Huge thanks to Sarah Hardy from BloodHoundBooks for inviting me to be part of the ‘Locked Up’ blog tour for author, GB Williams. I am delighted to be sharing my review today!
A prison officer and a convicted killer must work together to solve a brutal murder and expose conspiracy inside a prison.
Ariadne Teddington is surrounded by people who lie but that is to be expected when you work in prison where every man claims to be innocent.
Charlie Bell, an ex Detective, now finds himself in that prison serving time formurder after having taken the law into his own hands.
When a fellow inmate is killed Charlie is asked to investigate the case from theinside. Soon Charlie finds himself working with Ariande but she is a guard, he is an inmate and some lines should never be crossed…
Can two people on different sides of the law come together to solve the case?
And do the answers lie closer to home than anyone ever imagined?
What does TWG think?
Bloody hell! If being pulled into this storyline hook line and sinker was a crime, I most definitely should be LOCKED UP right about now! Straight away the storyline dropped an absolute bombshell which mean I just HAD to continue reading to find out what happened. Naturally. Saying that, if anyone read the first few pages and chose not to carry on reading, I want to know what’s wrong with them!
Set in a prison, ‘Locked Up’ tells the tale of what life ‘inside’ is like for not only the convicts, but the prison officers as well. Especially if one of those prison officers ended up being a female, just like Officer Teddington. I have to be really careful with my review today as every situation in the storyline is closely linked to another one. I wouldn’t want to accidentally give anything away!
Several parts of the storyline were quite cut-throat and difficult to read, yet despite the fact I wasn’t all too comfortable with those parts, I ended up becoming even more hooked on the storyline. Strange, eh? Even though ‘Locked Up’ has a lot of characters involved in its storyline, the main focus is on inmate, Charlie Bell, and prison officer, Teddington. Most of the circumstances inside the prison either have one of those characters involved, or both. If they’re not directly involved, there is a high chance that they’re involved in it some way or another.
As my uncle used to work in a London prison years ago, I have always had a slight inkling to the basics involved a prison (obviously not in-depth), however, even having that slight awareness of the system itself, nothing could have prepared me for what I read in black and white with my very own eyes. Wowza.
‘Locked Up’ is an ingenious, fast paced novel which takes you on a high-speed chase for the entire duration of the novel. It kept my attention, made my heart camp out in my mouth, and make beads of sweat line dance across my forehead in anticipation. Being an adult whilst I was reading this book was not an option. Putting down the book to go to the toilet whilst I was reading this book was not an option. I had one focus, and one focus only; finishing ‘Locked Up’ to find out what the hell happened.
For me, the only thing that made me go ‘eeeeeeesssshhhhhh!’, were a couple of the situations which unfolded during the storyline. I am aware that that may happen in a real life prison, but considering the way it just came out of nowhere, I stunned me and made me slightly uncomfortable. That said, the rest of the book ticked my boxes whilst increasing my heart-rate.
A cut-throat, spine tingling, hair-raising and severely eye-opening novel; Locked Up is THE perfect book for losing yourself in – just as long as you can handle the pace. Trust me when I say this; you will MAKE yourself handle the pace. This is too good to miss.
Thanks BloodhoundBooks.
About the author.
After being made redundant in 2012, GB started taking her life-long passion for writing more seriously and looking to sell her work. Specialising in complex, fast-paced crime novels, she started writing the Locked Series in 2014, and has been working to polish and perfect since – not to mention – sell.
GB was shortlisted for the 2014 CWA Margery Allingham Short Story Competition with the story Last Shakes, now available in Last Cut Casebook. She is also a feature writer and comic book reviewer on www.warpedfactor.com. Crime novels are her stock in trade, but she has had success with short stories in various genres including steampunk, horror, erotica and general fiction.
With bills to pay, she’s back working as a systems architect by day, a freelance fiction editor and keen writer of an evening and weekend. GB really needs to learn to sleep.
Originally from Kent, GB moved to South Wales as a supposed first step on a year around the world. Then she met a guy. Kept the guy, kissed the travel goodbye. Knowing that the best way to travel is by book anyway, she has always read, always written. GB now has two grown-up children, the world’s most imperious cat, a house full of books and a hard drive full of manuscripts (though some will never be allowed out of a locked basement).
The Writing Garnet 
Thank you so much for reading, and enjoying, and especially for sharing. I really appreciate that.
LikeLiked by 1 person