Inside the Lockup with M.R. Carey’s Fellside

Looking back on his catalo,g it’s clear Carey has an affinity for things that veer into the land of the weird and fantastic, and with the release of Fellside, he continues along that path. This time he has tempered it ever so slightly—certainly more so than The Girl With All The Gifts—that by the time he introduces the book’s paranormal elements, we’re already knee-deep in a mystery/women-in-prison/crime thriller. 

Lonely, depressed twenty-something Jess Moulson is an addict with a penchant for poor choices. This reaches its ugly peak when a night of heavy heroin usage with her sort-of boyfriend results in a massive apartment fire that not only leaves her horribly disfigured, but results in the death of a 10-year-old neighbor boy. With no clear memories of the fire or the events of that night—yet consumed by grief and depression—she is quickly dubbed “The Inferno Killer” by the press, and later convicted in the death of 10-year-old Alex Beech. She is sentenced to serve her time at the infamous Fellside prison, and it’s there that Carey begins to slowly move the story in paranormal directions.
Don’t mistake Fellside Correctional Facility for Women as a whimsical lockup full of lovably colorful and quirky characters like Orange Is The New Black, because that is most certainly not the case. Set on the remote edge of the English moors, Fellside exists not as a “community committed to a practical ideal of rehabilitation” (as the prison’s promotional video touts) but instead as a menacing, self-contained den of violence, drugs, crime, and corruption. As a child-killer (accidental or otherwise), Jess is hardly welcomed with open arms by other inmates, and this separation propels her to discover what comes to be known as The Other Place.

It’s no surprise that a journey to something as ominous as The Other Place would require some sort of supernatural conduit, and for Jess it comes in the form of the spectral visage of Alex, the boy who died in the fire. Alex—whose memories are fragmented and incomplete—becomes a sounding board for Jess’ raging grief, and the relationship becomes a mutually therapeutic partnership, sort of a supernatural “buddy” tale. At first, that is.
As the odd friendship of a disfigured prisoner and the ghost of a dead child becomes stronger, Jess learns that Alex can wander through the dreams of the other prisoners, and he can take her with him. But that is not as innocent or fanciful as it may sound (Alex is definitely not Casper The Friendly Ghost) because the occupants of Fellside (both staff and residents) have a dark side, and The Other Place reveals all their ugliness.
Despite other hearty story elements (each enough for its own book), it is The Other Place that stands out. It is a bizarre and terrifying dimension—one part safely familiar, one part bad dream—where fears and nightmares rule. It is here that Jess and Alex uncover Fellside’s biggest secrets, and more than a few of their own. Redemption and inner peace come with a big price tag in The Other Place, and it’s difficult to come out unscathed.
Blending four genres (mystery/prison/crime/paranormal), Carey is comfortable moving casually between them all, ultimately weaving them together for the greater (albeit very dark) good. That’s a tough task, but he connects the bleak dots neatly, revealing the full scope of the story in an explosive climax that proves that happy endings are never guaranteed.