on its promise of suspense and intrigue. With its engaging plot, well-drawn characters, and thought-provoking themes, it is a worthy read for fans of the genre. Despite a few minor flaws, the novel's strengths far outweigh its weaknesses, solidifying its 4-star rating.
Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley UK for the ARC.

I have read and enjoyed some of Cara Hunters previous books but had not read the DI Frawley series before, while the book does an excellent job at the beginning, of clarifying who is whom and giving brief descriptions and backgrounds of the characters, in hindsight, I probably should have read the first book in the series ( of which the murder that occurs in this one, is a central component of this novel), I will read it soon though because despite coming into this series at book 7, what a read!

An incredibly plotted and layered police procedural , gripping from the off and I raced through this one. I really enjoyed the writing , the fast past and the way Hunter allowed this story to unfold. Cara Hunter fans will adore this and if like me, you haven't read the other books in the series, this book will make you look forward to picking them up.

A cracking thriller, recommend.

Cara Hunter books are always a treat to read, and Making a Killing is probably the best yet!
This is the seventh in the Adam Fawley series, and whilst you’d benefit from reading the others, this could work perfectly fine as a standalone. The story continues on from Close to Home (the first in the series), in real time, when new forensic evidence comes to light and links to the case in the first book, the murder of 8 year old Daisy Mason. There’s even a reference to Murder in the Family, Hunter’s last book, which is a standalone, kind of making a Hitchcock type fun spot for long time fans.
This was very satisfying to read, and was hard to put down. I would say that the mixed media would work very well in a hard copy of the book, but on Kindle it does something weird to the formatting, resulting in massive chunks of text duplicated. I understand that my copy is a proof so hopefully this isn’t an issue on final copies.

This is the seventh book in the DI Adam Fawley series and a revisit to the first Adam Fawley novel 'Close to Home'. Eight year old Daisy disappears without trace, her body never found. She is presumed dead and a murder conviction follows. 'Making a Killing' picks up the tale eight years later. A seemingly unconnected murder in the Cotswolds brings Adam Fawley back from his secondment to Counter Terrorism when DNA evidence on the victim links back to Daisy's disappearance.

Having not read any of Cara Hunter's previous books I decided to read 'Close to Home' first. Whilst 'Making a Killing' can be read as a stand alone I am sure I loved it all the more by having knowledge of the original plot and characters. 'Making a Killing' has a very cleverly thought out storyline, full of twists and turns. I thought I had it worked out quite early on however fell victim to the red herrings cunningly dropped into the tale. The narration is interspersed with references to Carl Jung's idea of 'The Shadow Self'; a genius method to give insight into the psyche of a particular character. The graphics, newspaper articles and historical information add an extra dimension to an already brilliant read.

Given the location of the victim in 'Making A Killing' there are two teams of detectives involved. For me this did get a little confusing at times, and I could feel an involuntary sigh of relief each time Fawley's name appeared. Thrillers are my favourite genre, especially those in a series with the same cast of detectives. Sometimes the references to events outside of the main narrative don't add any value to the main character's persona however Cara Hunter is pitch perfect with Fawley. Books 2 - 6 are very definitely on my to be read list.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for my advanced reader copy in return for my honest and unbiased review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Making a Killing in return for my honest review.
I’m really enjoying the DCI Fawley series this is the 7th in the series and the second featuring Daisy Mason, this can however be read as a standalone as at the beginning of the book there are detailed descriptions the main characters. This is a really well written story with plenty of twists and turns to keep you reading.
I only have one issue and that is the use of newspaper clippings and pictures do not translate well on my kindle.
I definitely recommend reading this book and the others in the series.

During a walk with her daughter's Labrador, Margaret Collier makes an unsettling discovery in the woods: a young woman buried in a shallow grave near a tree where a woman was once held captive and tragically died, accused of witchcraft.  A hair sample found on duct tape around the victim's wrists unexpectedly connects this case to an eight-year-old cold case involving a murdered girl.  Her mother was convicted and imprisoned, despite the girl's body never being found; therefore, how did her DNA come to be on the duct tape?

Adam Foley has returned to the case with many of his original team members. What aspects might they have missed in their initial investigation, and what could explain the girl's reappearance after eight years?

I thoroughly enjoy this series and really enjoy its cleverly crafted narrative. The story feels remarkably like a true crime account.
This book revisits the first book in the series, where we met the manipulative Daisy and her dysfunctional family.
Highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

My crime book obsessed husband and son read this one as they had read the previous book that it relates to. I read it without reading the previous book but the information I needed was all contained within the book so this could easily be read as a standalone book. As it was, we all enjoyed the book.

