I didn’t think Cara Hunter could get any better, but then out comes her fourth book, All The Rage.
Hunter has appeared in my top reads of the year for two years in a row, and this fourth book cements the reason why.
The plot:
The first girl came back. The next might not be so lucky.
A teenage girl is found wandering the outskirts of Oxford, dazed and distressed. The story she tells is terrifying. Grabbed off the street, a plastic bag pulled over her face, then driven to an isolated location where she was subject to what sounds like an assault. Yet she refuses to press charges.
DI Fawley investigates, but there’s little he can do without the girl’s co-operation. Is she hiding something, and if so, what? And why does Fawley keep getting the feeling he’s seen a case like this before?
And then another girl disappears, and Adam no longer has a choice: he has to face up to his past.
Because unless he does, this victim may not be coming back…
If I had to define page-turner, it would be this book
When I finished All the Rage, I was having to cut down paragraphs from my review because I just had to tell everyone everything about this book. I was on a serious reading-high, and this is not something you want to read.
I adored the way this book flowed. It’s not a slow-burner, but sort of is. It’s a slow burner in the sense that it takes 200-odd pages to meet the next girl that disappears as mentioned in the synopsis above (taken from the book itself – no spoilers, as always), but every page is there for a reason, and builds so much needed tension. Usually, if a book takes 200 pages to explain the synopsis, I’d be annoyed, but if it was any shorter, it wouldn’t be right, if that makes any sense?
If I had to define ‘page-turner’, it would be this book. There are no actual chapters, just page breaks, so if you can find a decent place to stop, you deserve a medal. There are small plot twists/ surprises along the way before the big dramatic ‘where did that come from’ climax, which were perfect and incredibly well placed.
I haven’t had time to sit down and read a 439-page book for a while, but you don’t really get the choice here. I dare you to put it down for an hour – you will be continuously thinking about what happens – I managed 20 minutes before having to pick it up again.
Like the other books in the series, there are quirky ways to break up big bulks of text, such as tweets, maps (LOVED this new idea), news items and lots of interviews. It’s a niche idea, and what makes this series stand out.
I think it just feels so realistic, like you’re a fly on the wall, which is what makes All the Rage so good – I wouldn’t be surprised if I quote one of the DI Adam Fawley stories to someone if they ask about Oxford, completely forgetting it’s a fictional case – “remember that case when a teenage girl was grabbed off the street?”
Hunter has a real talent with creating characters – there are your old favourites, we saw a new side to Fawley, and possibly a new character who I’m liking the look of already.
All the Rage is a genius book; tense, gritty with hard-to-swallow parts and a first-class thriller. A best-seller, without a doubt.
Although this is the fourth book in the DI Adam Fawley series, it can be read as a standalone, however I’d highly recommend starting with the first, Close to Home (my review here). You’ll only go back and read them all anyway, I promise.
Close to Home is book 1, In The Dark is book 2 (very, very good), No Way Out (which featured in my top books of the year for 2019) is book 3. Close to Home also featured in my top books of 2018, which you can read here.
Liked this book? Check out some similar books in my post, ‘2020 Penguin releases you need to watch out for’ here…
All the Rage, Cara Hunter, RRP £7.99 (paperback); Book Depository
Pages: 439
Publisher: Penguin Books
Genre: Thriller/ Crime Fiction
