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THE PRISON HEALER

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RELEASED OUT NOW! 416 pages | Hardback/ebook

Author Lynette Noni

Publisher Hodder & Stoughton

It takes an impressive amount of skill to set your book in a horrific prison, toss in a killer disease sweeping through its inmates and then add some deadly, Hunger Games-esque trials without making the whole thing so bleak that your readers give up entirely.

Fortunatel­y Lynette Noni has just about managed to avoid this pitfall – although you may still want to look at pictures of kittens every few chapters to cheer yourself up.

Set in a world torn between warring royal families, The Prison Healer focuses on its titular doctor, Kiva, who tries her best to patch up her fellow inmates while struggling to stay alive herself. A spate of new arrivals – including a hunky young man, a friendly guard and a poorly Rebel Queen – result in her having to endure a series of physical trials to earn her freedom.

The world Kiva inhabits is as fascinatin­g as it is repulsive, and you’ll spend most of the book trying to second-guess the characters’ motivation­s; you might even be right about a few of them, but there are surprises aplenty in the final act.

The only downside is the author’s insistence on repetitive­ly describing one character as “amber-eyed” – once you notice this, it’ll drive you bloody mad – but otherwise this is a meaty and satisfying jailhouse shock.

Jayne Nelson

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