⭐️ 3.5 ⭐️
Rounded up to 4.

Many thanks to the NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC, in exchange for an honest unbiased review.

A good, but brutal read.
Excellent characterisation and a steady paced plot kept me interested and intrigued from beginning to end.

DNF. The premise sounded really interesting and unusual to me, but the book was quite different from what I expected. It was very dark and overwhelming. I just couldn't get into this one.

An interesting,well researched book set within the sturdy perimeter of a maximum security prison. A riot takes place with prison officers held as hostages. Rather than a demand for changes to regime the key players are intent on pursuing a former policeman. As we follow the ex coppers trail we learn of each individuals back story. It is pacy, original and highly enjoyable

I found this to be a difficult book to read, one that I felt like setting down on more than one occasion.

The book began with over-the-top descriptions, and I questioned how long author Chris Leicester would be able to continue. Once it ended a few pages later, the book fell into a continuous pattern of one information dump after another. While I gained short histories of the major characters there was nothing to engage me with any of them. The jumping from character to character and from past to present was a bit shaky to follow, though it could have been handled easily enough with chapter headings.

While I recognize that the action is taking place in a prison, the author’s primary device to show how tough and evil the prisoners could be was to resort to a flurry of f-bombs. Descriptions of the prison guards do not reflect reality. People who have experienced a dangerous situation – handling a riot – are not “proud to display their batons” and holding the weapons “almost gleefully in their hands.” Displaying the guards as aggressors and the prisoners calm is, in my experience, the exact opposite of what happens. The author’s descriptions might occur on television, but not in real life.

Characters would be described and in the next scene would demonstrate tendencies completely different from what had already been established. The plot was a promising idea that never fully developed, the ending was telegraphed throughout and thus not much of a surprise, and the last chapter would never be permitted to happen. Two-and-a-half stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and Too Write Productions for a complimentary electronic copy of this book.

My first from this author,found It an excellent read from start to finish.Thankfully it did not leave you quessing at the end,finished the story nicely.Would certainly recommend this book to anyone who likes mystery novels.

Thoroughly enjoyable farce. Set in a prison, a detective sergeant finds himself on the wrong side of the bars. A riot ensues as inmates come searching for his blood. A fellow inmate offers a helping hand to escape - but why? A game of cat and mouse with humour and the odd thrown punch. Recommended.