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

must admit i struggled with this one a bit.... though it was well written and thought out i can honestly say its not one of my fav in this series

when a dog walker and her dog find a body its all hands on deck to discover who the victim is... what wasnt expected was a piece of dna evidence pointing towards an already dead person with the perp in jail

and so opens an old case that had originally been thought to have been solved....

DI fawley and his crew are called back to investigate what had gone wrong with the previous conviction because as it stands the person who has been in prison for a number of years is innocent of the crimes that they were put away for...

and so begins a case that is hard to believe considering the age of the perp

This book reads well as a standalone, as I hadn't read the previous one, and has a great plot with a missing child who now may be a killer. The illustrations may not be everybody's cup of tea but they did have their place . There was also the inclusion of another team which at times did confuse the situation especially if you weren't concentrating. Overall I did enjoy the book.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC to review.

4.5⭐

Making a Killing takes readers back to 2016 and the first case in 'Close to Home' where then Detective Inspector Adam Fawley investigated the presumed killing of 8-year-old Daisy Mason. Whose mum, Sharon, was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison. Even though Daisy's body was never recovered.

But Adam is sure justice had been done and they had caught and charged the right person.

However, fast forward eight years, and journalist Nick Vincent, host of a true crime show, has received some interesting evidence that could prove Sharon is innocent, and his team are now desperately trying to verify if that's true.

Meanwhile, in the Cotswolds, a body is discovered by a woman walking her dog and forensic evidence links it back to Daisy, which prompts a collaboration between two police forces as they work fervently to piece together the mystery.

Leaving DCI Adam Fawley and his team with the daunting task of revisiting the case and unravelling the intricate layers surrounding Daisy's disappearance. In order to finally uncover what truly happened to Daisy Mason.

And with an interesting protagonist in Adam Fawley. Not to mention a story that is dark, twisted, perplexing, nicely paced and creatively told through mixed media. This was a brilliant read and introduction to a series I can't wait to read more from, and I will definitely be reading Close to Home over the next couple of months!!

I was really glad to see the return of DI Fawley or rather DCI as he is now. He has been one of my favourite fictional characters since I read Close to Home and I’m happy to report that has not changed with the passing of the years or his promotion. This book is book 7 in the series but is effectively a sequel to book 1. Having read book 1 years ago I could remember the outline of what happened but my memory was a bit sketchy on detail. You could definitely read this without having read book 1, however I think it would be great to read them back to back. I love the character summaries for the team at the beginning and it would be great if more authors did this. I hadn’t heard of a shadow journal prior to reading this but it was an interesting way of including that character’s thoughts. I love this series and part of me can’t understand why it hasn’t been picked up for tv but then part of me is glad it hasn’t in case they ruin the characters for me. I’d be happy to see Team Fawley return in future books.

Fast paced, keeps you on edge and you never quite know what's happening even when you think you do. It's hard to say much else without giving the story away. But it's definitely a fun read, when a child who was presumed murdered turns out to be alive and embroiled in a new, current murder and you have to figure out how and why. Honestly you're left with just as many questions as were answered, and you definitely end on a bit of a cliffhanger which for me personally was a bit of a let down, I like a resolution. But overall a good book. Solid 3.5 stars.

A body is found and DNA test on a hair at the scene is found to be of a girl who was murdered 8 years earlier though the body was never found. The team investgates the new crime and the old one. A gripping story that never let's go. Full of good characters and a few red herrings. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Thanks to Harpercollins and Netgalley for this review ARC

Absolutely brilliant! The last book in this series was set six years ago and it is so good to catch up with Adam Fawley and his team. A few books ago, Cara Hunter started adding a character summary to the beginning of the book and after a gap in the series, this is a great feature, whether you have read the previous books or not. And on that note, this will absolutely work as a standalone, as there is enough background to catch you up.

In the first book in the series, eight year old Daisy Mason disappeared and her mother was convicted of her murder is currently serving a life sentence. Eight years on, in "Making a Killing", the body of a young woman is discovered and a DNA test on a strand of hair found at the scene, reveals that it belongs to Daisy Mason; SHE WASN'T MURDERED! But is she now a killer?

As well as identifying the dead woman and investigating why she was killed and by whom, the team have to revisit the original Daisy Mason case from 2016. Where has Daisy been for the past eight years? was she abducted? Did she run away? And crucially, where is she now?

I was gripped from the start, as I always am with this incredible series. The writing is excellent, the character development is absolutely spot on, with the perfect balance of the main character's personal lives and the case they are working on, the plot is fast paced, suspenseful and twisty - what's not to love? The ending has some loose ends, which I hope means that there's more to come!

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Cara Hunter and Harper Collins for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Oh, the excitement of having a new Adam Fawley book to read!

With this seventh book, we revisit a previous case as new information has changed things. It's been some time since we read about the disappearance of Daisy Mason and things have changed quite a bit both professionally and personally for Adam Fawley.

