ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – 5 by 5 by Claire Wilson – Brief E-book and Scribes

5 by 5 by Claire Wilson shall be revealed by Penguin Michael Joseph on twenty ninth August 2024 in hardcover, eBook and audiobook. My due to the publishers for the proof copy.

Simply because probably the most harmful criminals in society are caught and locked up, doesn’t imply they cease committing crime.

That’s the place Kennedy Allardyce is available in – monitoring not simply the prisoners, but in addition the employees.

And she or he’s simply stumbled throughout her most harmful foe but – rumours of a corrupt guard with deadly affect. And what’s worst, it appears they’ve already realised Kennedy is on their tail.

Not less than one factor is giving her pleasure – a blossoming relationship with Molly, a phenomenal, enigmatic new guard.

Wouldn’t or not it’s terrible if the killer she’s searching turned out to be the lady she’s falling for?

When a novel is billed as being something like Line of Obligation I’m in, and 5 by 5 piqued my curiosity even additional as a result of it’s set in a Scottish jail. Kennedy Allardyce works at HMP Forth Valley as an Intelligence Analyst. This implies she screens not solely the prisoners for dodgy actions, but in addition the jail officers. Sadly, in the midst of her work she has made a harmful enemy of somebody nicknamed Scout and he or she’s additionally falling for the attractive however inscrutable officer Molly. Kennedy doesn’t know who she will belief.

I discovered 5 by 5 to be totally gripping all through. It was refreshing to learn a criminal offense thriller primarily based in a jail and from the view of anyone whose function it’s to try to forestall corruption – Kennedy could also be preventing a dropping battle there however she does her finest. I believed the tug-of-war between her emotions for Molly and her rising mistrust of her got here throughout rather well. A few of the jail scenes genuinely chilled me to the bone. They felt genuine, as did all of jail life, each for these incarcerated and people working there. The plot is extremely tense and fast-paced and I flew by way of the entire guide.

I did really feel a bit let down by the ending although. I’m hoping there’s a sequel on the way in which besides, I do suppose the finale was too abrupt and open-ended, and I discovered it complicated as I don’t know if I’d missed one thing or if it simply wasn’t there. Aside from that, I believed this was a unbelievable debut and I’ll positively learn one other guide by Claire Wilson (sequel or not).

Claire Wilson is from central Scotland. Her debut novel, 5 by 5, was the inaugural winner of the Penguin Michael Joseph Undiscovered Writers’ Prize. It’s primarily based on her day job as an Intelligence Analyst in a Scottish Jail.