Book review: Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter
Author: Cara Hunter
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication date: 19th September 2023
My rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Summary:
It was a case that gripped the nation. In December 2003, Luke Ryder, the stepfather of acclaimed filmmaker Guy Howard (then aged 10), was found dead in the garden of their suburban family home.
Luke Ryder’s murder has never been solved. Guy Howard’s mother and two half-sisters were in the house at the time of the murder–but all swear they saw nothing. Despite a high-profile police investigation and endless media attention, no suspect was ever charged.
But some murder cases are simply too big to forget…
Now comes the sensational new Netflix series Infamous, dedicated to investigating–and perhaps cracking–this famous cold case. The production team will re-examine testimony, re-interview witnesses, and once again scour the evidence. The family will speak. The key players will be reunited–on camera. The truth will come out.
My review:
By now mystery and thriller fans are aware of Cara Hunter’s series featuring DI Adam Fawley and may be pleasantly surprised to discover this standalone book. Unlike the Oxford based series, Murder in the Family does not have a strong focus on the crime and forensics investigation but rather interprets human emotion and relationships through the lens of a famous Netflix series, Infamous. There are, however, many similarities between this book and Cara Hunter’s series, including an increasingly complex web of deceit and camoflouge as most characters are revealed to be hiding secrets as new episodes of the series are aired.
The storyline takes place almost 20 years in the aftermath of the merciless murder of Luke Ryder, a somewhat ordinary character with a visibly uninteresting past. As the characters in the Infamous series are introduced, we soon discover that many of the characters played a pivotal role in the immediate discovery of the body, although the original reports did not focus on this in the beginning. Although it may seem as if the trail has gone cold, the story unfolds as each episode focuses on a key part of the small team’s investigation many years post dicovery of the crime. I thoroughly enjoyed this format and it is a fundamental characteristic of Cara Hunter’s writing style and a clever way to engage the reader.
As always, the character development for almost all of the characters is impressive and intricantly woven into the storyline from the beginning. I was most curious about the family dynamic between the three siblings and was unsure about how this would transpire. The secrets in this family were not only shocking but also deeply ingrained into the present day relationships between the siblings and a core part of the events surrounding Luke Ryder’s death.
The pacing in Murder in the Family is just right, with each twist driving the narrative into a different direction as the spotlight shifts to a different potential suspect. There were many key twists and turns that shocked me and I found myself unable to put the book down. At one point I could guess what had happened and who the killer was based on a specific subtle hint that was mentioned and this is the only downside for me in this otherwise clever and well written book.
I highly recommend Murder in the Family to anyone looking for their next masterfully crafted thriller. With a set of intriguing characters and meandering plot, Cara Hunter skilfully draws in the reader until the last page.