This is a series I've followed from the beginning and one I really love. The crimes, the team of police officers and everything else have just always gelled together. I feel I missed something in this one as the newspaper reports just don't seem to transfer to kindle and with my arthritic hands not coping with a 'real' book I'll just have to live with it. However, that is no fault of the author's and I wouldn't be so mean as to allow that to take away from the five stars that this novel easily merits. Highly recommended.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley.

You can easily read this book as a stand-alone, but the whole series is so good, I’d certainly recommend starting from the beginning so that you can get to know the characters in this excellent contemporary police procedural series. If you are diving straight in though, Cara Hunter provides a very useful thumbnail sketch of all the main characters to bring you up to speed.

Making A Killing is a follow up to the first book in this series, Close to Home in which the then DI Fawley investigated the disappearance of 8 year old Daisy Mason from her family home. Although Daisy’s body was never found, the evidence that Fawley and his team gathered was sufficient to convict Daisy’s mother, Sharon and she is currently serving a minimum of 25 years for murdering her daughter. Fawley was more than satisfied; he had no doubts about Sharon Morgan’s guilt.

One of Cara Hunter’s trademarks is to make full use of newspaper clippings, texts, WhatsApp messages and other forms of communication such as X and Facebook to throw light on a case and its characters. This makes for a great sense of authenticity as well as drawing you into the action as you read these items contemporaneously with the Police team.

The story opens with a dog walker finding a dead body in the woods. Not just anywhere in the woods, but buried near an old witching tree and the body has something resembling a bridle scold in her mouth. Spooky huh? Well, you’d think so, until forensic pathology make their really spooky discovery. There’s a red hair stuck to a piece of tape on the victim’s body. It does not belong to the as yet unnamed victim, but it does match someone on the Police database. The hair belongs to Daisy Mason!

How can that be possible? And if it is possible, how can the hair have got there? Fawley’s boss calls him and asks him to get as many of the original team together as he can. Because of his prior involvement in the case, he’s best placed to see what he missed, but he and the team will be overseen by a senior policeman to avoid any conflicts of interest.

From there, the case takes a déjà vu turn, with Fawley bringing back his old team from points afar, going over the old case, re-interviewing the original witnesses and starting to sketch out theories as to what could have happened.

There’s nothing more serious for a policeman than a miscarriage of justice and Fawley is at a loss to understand how he could have got it to wrong – if indeed he did. As the team carefully retrace their steps on the case, the impact on the team is profound and none the more so than on Adam Fawley.

It’s absolutely fascinating and all the more so if you have read Close to Home. Cara Hunter has given her readers an intricately plotted, twisty and devilishly clever murder mystery which kept me riveted for hours.

Verdict: It’s great to have D.I. Fawley, Gis, Quinn and others back together again in this really gripping tale that turns on its head everything the Police (and readers) thought they knew. Punchy, with more than one twist in the tail, this book seized me by the throat and would not let go. I highly recommend it.

Cara Hunter is a fabulous writer and wholeheartedly recommend this book. I lost whole afternoon’s as I was so hooked by this book - brilliant!

Morning guys!

Making A Killing by Cara Hunter was a pretty big puzzle, as all the members of the original police enquiry team are brought back together from different stations and job titles, in order to go over an old case. The case is about a little girl who was found to be missing, and her mother sent to prison for her murder. It turns out Daisy may well be still alive after all….
This surrounds a woman’s body found in a shallow grave and physically silenced by a shelf bracket, similar to an old fashioned contraption used eons ago to metaphorically silence women in their death. A hair was found in the tape binding the woman, and this hair belonged to Daisy.
I loved getting to know the characters, and although i hadn’t read the original story, Cara very kindly puts a summary of what happened previously at the start of the book with short facts about each member of the team too, so it’s easy to go on and read this story.
As usual Cara Hunter manages to put intrigue and excitement into her stories and this had a great twist at the end!!
Many thanks to Harper Collins for the opportunity to read this arc copy via Netgalley. My opinion is my own.
#Netgalley, #HarperCollins, -#CaraHunterAuthor

I was so excited to request an ARC of Making a Killing, and getting approved felt like winning the bookish lottery! Cara Hunter never misses... her writing is sharp, the twists are on point, and the pacing makes it impossible to put down. Adam Fawley remains one of my favorite detectives!!! balancing intelligence and heart in a way that keeps me invested. The case in this one was layered and full of surprises, and I loved how everything unfolded. Another fantastic addition to the series!

Another cracker from Cara Hunter and a welcome return for Adam Hawley called into reinvestigate a murder someone has already been convicted for… where did this eight year old disappear to and why has her hair been found eight years later on a murder victim?