"Not every danger can be contained"

Yorkshire, 1983. Margaret Thatcher is at Number 10, Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' is on the radio and Salford based single mum Lorraine Quick, with her leave having been summarily cancelled, is having to put plans to tour with her band on hold due to work. With her expertise in psychometric testing, Lorraine is being sent by a government minister, to the desolate Yorkshire moors, where she is expected to build a PR-friendly team out of the ragtag staff at the infamous Windwell Asylum For The Criminally Insane, as it transitions into a modern, top-security unit, housing some of the most dangerous criminals in the country.

Lorraine is offered accommodation in the local village, but she barely has time to unpack and make arrangements to meet and greet the small, four person asylum management team, before she and Medical Director Jan Voss, stumble upon the brutal murder of one of the other directors, Administration Director Kevin Crossley, which has taken place on the premises, despite the fifteen-foot-high perimeter wall and heavy-duty locks. The asylum is in the throes of transitioning from being a state run institution, to becoming a fully privatised business; however the inherent problems of drugs, psychopathic violence and staff who are uncaring at best and complicit in various crimes including misappropriation of funds on a regular basis, have not changed despite the new surroundings.

It appears that circumstances of the current murder, mirror those surrounding the death three years previously of Junior Campbell, one of the institution's more vulnerable inmates and as this complicated mix of relationships and rivalries unfolds, the similarities become even more frighteningly obvious, putting lives, including that of Lorraine herself, in danger.

…

I always enjoy reading books where an author has played completely to their strengths when forming the plotline of a story/series. Martine Bailey's experience within NHS personnel departments and her expertise in processing and analysing psychometric testing, really shines through, to provide the basis of this dark, dour, depressing, oppressive and wonderfully twisted thriller, which was broken down into well marked and headlined chapters, which made reading it so easy on the eye, if not on the mind, which it messed with totally!

Although a brand new publication, the book immediately took me back to the 1980s, which is where I needed to focus my mindset. Police profiling of victims and suspects was in its infancy. Pub food was generally a mass manufactured meat pie of indeterminate age, kept warm in a heated cabinet on the bar. A boxed 'Vesta' curry was a special home date-night treat and a battery operated 'Sony Walkman' which played cassettes, qualified as a personal entertainment system. It also seemed surreal that so many members of a community worked in the same institution, even from within the same family, all a bit incestuous, although I guess that the concept of people commuting many miles from home to work was still for early stage adopters, with multiple car households very much in the minority.

Some things however, no matter the passage of time, still remain as relevant now as they did then. The problems of illegal drugs (and these days mobile phones too) being smuggled into prison; the barely concealed unscrupulous behaviour of some prison officers; senior management who have little or no control over what happens in the establishment on a daily basis and who often care even less; and certain privileged inmates who are free to victimise and terrorise the masses.

I am hoping that my reaction to the many characters who occupied such a small physical space, was exactly as the author intended, as even though individually they were well defined and described, I found it almost impossible to relate to, connect with, or even begin to like, any of them, with the possible exception of Ella, who had definitely been dealt a difficult hand in life. Everyone was a victim of circumstance and fate, including Quick and Diaz themselves, who I believe solved the case more by good luck than sound judgement, as each was busy trying to juggle their rather messy and dysfunctional personal lives, alongside their respective professional duties.

A unique and interesting setting for a storyline and locations which, whilst based on real places, mixed half true names with some fictional. However the bleak and isolated nature of the area as described, is all too real, depending on the prevailing weather conditions, so on this occasion I was more than happy with my 'armchair traveller' status, reading from the comfort of my armchair in my cosy heated room.

This is book #2 in the 'Lorraine Quick' series and whilst the most pertinent points of the backstory were seamlessly woven into the fabric of the storyline, in hindsight, I believe I might have benefitted from starting with the first book, just to have got more insight into the previous history between Quick and Diaz, which seemed a bit haphazard to say the least. At one particular point, I began to think that they were both more interested in each others problems, rather than being in any rush to solve the case. I'm still not sure that the end of this book brought their future relationship to any final conclusions and I wouldn't be surprised to see them back together again soon!

