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A review by secre
The Institution by Helen Sarah Fields
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I wasn't sure what to expect when I started The Institution, but what I got was a tense thriller that had me hooked from the first page to the very last. I've head one of Helen Fields novels before, and that had a very different tone and pace to it. These Lost & Broken Things was one of my top reads of 2020, but it was slow and methodical in it's darkness. The Institution felt like I was reading on a razor's edge, only one step away from catastrophe at any given moment.
The story is dark. A pregnant woman has been murdered, her baby torn from her stomach and taken for ransom. The setting is dark; an asylum for dangerous criminals thought to be mentally insane and unable to be rehabilitated. And there is a ticking clock. The baby was forcibly delivered too soon. They are vulnerable and in need of immediate medical attention. Everyone is suspect and it's doubtful any of the patients could have managed it alone.
So Connie enters the ward by subterfuge. Her colleague is her patient. Yet the dehumanising way patients are treated is evident from the start. Connie needs to keep their cover intact, whilst also trying to find the newborn and keeping her colleague safe. It's an impossible challenge and the tension ramps up quickly. The ticking clock is forever in the background, even as Connie doubts her own sanity. If the baby isn't found, it will die. There's no doubt about that.
It's fraught. I felt my heart-rate spike at points and I couldn't put the book down, desperate to find out how it ends. It's full of tension and you never quite know what's going on. But it also shines a light on some of the darker practices in mental health. Those who have read Nettie Bly's account of being admitted will empathise. Practices aren't any cleaner and we're more than a hundred years on.
This is a fantastic crime thriller. It's got everything. And reminds me to read more of the authors works.
The story is dark. A pregnant woman has been murdered, her baby torn from her stomach and taken for ransom. The setting is dark; an asylum for dangerous criminals thought to be mentally insane and unable to be rehabilitated. And there is a ticking clock. The baby was forcibly delivered too soon. They are vulnerable and in need of immediate medical attention. Everyone is suspect and it's doubtful any of the patients could have managed it alone.
So Connie enters the ward by subterfuge. Her colleague is her patient. Yet the dehumanising way patients are treated is evident from the start. Connie needs to keep their cover intact, whilst also trying to find the newborn and keeping her colleague safe. It's an impossible challenge and the tension ramps up quickly. The ticking clock is forever in the background, even as Connie doubts her own sanity. If the baby isn't found, it will die. There's no doubt about that.
It's fraught. I felt my heart-rate spike at points and I couldn't put the book down, desperate to find out how it ends. It's full of tension and you never quite know what's going on. But it also shines a light on some of the darker practices in mental health. Those who have read Nettie Bly's account of being admitted will empathise. Practices aren't any cleaner and we're more than a hundred years on.
This is a fantastic crime thriller. It's got everything. And reminds me to read more of the authors works.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Medical content