Fellside follows Jess, a drug addict who has been sent to Fellside prison due to possibly starting a fire in which a kid, Alex, died. Things inside the prison aren't what they seem, and ghosts follow everyone, watching and waiting for an opportunity to set wrongs right. In the end, Jess has a choice to make, she can either end her life, or fight for someone else's truth.
This novel was quite interesting. I know a lot of people didn't care for it because it wasn't a sequel or in the same universe as The Girl With All The Gifts, but people should realize that authors do write book which are unrelated to each other.
Most of the time, while reading this book, I can say I didn't like Jess. I felt that she was too weak and her headspace often annoyed me. She played the victim too much, and she was often overwhelming with her second guessing and poor me attitude. Often, while she said she wasn't feeling sorry for herself, more often than not she was. I wanted Jess to stand up for herself, not wait for someone else to do it, and not wait for someone else to take care of her. She needed to do it for herself. Even at her first and second hearing/trial she didn't feel she needed to stick up for herself. Even when her ex-boyfriend, Josh, is outed as an abusive jerk.
There are several characters were interesting, Liz, an inmate, being one. There are several characters that I didn't particularly care for, but most were added to give the book someone to hate, antagonists to root against. One of those characters was Devil, a guard in the prison. I was never really sure if he was loving or what towards another prisoner, and to be honest, the amount of things he got away with, I was somewhat surprised that he hadn't been stopped or caught before. Grace, another prisoner, annoyed me. Her crimes were never really brought to life, nor were the reasons why she was so high on the totem pole. It was never discussed how she had gained her power. Sally, the doctor in the hospital was pitiful, and I felt his scenes could have been more interesting if he had stood up for himself at one point in the novel. And lastly there was a nurse, who was to back and forth in her feelings towards how she should treat Jess. At one point she was so worried about getting in trouble, she stressed for every scene about if she should tell someone, or that she would be found out.
Mostly, I found the ending interesting. I did see what was coming, and the ending was predictable, unlike Carey's other book, and the reader really knew what was going to happen.
I did like this book, and I'd be willing to read another book by Carey. I enjoyed The Girl With All The Gifts, and I enjoyed Fellside, so I think, depending on what was written, I'd probably enjoy another book by Carey.