Member Review

Well, The Institution is a cracker of a book. I’m a big fan of the Luc and Ava series by Helen Fields and was looking forward to reading this as it seemed completely different. And different it certainly is! I’m not a reviewer who goes over the plot of a book, but this is set in a secure hospital for the criminally insane and the heroine, Dr Connie, is undercover investigating the murder of a pregnant nurse and the abduction of her baby. Clearly this is a crime carried out by someone who has no empathy but also has to have had help from the medical staff. None of that is a spoiler. We met Dr Connie and Brodie who is patient B in The Shadow Man but this is their first stand alone novel.

The hospital is your worst nightmare and it’s also Dr Connie’s worst nightmare. The staff clearly don’t much care for their patient inmates, indeed the sanest people appear to be those inmates. Except, of course, they’re not. Only the oddly named Boy is a friendly face amongst the staff.

Only the Governor knows who she really is and who the patient who is her cover to be there, really is. The Governor has to go off site, her patient is being abused, and then a storm isolates the already isolated institution. Claustrophobic? You will be.

The tension, the claustrophobia and the treachery all ramp up until Dr Connie is herself on the wrong end of The Institution. She has no idea who she can trust, no one is who they seem and a labyrinth of a place, set in wild and flooding moorland means there is just no escape.

Lives will be lost, for sure.

This is one of the scariest books I’ve read in a long time and also, that rare thing, something completely different within the genre. It’s original and innovative with strong characters and I hope this is going to be the first of a series featuring Dr Connie and Brodie. There’s certainly plenty of potential and this is a very strong start.

Highly recommended….but prepared to be scared!