Beechway is a high security mental health ward housing the criminally, and not so criminally insane. When a newly released patient is connected with the suspicious deaths of 3 people Jack Caffery is sent in to investigate.
First I feel I should say that this was my first Mo Hayder novel and I was unfamiliar with the detective in the story. I think this may have affected my ability to really enjoy this book.
I found the story incredibly disjointed. The chapters are very short. This is usually a plus sign for me as I detest the over use of filler paragraphs just to make up page numbers. The story limps along for the most part. I had forgiven this as I thought short chapters would mean the pace would quicken towards the middle of the book. It didn't. Characters are picked up and dropped before anything anyway meaningful can be conveyed. This ruined any feeling of tension or suspense the story tried to create. Every time I looked forward to some creepy paranormal activity I was left disappointed.
I was confused as to the addition of some of the characters in this book. The flea/misty side story, in my opinion added nothing to the story. I realise these characters may be from a previous novel but I believe each book should be able to stand on it's own two feet and be judged as it is. The same could be said for Penny. I felt her role within the story could have been developed much more than it was.
This book's saving grace was the first twist near the end of the novel. I did not see it coming at all and it almost made the limp through the previous chapters worthwhile.
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