Lorraine Quick is a expert in psychometric testing and is sent to the Yorkshire moors to set a team up for the new Windwell Asylum for dangerous criminals. When a murder happens within the walls Lorraine with DS Diaz has to try and identify the killer.
This is a dark and gritty thriller that keeps you wanting to read more.
Would highly recommend.

I really like the idea of this book and was looking forward to reading it. However, I really struggled with it. I found the storyline really slow and hard to get into. The "old asylum" theme was interesting and hoped it would set the scene about how these places were and how they worked in the era that the book was set - which it did quite well. However, there were lots of different characters and I found it hard to keep track of who was who. For me, the storyline was a little too slow and I lost interest in it fairly early in the book..

This was a rattling good thriller. Set in an asylum in Northern England in the 1989’s, the book pictures the era authentically. The main characters make their second appearance after a previous novel, Sharp Scratch, but this is a stand alone novel. The lead character, Lorraine is great, smart and brave but also vulnerable rather than being more like a superhero. The book focuses on a retributory killing and has a well worked plot to work out the killer in the end making this an enjoyable, informative read.

I found this to be an interesting dark mystery thriller, set in the 1980s in Yorkshire.
It is the second in the Lorraine Quick series, although it can be read as a stand-alone. I haven't read the first one.
Lorraine is staying in the village housing Windwell asylum so she can help with the transition to the modern top security unit that is currently being built. With her knowledge of psychometric testing, she is there to help build a PR-friendly team for the new unit that will house some of the country's most dangerous criminals. A few days after she arrives, she discovers the murder of Kevin, the asylum’s administrative assistant. How did he end up murdered inside one of the isolation cells?
Whilst there were quite a few characters to get to know I enjoyed the mystery surrounding the murder. I found the characters intriguing and was trying to work out their true intentions as I read. Most of the characters had something to hide. The setting was atmospheric and creepy, particularly the crumbling old asylum amidst it's reputation for violence.
The tension really ramps up for the last part of the story and I couldn't put it down.
Overall, I found this an original myster thriller!

Thank you NetGalley and Allison & Busby for the eARC.
This was a disappointing read, it sounded promising, but for whatever reason, I just couldn't get into it.
I didn't particularly like Lorraine much and found the book slow-going and a bit boring despite the subject of
a psychiatric facility and its dangerous inhabitants.

This was a dark and complicated story with so many characters and sub plots.Lorraine trying to establish team building was easy to understand and she engineered some great things by getting the senior team to discuss feelings and start to build a team that could work together.. I did expect more of a thriller but this was more a mystery that tried to cover the past and the present.
I struggled to read to the end but found that it was very neatly wrapped up.

A dark and atmospheric thriller set in the early 1980s. The author captures the period well but unfortunately I could not get involved in the story and failed to finish.

This was a mixed bag for me. I was really intrigued by the book and I liked the main character but I felt the story was lacking. A death happened so quickly I nearly missed it and I felt it lacked depth.
Having said that, the scene where the colleagues are sharing their rage was really beautifully done.

Not bad, could have been better.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. Not sure what to say about this I liked it and also found it very long winded. I will let others judge what they think.

I tried several times to “get into” this NetGalley novel but each time I stopped reading after a few chapters. I couldn’t connect with the main protagonist, Lorraine Quick, a team building specialist working for the Thatcher government. It was all tell and no show in describing her family situation and work situation. Then the fact that she has been seconded to help facilitate the team supervising an institute for the criminally insane seemed a rather nonsensical setup.

The plot might have worked, had the author been a good writer, but she is not. I doubt that she has ever used a thesaurus—the same meaningless adjectives (e.g. carefully) are used repeatedly throughout the book. The dialogue is stilted—”Is it true about Kevin? Is he dead?…What on earth are we going to do without Kevin?”

I would have enjoyed a good thriller about the changes that took place when the old “Insane Asylums” were shuttered. But although it started on a historical note, it soon became a stale “thriller-lite” containing a hackneyed plot. I ended up speed reading just to finish the book. To me the killer was obvious after about one-half through the book. There’s an extraneous subplot centred around faux supernatural elements that possibly were intended to confuse the reader—but just bored me.

Even though Isolation Ward has all the elements of a good popcorn thriller, I can’t even recommend it for a quick read. It’s too boring and predictable. And relies wholly on cliche thriller basics.

