The Binding Song by Elodie Harper
From the aggressive prisoners and hostile staff, to the damp, depressing house she rents – psychologist, Dr Janet Palmer is up against the odds. Yet it’s not the physical challenges that scare her the most. Something is stalking Halvergate prison and it scares her. It also scared me. This book grabbed me from the word go, opening with a prisoner on the run in a forest, and his encounter with the eyeless woman.
Welcome to HMP Halvergate.
If you’re lucky, you’ll get to leave.
Dr Janet Palmer was glad to take a new job as a lead psychologist at a remote Norfolk prison. She may live to regret it…
The staff are hostile, violence can break out at any time, no one will tell her what happened to her predecessor, and there are rumours of an eyeless woman stalking the corridors, driving the prisoners to suicide.
Janet is determined to find answers. But the deeper she digs, the more she realises: something is rotten in Halvergate. And it’s nothing as simple as ghosts…
We wonder why Janet has taken up the role of psychologist at Halvergate, what happened to her predecessor and what is it in her past? I found this book well written and a definite page-turner. It made me stay up until 1.30am a couple of nights as I couldn’t stop reading.
You feel trapped in this shadowy landscape with Janet as you try to work out what exactly is going on at the prison and who or what is responsible. The characters are realistic and I’ve lived in Norfolk and love the county, but although it was familiar, the story brings a creepy feel to the place I remember.
This is a debut novel from Elodie Harper and I will certainly be looking out for her next one. If you enjoy a good page-turning suspense novel with a dollop of horror, then I can recommend The Binding Song.
Buy your copy of The Binding Song on Amazon
Star Rating 10
