Review: Murder in the Family - Cara Hunter

 

 

 

Review: Murder in the Family- Cara Hunter - Septemnber 2023

I have always been a fan of thrillers and love cold cases and mysteries, I think this stems from the fact that my father's dad's side is a big blank space and lately I have been getting into genealogy and turning over stones.  Murder in the Family starts with the introduction of a cold case - twenty years ago Luke Ryder was murdered and his body found in the garden. The case went cold as there were no actual suspects or evidence of who killed him and why. Twenty years later Guy Howard who was 10 at the time his stepfather was killed has decided to make a documentary and try and solve the case once and for all. Filled with elites in their criminal and forensic fields, these masterminds will explore all the options, evidence, and articles and try and crack the case.  This book also uses multimedia and new formats that we aren't used to seeing often in books as the book is written like a film script and interview format with the odd article chucked in between. Due to the format, I did struggle a little but once I got into the flow of reading it like this - it did make it a bit easier for myself. I have seen lately a few books written like this from The Appeal by Janice Hallett and Daisy and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid.  As I was reading this book, I could just sit and imagine one of those big crime boards connecting the dots and found myself visioning myself in the room of a police station with my colleagues trying to work together to solve the crime of the decades. Also without spoiling the ending, I did not see the big reveal coming and was in two minds - blown away yet disappointed. I am a real ending person, so I did feel this one fell a bit short there for me. However, overall due to the format of this book, it was a great immersive reading experience and is the perfect read for those budding and hobbyist criminologists.

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3pZXDn6