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The Prison

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One hundred years ago, a horrific mass murder resulted in the permanent closure of Hardstone Women's Prison. Now the prison is being re-opened, but as a new generation of prisoners arrive to fill the cells, something evil is waiting in the shadows.

Amanda Weir doesn't remember killing her children. All she knows is that she woke up with their bloody bodies in her arms. Sentenced to life in prison, she arrives at Hardstone and tries to adjust to her new life. All she wants is to forget her old self, and to find some way to live with what she did. After all, there's no way she could be innocent...

There's something else at Hardstone, however. Something lost and alone, something angry. The ghost of a little girl has been spotted several times, and the prisoners have learned a valuable whenever the ghost is seen, anyone who looks into its eyes will be dead within a matter of days. But what does the ghost want, and exactly how far has its influence spread in the lives of the prisoners?

The Prison is a dark horror story about a woman who finds herself facing the truth about her own past, and about a dead little girl who refuses to accept that her life is over.

318 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 26, 2014

14 people are currently reading
149 people want to read

About the author

Amy Cross

668 books1,698 followers
Amy Cross writes novels and short stories in a number of genres, mainly horror, paranormal and fantasy. Books include The Farm, Annie's Room, The Island, Eli's Town and Asylum.

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5 stars
54 (40%)
4 stars
41 (30%)
3 stars
26 (19%)
2 stars
10 (7%)
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3 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 16 of 17 reviews
Profile Image for Albert.
103 reviews16 followers
August 21, 2017
Ghost stories aren't my favourite. I find that most ghosts are only creepy, I don't mind creepy but I do enjoy a good throat slashing.
I wasn't sure what to expect with this novel, my first by this author, but for some reason her books are very inexpensive so I figured would give it a try, glad I did.
This was one hell of a story, had everything that I enjoy with a horror novel. Interesting characters, wonderful creepy setting, have got to find more horror novels set in a women's prison, very twisted story, some sad moments and of course a lot of blood. Only issue I had with this ebook was formatting and some editing problems, but they didn't distract me from the story.
Can't wait to check out more of her work.
Profile Image for Annabele.
99 reviews
June 3, 2018
Awesome Book, but if you see Amy's Newly Released book "The Haunting of Hardstone Jail" they are the exact same book. NO SPOILERS

NOTE: I own the Kindle Version of this Book and This is the Exact same book as her recently released "The Haunting of Hardstone Jail" which just has a new Title & Cover. Because I snagged Hardstone's ebook copy while it was "FREE" I didn't mind buying both versions , so that said ... it's an awesome Ghost Story that is well written, well thought out, and has an awesome storyline with excellent character development. The only Flaw are the occasional typos and a few sentence structure differences (only if you're from the U.S. and not the U.K.). The sentence structure is a language thing, so it's basically a non-issue (which is why I called them differences). The spelling typos do occasionally distract from the story flow, but thankfully are very rare occurrences and not enough to make me drop my rating (like I have with other books littered with typos). Overall you will find yourself drawn in and your biggest issue will be stopping to eat or sleep as you'll find yourself (which is a common occurrence with Amy Cross books) unable to put the book down. Highly Recommended.
Profile Image for Amy.
90 reviews1 follower
June 5, 2017
I enjoy a good ghost story as much as the next person and this book was a good one. I can't say I was exactly scary but it was indeed very intriguing. There are some gruesome moments and there are some creepy bits in there but I didn't find many or any as scary as I know Amy Cross can write. You find yourself easily getting into the storyline and eager to find out what happens. All in all a great book.
Profile Image for Lori.
274 reviews
December 23, 2014
Greatest ghost story

This book is pretty much just a ghost story that was supposed to be true from a hundred years earlier.
It's not a scary story but it us a ghost story and very terrible things happen.
Lenora Blake is a ghost at a Hardstone prison, it's Saud if you see her and look into her eyes directly you die.
Well a lot if weird things happen at the prison. Dr Bell works there and you come to find out she's not what she seems and it all has to do with the ghost if this child who killed 500 women one hundred years ago in the prison that was reopened. Dr Bell soon realizes that there's no black ppl in the prison only white women and it all seems odd so she's looking for the reason . She has Amanda , a inmate who has murdered therapies helping her. She seems to have taken to her when at first she couldn't stand the thought if her being around. She kind if tries to fill amanda's head with thoughts. Not good ones. Soon the prison goes into full chaos with dead inmates surfacing from their graves outside which us never explained at the end after they come up for their revenge. But the rest of the truth does come out at the end if the book or more towards the end and you come to understand the entire reason the prison is how it is.
Some of it us sad, some just pure evil but for the most part just strange.
It's a good read. Not scary at all but a bit graphic . I would recommend it as a decent not too long if a book but it keeps you interested and you do come to like some of the. Characters. Others are just plain messed up. I wasn't very happy with the Amanda situation at the end. I think it was cruel. But it was a decent ending. Well worth the time in reading this book.
Profile Image for Sarah1983.
195 reviews4 followers
December 14, 2014
Found this book while looking for something (hopefully!) scary to read. Can’t say I found it particularly scary but it did intrigue me and kept me interested throughout the book. I don’t think it’s meant to be the make you jump out of your skin sort of book, it’s more the subtly creepy sort which in some ways are actually scarier.

