By Elodie Harper

Hodder, out now

Does a mysterious woman haunt the prisoners at a Norfolk jail?

To mark the release of Stephen King’s The Bazaar of Bad Dreams Hodder ran a short story contest which was judged by the prolific writer himself, with six of the top stories compiled for release. The overall winner was journalist Elodie Harper, whose debut novel shows that she’s fulfilling the promise demonstrated in that rather chilling (in more ways than one) tale.

It’s not a book you can easily categorise – it’s a psychological crime thriller (think the Barbara Vine-credited novels by Ruth Rendell), but there’s more than enough of a horror element to it for it to be covered by SFB. Right from the start, Harper provides enough evidence for you to believe that the inmates at her fictional prison really are being haunted… and enough that there could easily be other causes.

The background to the story is clearly well researched, but Harper doesn’t fall into the trap of overwhelming her readers with too much of it at any one time. We learn information as the characters do, even if there’s a nagging sense that perhaps not everyone is being honest with those around them (or even with themselves). There’s an escalating sense of dread as the investigation continues, leading to confrontations that continue to walk the tightrope between horror and straightforward crime fiction without getting into John Connolly territory.

The central characters are well drawn, although a few of the peripheral ones feel a little sketchy, and there’s a very good sense of place – the foreboding nature of the countryside and the grimness that’s within many jails are both brought across with some well chosen phrases.

Verdict: A confident debut that marks Harper as one to watch. 8/10

Paul Simpson