Such a long novel but well worth the read. Unlike anything I've read ever by anyone and especially by M.R. Carey. Full of frustration, sadness and yet strangely uplifting. Highly recommended.

. I found this a little disappointing, mostly because I loved The Girl With All the Gifts so very much and this is nothing like it. The writing is still wonderful and much of the story is quite beautiful, it just wasn't what I wanted. I tend to shy away from the women-behind-bars genre, so even though the intricacies of the politics here were fascinating and well-drawn, they're not my thing. The way Carey develops complicated characters and relationships is still very much in evidence, and I will still read anything he puts out. I just wish these two books had been in reverse order. I will still read whatever Carey puts out next.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26030697-fellside?ac=1&from_search=true

Amazon review submitted

FELLSIDE is set in a maximum security prison on the Yorkshire moors. Jess Moulson is convicted when a young boy, Alex, dies in a house fire she apparently set in an attempt to kill her abusive partner, John Street. Jess wakes up in hospital with no memory of the event, just knowing she has been badly injured in some way. Gradually, elusive flashes do come back, which serve only to convince her that she did, indeed, unintentionally kill the boy she befriended.
Despite the best efforts of her lawyer, she is convicted and sentenced. Jess believes this is no more than she deserves. She is sent to Fellside, a prison run by the private company N-fold which, Carey notes, setting out his stall early, has ‘just climbed on board the correctional bandwagon.’ Fellside is an exemplar of all the ways not to do it.
The prison is hierarchical, with corrupt prison officers, brutal and violent prisoners. Jess, identified as a child-killer, is soon on the receiving end of attacks to which the prison authorities turn a blind eye. She finds herself in Goodall Wing, known in the prison as ‘The State of Grace’ where the eponymous (and sociopathic) Harriet Grace runs a range of criminal enterprises, aided by corrupt prison officer Dennis Devlin. A scene early in the book, where Grace’s enforcer, Liz Earnshaw, brutalises a woman who has transgressed makes for hard reading.
So far, so Orange is the New Black, only without the laughs. But Carey is not a writer to follow genre expectations. From the start, the books hints at a supernatural element – the vivid dreams of the childhood Jess and the strange world she inhabited when she was asleep, her imaginary friend, Tish, all suggest that Jess has access to a world beyond the one of immediate reality.
She is visited by the ghost of the boy who died and gradually he draws her into the world of the prison on this supernatural plane. He also, to Jess’s horror, carries out a revenge attack on a woman who attacks her.
He starts to tell her his memories of the crime – memories that are vague and incoherent. These memories begin to convince Jess she should appeal against her conviction and try to find the ‘nasty girl’ and the ‘kind girl’ who seem to have been involved in Alex’s death.
But there is a problem. Alex haunts the prison and seems unable to move beyond it. If Jess is released, will she have to abandon him, leave him behind? And why does she have no recollection of the girls Alex talks about, even though they lived in the same block of flats?
Carey creates his world well. The prison is a claustrophobic and brutal place, where the inmates live limited, brutalised lives with little joy or hope. The other world, the world inhabited by Alex, is an insubstantial world of formless chaos where it is too easy to lose yourself.
The only thing missing is Yorkshire itself. The beautiful moors, the home of the Bronte sisters and their wild imaginations, are present only in a bit of minor wuthering as the prison van takes Jess to Fellside prison. Otherwise, the book could as well be set in Ashby-de-la-Zouche or, for that matter, Bishops Itchington. The Yorkshire folk are no doubt out there, mashing the tea while the rain is siling down, but they don’t really put in an appearance.
Ultimately, the mystery surrounding the crime for which Jess is convicted is solved, as Jess works doggedly on the evidence given to her by Alex’s ghost, often at odds with the evidence her solicitors are pursuing. The outcome is a genuine surprise, satisfying for those who are looking for the ‘whodunnit’ element, but FELLSIDE is as much about exploring the nature of evil, and the nature of crime and punishment as it is about the crimes that lie at the centre of the narrative.
This is a book for those who are happy with mysteries that push the boundaries of the genre. If you’re looking for a straightforward police procedural, or a traditional whodunit, this book may disappoint, but if you are looking for something a bit different, then FELLSIDE is well worth a try.

This book was a definite thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire novel!