Book Review: Fellside

M.R. Carey's 2016 follow up to The Girl With all the Gifts is a ghost story set in a maximum security women's prison called Fellside, and although it doesn't feel even a little bit like the previous novel, it really worked for me in telling a sprawling story that kept me invested the whole way through.

The novel follow Jess Moulson, a heroin addict who begins the novel in a hospital after having survived an apartment fire, and brings the reader along on her discovery of just how awful the fire actually was. Without going into specifics, Jess is convicted to Fellside and the majority of the novel focuses on how she deals with the consequences of her actions.

The novel does include some elements of both fantasy and mystery, and works quite well at developing a large cast of characters (compared to the less than ten focus characters in The Girl With All The Gifts). Although I didn't enjoy it in the same way as the previous novel, it was definitely well worth the read.