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Title: Prisoner
Author: Ross Greenwood
Format reviewed: Ebook
Source: Netgalley
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Publication Date: 22nd April 2021
Rating: 4 Stars
A shocking thriller inspired by the true stories of a male prison officer in a women’s prison.
Behind bars, the rules are different…
Prison Officer Jim Dalton is used to walking the landings on the male side of HMP Peterborough. It’s a dangerous place, fuelled by testosterone-driven violence, but he’s done the job for a long time. He understands the unwritten rules, and he has the prisoners’ respect.
When a relative is sent to the jail, Dalton is transferred to the female side of the prison. His next shift is so easy, he can’t believe that the officers over there get paid the same wages. He sleeps well for the first time in years.
But when he is assigned to the young offenders’ wing, dealing with female prisoners no longer seems so simple. As every day passes, and he gets to know the women better, he is slowly drawn in to new temptations, new traps and a new nightmare. One which could destroy everything.
Taking a break from his bestselling DI Barton series, Ross Greenwood returns with this shocking, page-turning and utterly compelling glimpse behind the bars of a women's prison. From a man who walked the landings himself...
That was unlike anything I have read before, it was incredibly gritty, and very real feeling, and utterly fascinating.
I've read a few books that feature prison in them which is why this appealed to me, but this is the first time I've ever read in so much detail about the inner workings of a prison. In some respects this felt more like non fiction than fiction, such was the level of detail, most likely due to the author's own experiences in the role.
But yet it is fiction, and Jim Dalton is on some levels a complex character, on others I could sum up his actions as him being just a typical man!
At places I found the whole book rather a slow burner, which normally would bother me a bit, but I was very interested in every word in the book, and all the bits my brain was saying felt slow, was in fact vital background to make you understand the real action bits and the consequences of some of the decisions made that little bit more.
But equally there were sections that I found I was racing through, unable to blink even as I needed to know what would happen next.
For being a prison officer feels as though you are working in a completely different world and it was so intriguing to see the various differences between the male and female sides to the prison and how the officers work on both sides, with the nature of the roles.
It really was a compelling book to read, and I was shouting at Jim Dalton not to do certain things, while at the same time was hooked on learning the background to some of the prisoners and also just how the various officers interacted.
And Jim Dalton's personal life feels like a bit of a train wreck too, so was very happy to see some character development and growth over the course of the book.
I'm very glad I had the opportunity to read this eye-opening book.
Thank you to Boldwood Books and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.
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