The Institution
They’re locked up for your safety. Now you’re locked in with them.
The Institution is a high-security prison for the criminally insane. One night, a nurse in a locked ward is murdered, and her newborn baby is kidnapped. Forensic profiler Dr. Connie Woolwine has only five days to find the ones responsible for this crime. After that, a newborn will be in danger.
I’m only an occasional thriller reader, but I really liked this one. It’s a fast-paced, dark psychological thriller. Not for the faint-hearted. I like that Dr. Connie’s not perfect. That she seems like a regular human being with flaws.
- author: Helen Fields
- full title: The Institution
- genre: thriller
- format/type: bookfiction
- topics: #murder, #prison, #criminalyinsane, #psychological
- publisher: Avon Books UK
- publish date: 02 Mar 2023
- pages: 422
My Rating of the Book:
- content: 💙💙💙💙
‘How do you … forgive me for saying this, the police said you were the best in your field … but it seems a little vague. How do you psychologically profile someone to the extent that you can tell who’s guilty and who’s innocent?’ Francis Lyle asked.
Connie was ready for it. The question wasn’t unreasonable. Psychology and its practical applications were often regarded as hocus-pocus in a consumer, tech-driven world, and even she’d learned most of what she knew about the subject outside of a classroom under unusual circumstances.
‘Psychological profiling is a science to the extent that it has its roots in understanding human behaviour, sociology, how the brain works, having a good knowledge of psychiatry and criminology. But I understand that it seems more like guesswork from the outside. I can guarantee you, it isn’t. We look for patterns, anomalies. Most people give away information about themselves when they’re trying their hardest to hide it. It’s true that my job usually involves deriving information from crime scenes, communications, by looking at the similarities between crimes such as location, victim type, methodology et cetera. To that extent, this is a very unusual situation. But please remember that on this occasion I’ll be dealing with a closed circle of potential culprits. There are five patients on the wing who had immediate access to the area where Tara was killed. In addition there are eight members of staff on that wing with access to the keys, all of whom have accommodation on site.’
‘But you’ll be undercover. It’s not as if you can just question these people and assess their responses,’ Francis Lyle continued.
‘Not overtly – you’re right about that – but we obtain information when people talk naturally, when their guard is down. You own several successful businesses, Mr Lyle, and I’m sure you didn’t get where you are today without being able to assess people’s faces and body language, and learning to read between the lines.’
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