Thanks to Allison & Busby for providing an electronic copy of this book via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinions.

This was a slow read for me and I really struggled with it. But it suddenly ramped up and was a great read. I had considered not finishing it but I’m glad I persevered.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Isolation Ward is the second book in the Lorraine Quick series by Martine Bailey but the first that I have read.

It is an enjoyable crime thriller which I didn’t need to have read the previous book to fully follow and enjoy.

The book is set in 1983 which makes a pleasant change and definitely adds to the storyline

Overall an enjoyable book

Set in 1983 kevin is found brutally murdered in cell 17 of an asylum

Lorraine Quick has plans but being a personnel specialist in the building is not one of them

This is a book filled with drama and many characters. While each added to the story I felt there were to many and I had a hard time keeping tabs on them all.

This is a good read and one that is brilliantly told.

It is filled with tension it's dark and quite a thrilling mystery. I loved that the author gave a good descriptive vibe of the 80's it took me back to quite a few memorys.

Kevin Crossley has been called to Cell 17 in Windwell Special Hospital; a visit which will prove to be his last act as Administrator of the new facility. The old Windwell Asylum has been condemned and is even now being demolished. The new Special Hospital is being built on adjacent ground in two phases, the first currently housing all the patients/prisoners, the new, when completed, taking the psychopaths. It also contains the Isolation cells, of which cell 17 is one.
New facilities need new management structures, but not necessarily new staff. Kevin was Administrator in the old building and had overseen the transfer, but was just about to retire. Enid Finn was, and remains, the Treasurer. Similarly, Brian Ogden was, and is, the Head Nurse, and Parveen, who was Kevin’s assistant. Two of the junior staff are also hang overs: Enid’s daughter, Oona, and Brian’s son, Tommo. The newly appointed Hospital Director is Dr Jan Voss. The overall Regional Director, with Voss’s agreement, has decided that for the new world the team need some new dynamic, so has seconded Lorraine Quick, personnel specialist and expert team builder, to work with Voss on this project. The plan is somewhat distracted when Lorraine and Jan find Kevin’s body in Cell 17, the walls daubed with slogans connecting this murder with the unsolved murder of a prisoner, killed three years earlier in Cell 17 of the old building. Lorraine rapidly finds herself drawn into a complex situation, which could easily become life-threatening.
This is a complicated tale, lots of characters, lots of relationships, with the mystery, a standard ‘who killed Kevin and why’, buried inside a lot of extraneous detail (assuming any of it is actually extraneous). It is the second to feature Lorraine, so a series looks imminent, but no preknowledge is required. There are some interesting twists to the resolution. I didn’t like the style, which seemed a bit ‘clinical’, a bit ‘didactic’, particularly early on. Overall, it’s a good whodunnit with an interesting setting, and an unusual principal character. It isn’t perfect, but a good read.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

Isolation Ward by Martine Bailey is a tense, atmospheric thriller that had me completely hooked from the start. Set in Yorkshire in 1983, the book brilliantly captures the unease of a changing era, blending psychological suspense with gothic horror.

Lorraine Quick, a woman with dreams of touring with her band, finds herself instead sent to Windwell Asylum—a crumbling institution transitioning into a top-security unit for Britain’s most dangerous criminals. Her task? To turn its chaotic staff into a polished, media-friendly team. But when a brutal murder takes place within the asylum’s supposedly secure walls, Lorraine is drawn into a nightmare she can’t escape. Windwell’s dark history refuses to stay buried, and between its eerie underground tunnels, the unsettling presence of its patients, and the arrival of DS Diaz—an almost-forgotten old flame—her world begins to unravel.

Martine Bailey masterfully builds tension, delivering a gripping mystery packed with unsettling twists and a haunting sense of place. The asylum itself feels like a character, its walls holding decades of secrets and terror. The 1980s setting is vivid, immersing you in an era of political upheaval, shifting attitudes, and a lingering fear of what lurks behind closed doors.

If you love dark, chilling thrillers with gothic undertones, Isolation Ward is a must-read. It’s a book that lingers in your mind long after you turn the final page—haunting, addictive, and impossible to put down!

Read more at The Secret Book Review.