Inside Out

By Chris McGeorge

Crime | Thriller

My Review

Inside Out is the third book I've read by Chris McGeorge (the other two being Guess Who and Now You See Me). Although the concept behind this new novel is more than slightly bonkers, I must admit I really enjoyed it.

Cara Lockhart is sentenced to life imprisonment at a new maximum security facility; although she maintains her innocence. As days pass it becomes apparent there's something strange going on. Visitors are forbidden and all contact with the outside world is limited. Instead of windows there are electronic screens hidden in the walls. Movie night is once a week — the SAME movie EVERY week. Just what the heck is going on?   

Cara awakens one morning to discover her cellmate dead; a bullet through her head. But the door has been locked all night and Cara is the only suspect. If life was tough before, it's about to get a whole lot worse. With time running out, she must locate the missing murder weapon, the real perpetrator AND a motive.

Inside Out was an extremely entertaining read. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was going on and it kept me gripped until the end. You really do have to suspend disbelief for it to work — the plot is incredibly ridiculous, but in a good way. For me it was pure escapism and I loved its sinister overtones. A corker of a read!             

Book Source: Review copy from the publisher

My Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Paperback: 416 pages

Publisher: Orion (29th Oct 2020)

The Blurb

SHE WAS SENT DOWN...
Cara Lockhart has just commenced a life sentence in HMP North Fern - the newest maximum security women's prison in the country. She was convicted of a crime she is adamant she didn't commit.

SHE WAS SET UP...
One morning she wakes up to find her cellmate murdered - shot in the head with a gun that is missing. The door was locked all night, which makes Cara the only suspect.

BUT THAT WAS JUST THE BEGINNING.
Cara needs to clear her name, unravelling an impossible case, with an investigation governed by a prison timetable.
But as Cara starts to learn more about North Fern and the predicament she is in, she finds connections between the past and present that she never could have imagined.

Indeed it seems that her conviction and her current situation might be linked in very strange ways...

The Author

Chris McGeorge has an MA in Creative Writing (Crime / Thriller) from City University London where he wrote his first crime novel Dead Room for this thesis. He constantly told stories from a young age, whether they took the form of comics, short stories or scripts.

He is a lover of Golden Age crime, like Christie and Conan Doyle, leading his crime stories to be a mix of the old and the contemporary. He likes weird and wonderful plots, with plenty of intrigue and twists.

His often coherent ramblings about everything pop culture can be found on his blog Festival of Blood and occasionally he produces the Sarcasmicast podcast with a group of friends.

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