There’s an undercurrent in this narrative that gives the sense of a ticking time bomb. It’s subtle and stays with you throughout like an ache under your skin.

Psychologist, Dr Laura Fleming, is flawed and vulnerable – everything I like in a main character. She's working hard to prove she is a fit mother and longs to resume access to her daughter. Meanwhile, prison inmate Justin Jones has done everything by the book to pass the parole board and is vying for the early release that Laura must sign off on. The parallels between the two main characters are fascinating.

But they couldn’t be more different. Both are contained and measured in their behaviour, but as we delve deeper into the story, we see Laura is merely holding it all together— she toes the line to keep her private life on track. On the other hand, Justin appears laid back and almost submissive. He’s the model prisoner— from the Warden to the prison officers, everyone likes him.

But Laura has a niggling concern about Justin’s suitability for early release. Gut instinct. And that’s where the problems— and the personal threats and attacks on Laura, begin.

Inside the prison are diverse characters such as the Warden and her PA, the officers and the inmates and the psych team. I found the dynamics and factions within the prison interesting. I can’t imagine, nor would I wish to spend a moment in Laura’s shoes.

White Noise is delightfully uncomfortable but exciting reading. I kept turning the page, desperate to know who did what to whom. This is a great debut that will keep you guessing until the end.

When we meet Lauren she's just been assigned some new patients after their previous psychologist went on maternity leave. Justin Jones is supremely confident Lauren will agree with his former psychologist that he's ready for release. But Lauren's spidey senses tingle in his presence. His prison record is too good to be true. More like someone 'acting' in the way they think they need to rather than being their true selves. And in her sessions there are glimpses of anger before Jones brings them under control. She's certain he's a psychopath and suspects he has Intermittent Explosive Disorder.

Life is complicated for Lauren (however). Before she became a psychologist she was a paramedic until a fateful call-out a decade earlier resulted in her partner's death and her own severe injuries. An addiction to painkillers followed and her husband left taking sole custody of her child. Lauren got her life back together though, went to University and has been clean for eight years when we meet her. Her 'ex' however, continues to use her past against her.

I found myself gobsmacked that Lauren couldn't see how her (ex) husband manipulated and controlled her; her access to her daughter and her own finances. I appreciated however that Mercier refrains from making him out to be 'bad' in a black/white way. He's exceedingly quick to judge Lauren and frightfully distrustful of her. It means we readers ask ourselves if there's something malicious behind his actions, or if he actually has his daughter's best interests at heart.

When things start happening in Lauren's private life she suspects that Jones has someone on the outside offering warnings. And he (and they) seem to know about her past addiction, making Lauren question the loyalty of the very few people she's told. Her suspicions even border on paranoia as she reinvestigates Jones's original crime to better understand 'who' he is. Or was. And of course she unearths secrets that have been buried for some time.

Mercier works in corrective services so obviously knows what she's talking about as she gives us some insight into prison life. For the staff - guards, warden and psychologists - as much as the prisoners themselves. It's not a point of view we're often offered, so interesting to understand more about the hierarchy of those on the 'right' side of the bars.

This is a great debut. Mercier also introduces us to a police officer who assists Lauren and I wonder if we'll meet both again. I certainly hope so.

Like others, I found this book challenging to get through. The style of writing was forced and quite undeveloped at times. I found myself frustrated by the wordiness, and the way dialogue was cliched. The story is also not very believable.
Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the arc.

White Noise is the debut novel written by Mercedes Mercier. It follows the story of Dr Laura Fleming, a psychologist at Westmead Prison. She gets given the Justin Jones case. Laura becomes concerned when she starts reading through the documentation from the previous psychologist. Should Justin be released? His parole hearing is in a few weeks and she needs cold hard evidence on her assumptions.

Strange things start happening to Laura and her family. Is this all freak accidents or is Laura getting set up? She works with Paul Netley a police officer at Castle Hill to get to the bottom of it all. Her only friend in the prison is officer Sam but can she be trusted?

I will be honest and say that I did find that the book did drag on a little bit but I kept turning the pages and I am glad I did. I found the book quite interesting with the prison aspect of the story.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Collins Australia for the advanced copy for an honest review.

White Noise is the debut novel for Mercedes Mercier and it is set Sydney, Australia. The story is told by Laura Fleming a prison psychologist with a painful and secretive background. Laura is assigned a new inmate client who she is required to psychologically assess to see if he is fit for parole, Justin Jones. Jones has an impeccable good behaviour record in prison and seems to have charmed everyone into believing he is fully rehabilitated from the violent crime he committed. Laura is neither charmed nor fooled and she will stop at nothing to uncover the truth, but will she be able to get proof before it's too late and Jones is released.

Laura battles with dark secrets that destroyed her marriage and left her without custody or access to her only daughter Riley. Since taking Jones on as a client she has started experiencing targeted attacks that just seem too much of a coincidence to not be coming from Jones... right??

I was intrigued by this story and was definitely drawn in by the prison psychologist element. The story Laura tells of her life and how it was derailed by a terrifying attack that left her life a shambles set an excellent scene for what was to come. Unfortunately, after the 40% mark this one took a bit of a downward turn. I found that the story dragged on for too long with extra 'days' and non-events happening that increased the word count but did not enhance the storyline. There were a lot of cliched events and statements that felt forced.

While I am fully aware of this being a complete work of fiction and I do expect elements of realism to be thrown out the window I found it highly unlikely that a person like Laura could hold down a job as a prison psychologist considering her erratic and impulsive behaviour and constant debilitating panic attacks. There was just too many things that made me think 'nope this chick is not capable of this job' not now.

I also found myself cringing hard at certain elements and descriptions of Laura's behaviour for example how she could apparently draw up certain diagnosis in her head on a whim as if a textbook was in her head and Laura calming down to her favourite true crime podcast with details like...

"My favourite podcast is playing; two Californian women are discussing the serial killers who first got them interested in true crime. My phone rings, cutting out a particularly grisly description of John Wayne Gacy stitching his victim's nipples together"

I mean, ok Laura you like true crime podcasts but super cringe!!

I was really hoping that this would be an exciting thriller but for me it just didn't hit the mark, I got mild entertainment out of it bit ultimately it fell flat.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and Harper Collins for an advance copy of White Noise for my honest feedback.

One big complaint for me (that won't go in my public review) is the format that I received the book, it was in a PDF file that could only be read on my iPad, iPhone, computer or if I even had a printer to be able to print it... this was the most inconvenient off putting thing about this book. All the other books I have received have had a kindle link the format of this ARC almost put me off to the point I nearly didn't read it. It might be worthwhile considering a kindle option for the ARC for other readers.