All the Rage by Cara Hunter is a chilling crime thriller that will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading. The story starts with a flashback style prologue, where the third-person narrator focalises on an unknown predator: ‘he can hear the clank of shoes against the pavement’; before cranking up the creepiness and zooming in on the predator’s free-indirect thoughts: ‘sequins, red gash mouths, tottering about on their tarty shoes; the silly bitches’. These are no longer the words of the narrator but those of the predator: It is like you are right there: seeing things exactly from his eyes and listening to how his mind ticks - and this is utterly terrifying. The main story then switches to two teenage girls, Faith Appleford and Sasha Blake. Faith is a nineteen-year-old fashion student who has moved away from her old town to start a new life. Sasha, who happens to look just like Faith, is fifteen and at school studying for her GCSEs. We see them eating breakfast with their respective families and getting ready for their school/college day. They are both ordinary teenage girls, living ordinary lives. Either one of them will no doubt remind the reader of somebody they know: daughter; niece; neighbour… But a few hours later Faith has been attacked and is found wandering the streets of Oxford disorientated and distressed; not only that, she refuses to formally report whatever it is that has happened to her – why? Just what is it she is hiding? Although Faith is adamant that she doesn’t want the police involved, the taxi driver who found her uses his better judgement and reports it. This brings in D I Adam Fawley and his team: Erica Somer, Verity Everett, Gareth Quinn, Chris Gislingham, Andrew Baxter, and Tony Asante. These are all characters from previous novels in the series, except Tony Asante who is new. Like previous novels, Fawley’s perspective is in first-person, allowing the reader to inch just that little bit closer to him than the other characters in the novel, who are narrated in third-person. Together with Fawley’s personal life as the subplot, this dual method of narration leaves the reader in no doubt he is the protagonist and everything that happens comes back to Fawley and his world. But what happened to Faith is closer to home than Fawley is comfortable with and when Sasha also goes missing, with an even more devastating outcome, Fawley and his team are under more pressure than ever to solve the case – not least because the attacks show copy-cat like similarities to one of D I Fawley’s previous cases. But this isn’t just any case; as well as Fawley’s professional reputation being under threat, Fawley’s past on a personal level are also dragged up and the timing couldn’t be worse. What I really liked about All the Rage was the way in which it was structured around short scenes; each building like a roller-coaster but stopping just short of the climatic point, leaving me dangling and my heart pounding, desperate for the ride to tip over the edge – but then the story switches to another equally edge of the seat scene, leaving me frantically turning the pages to find out more, before the process is repeated and that plot twist is left hanging in the air as we return to the previous one. But where the author is really clever is how she drags the reader into both the mindset of the stalker (whether this is the same person who attacked Faith and/or Sasha, is something you will just have to find out for yourself) and the investigation itself. Certain parts of the narrative have an epistolary style, where social media, online forums, and police interview transcripts are revealed; allowing the reader to piece together the evidence alongside Fawley and his team. The reader often finds out a piece of evidence from one strand before Fawley or a member of his team does, but before the information reaches them the scene shifts to another one. So frustrating – but so addictive – and a very clever literary device on the author’s part! Cara Hunter seems to just get better and better. I didn’t see all the plot twists coming but when they arrived it was like a lightbulb moment; they were all logical and pieced together like an intricate jigsaw puzzle, making for a very satisfying read. The story will chill you to the bone; its realistic plausibility is what makes it so shockingly terrifying and is a story that will stay with you long after reading. The novel contains themes that are as controversial as they are contemporary, and the author deals with these issues in a sensitive way. After the Rage is undoubtedly the best in the D I Dawley series so far and I would recommend this book for anybody who likes Sheila Quigley or Jo Ullah.

Oh my days!!! What an immensely gripping read!! I love the previous books of Cara’s, with each storyline being darker than the previous one. I am hugely emotionally invested in her characters and love how the policing aspect is written - as a true crime fan, every part of the investigation process, every clue and hint has me hooked. Cara is such a clever writer and queen of the plot twists - at one point I was certain I had guessed correctly - how naive was I... as she has with each book before, I was quickly put in my place as she hurled twist after twist at me, hitting me with the final humdinger. I just love it!!! As always, I am left craving more and so excited for the next one to come out. For those who have not read her series yet, add it to your list ASAP.

After being given the first book in the series and loving the twist, I purchased the other 3 and can’t wait for the next instalment! They kept me gripped and really helped keep me occupied whilst on furlough.

This is book four featuring DI Adam Fawley and set in a somewhat different aspect of Oxford than that other famous detective Morse gave us. But don't mistake different with inferior in any way. The plot in this book is about a stalker and his victim and as with all the author's previous books it has a feel of being bang up to date in both terms of subject matter as well as the finer details which lends the book a fresh feel. Multiple viewpoints and the gentle weaving of the investigator's back stories means that the plotting needs to be spot on to work, and it is! If you haven't read any of the series I would urge you to read Close to Home followed swiftly by the next three; you are in for a treat!

All The Rage is the fourth instalment in the DI Adam Fawley series, written by Cara Hunter, who has become a must read author for me. DI Fawley and the team hear of a terrifying crime, but not from the reticent victim, as you would assume; but from a good samaritan passing by, who realised a young woman had endured a terrible ordeal. The crime bears a startling similarity to a string of serious assaults committed many years ago, the perpetrator being imprisoned at the time. This new case brings those closed cases to the forefront again, questions start to be asked about the original investigation, of which Adam was a part of, as a more junior officer. This is a complex, intricately plotted story, peppered with plenty of misdirection. I found it to be very sensitively written, with regard to the nature of the crimes and the victims themselves. I was completely gripped, and resented having to stop reading when life got in the way. I read this series as much for the ongoing backstories of the central characters, as each individual gripping book itself. Each publication sees these characters develop further, and makes them become more real to me. There was a huge ‘wow’ moment, an absolute bombshell dropped, my mouth genuinely dropped open. It is partly this that forms the intrigue for the next book, The Whole Truth. I can’t recommend All The Rage highly enough, but I strongly suggest you start with Close to Home, otherwise you will miss out on three fabulous books. It’s easily a 5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read for me.