The story takes place in the newly reopened Hardstone prison, the site of a massive slaughter a hundred years ago. Rumours abound now about that slaughter and about the little girl, Leonora Blake, who was supposedly responsible for it. In a fairly predictable plot people start to see the ghost of Leonora Blake and rumour has it that anyone who looks her in the eye dies. However, although that part of the plot is predictable there are a good few far less predictable twists and turns throughout the book which keep it from being boring. I really enjoyed the book overall, loved the way it all came together in the end although I’d had my suspicions about it for a while before it was all revealed.

It’s quite difficult to review this book in detail without giving too much away so I’ll just keep this one short and sweet. If you like creepy and mysterious ghost story types then chances are you’ll enjoy this book. If you’re looking for jump out of your skin type horror then I think you’re probably better off looking elsewhere.
99 reviews
January 6, 2015
Wow this was a cracking book from start to finish and didn't want to put it down.

It's about Hardstone Women's Prison which closed a century ago due to a child killing all the inmates.

It had been left to fester all those years but some bigwig in his wisdom decides that they should bring it back to use as the over population of other prisons.

Rumours are rife through out the the occupants of the prison of what happened to the last occupiers of the prison all those years ago.

They all say if they see the ghost of the girl that they shouldn't look into her eyes or they will die.

Workers of the prison say it's just an urban myth but is it really.

Things are happening but the top staff don't want to inform outsiders and that there are also experiments happening.

Suffice to say that women die and bones in the yard in the prison won't stay burried despite them been burried numerous times.

As the story goes along you find out more and more about the girl who haunts the prison but there is also a surprise thrown into the mix as well.

Amazing story, lots of twists and turns with added horror.
Profile Image for Julie Powell.
Author 72 books324 followers
September 25, 2015
Similar to Asylum, Amy Cross again brings to life the horrors of being confined and the results of insanity.

It is easy to engage with the characters in all of this author's stories, and The Prison is no exception. All, however, have an element of sadness, some badness and most madness.

An intriguing plot mixes well with this unusual cast, and such themes of murder, injustice, innocence and guilt make this, to some degree, a psychological study.

A wonderful writing style that keeps you hooked, despite the numerous typos.

Overall, a great horrific read yet thought provoking too.

Recommended.
168 reviews1 follower
January 18, 2015
Overall, I thought that this book was a great read. I was a little confused to start with, but eventually I managed to get the gist of things within the book. I felt sorry for the main character and astonished about what happened in the end. I never thought anything like that would have happened within the book. It's a great book to read and would love to read it again some time in the future.

Great read.
Profile Image for Jessica George.
163 reviews1 follower
March 9, 2015
Yikes...good book, creepy with an interesting ending!

I love Amy Cross' books, this one was almost as creepy as Asylum but at the same time a different story completely. As all of her books so, it's own horrors make it unique. I love creative these books are, they would all make amazing movies. Recommend this one and all her other books too!
Profile Image for Gill Elliott.
3 reviews
February 1, 2015
Not sure if I enjoyed this book or not! I read it really quickly because I wanted to see what happened, but I didn't particularly like any of the characters and much of it was just too far fetched. For a freebee (Amazon kindle ) it was fine but glad I hadn't paid for it.
39 reviews
March 15, 2015
The prison

It was an interesting read, but I must admit it isn't one of the best stories I've read. At some points, it got a little confusing.the ending isn't what I was expecting, I just wasn't into this book
Profile Image for Janice Stinnett.
385 reviews1 follower
October 21, 2015
Good writing

This book had a good plot and it was pretty vicious I definitely enjoyed it. I thought the characters could have had more depth and the story got a little muddled in the end.some questions unanswered but I still enjoyed the style of writing
Profile Image for Jason .
351 reviews1 follower
January 17, 2015
Was a good book

Very well plotted and even a few surprises in it I recommend this book to fans off horror looking for a new author
Profile Image for Julie Potter.
70 reviews
May 27, 2015
The Prison

Each book I read I enjoy more and more. There are still a few more I have to read and I'm sure I will enjoy them just as much.
Profile Image for Andrew Ostrega.
34 reviews
July 28, 2015
Great

This is the first book I have read by this author and will read more it definitely will keep u up at night
Profile Image for Chuck Ambler.
7 reviews
November 4, 2015
Good Story

Good Story, if you can stand a book with horrible grammar. I find it terribly annoying and just plain rude.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 17 reviews

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