Kennedy’s role in HMP Forth Valley, a high security male prison, is to collate and analyse information to prevent further crimes. When she finds herself attracted to another prison officer her job becomes more complicated as she believes there is a corrupt officer inside the prison.

Five By Five by Claire Wilson is a brutal look at life inside a male prison, for both the prisoners and the staff. Unfortunately, this wasn’t for me. I didn’t like the style and found that it jumped around a lot with difficult to follow conversations. There were far too many characters, and nicknames, to keep track of easily. I couldn’t connect with the lead character, Kennedy, as she dithered too much.

The ending seemed to just fizzle out, leaving threads dangling. The book does paint a bleak picture of what it is like to work in the prison service, so much so that it could put people off working for them.

This isn't my usual sort of book, but I was intrigued by the blurb and was pleasantly surprised by how good the story was. Having worked in the UK Prison Service, the entire vibe was spot on, and the accuracy of little details made everything much more real for me.

'Real' characters, an engaging scenario and written in a tense style that kept me gripped. Very impressed, thankyou!

A crime mystery set within a prison. I liked the premise of the novel but the narrative and language were difficult for me to enjoy.

Kennedy works for a Scottish prison and monitors prisoners and the staff for corruption.
It has all the in depth workings of a prison but I thought it was a bit long winded for me and I found Kennedy unlikeable and self-centred.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC and I give my honest review.

I really enjoyed this gritty crime thriller. It was told from the perspective of Kennedy who works as an intelligence analyst within a prison, which sounds like an interesting job! I enjoyed trying to figure out who scout was alongside the characters in the book and found that I couldn’t stop reading.

This is an excellent debut novel from the author and I do hope there is a follow up. Set in a Scottish prison, it packs a punch with it's descriptions of the inmates and the prison. The tension just oozes out from the pages, there are plenty interesting characters and it is full of atmosphere. A very good thriller which I would recommend. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

This was a really impressive novel from a fellow Scot (not that I am biased) and I really enjoyed this. Definitely an author that I will keep an eye out for

The premise of this book was so good but for me it wasn’t a great read. I’m sorry but it wasn’t exciting, Kennedy was a wet flannel and the ending leaves a cliffhanger just as the story finally goes somewhere. I don’t care enough to read the next instalment.
Thank you NetGalley & Claire Wilson for an advanced copy.

This one I had high hopes for! I felt like there were too many characters introduced so I kept feeling confused along the way.

I was frustrated by the lack of answers at the end but it makes me want book 2!

"Five by Five" by Claire Wilson is a prison-themed literature set in Scotland. The story started off strong with its original and atmospheric plot, drawing me in. However, as I read further, the pace slowed down, and the second half began to feel repetitive and somewhat predictable.
The characters in the book were a bit challenging to connect with, and I struggled to empathize with them. Their decisions often appeared questionable and didn't always align with their established traits. Kennedy, the protagonist, was a bit hard to get behind - her motivations and actions seemed to be driven by her desire to climb the career ladder, rather than a sense of justice or compassion.
I did appreciate the unique setting of the prison, which added a layer of tension and unease to the story. The author's attention to detail in describing the daily life of the prisoners and guards was impressive. The romance between Kennedy and Molly added an interesting layer to the story, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it was forced or artificial.
The biggest disappointment for me was the ending. It felt like the story was building up to a thrilling conclusion, but instead, it ended on a cliffhanger, leaving me with more questions than answers. I'm not sure if this is intended to be a series starter or not, but as a standalone novel, I felt like I was left hanging.
Overall, "Five by Five" had some strong elements, but it didn't quite live up to my expectations. If you're a fan of prison-themed literature or crime thrillers, you might enjoy this book. However, if you're looking for a well-rounded story with complex characters and a satisfying conclusion, you might want to look elsewhere.

I really enjoyed this story, particularly as a fellow scot, I loved the banter throughout. This was a really original story and I found myself racing g through. Highly recommended for fans of police proceedings and prison thrillers.

I recently had the opportunity to read "Five by Five" through NetGalley, and as a fan of prison-themed literature, I was eager to dive into this Scottish prison setting. The story started strong, drawing me in with its original and atmospheric plot. However, as I delved deeper, the momentum slowed, and the second half felt repetitive and somewhat predictable. The unresolved ending left me with lingering questions, hinting at the possibility of a sequel to tie up loose ends.

The characters in the book were a bit challenging to connect with, and I struggled to empathise with them. Their decisions often appeared questionable and didn't always align with their established traits.

Overall, while it was an enjoyable read, I couldn't shake the feeling that it had the potential to be even better.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publishers, Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House, for providing me with a digital review copy (eARC). These are my honest and unbiased thoughts and I am sharing them voluntarily.

Thank you to Netgallery and the publisher for this ARC. The publication date is the 29th August. This book is based in a prison and it gave me Line of Duty vibes it was a real page turner with plenty of twists and turns that kept me glued to my kindle as I was dying to find out what would happen next.

I liked all the characters especially Kennedy and wow wow wow what an ending!! I really thought I worked it out I couldn’t have been more wrong! I’d highly recommend this book if you like real gripping page turners that keep you on the edge of your seat! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars! 😊

Five by five by Clare Wilson is the author debut novel.
After failing to become a prison officer Kennedy Allardyce works as an Intelligence officer for the Scottish Prison service at HMP Forth Valley. She loved her job and wants t to get to the top of her career. But she doesn’t have any friends as she spends her day not only monitoring the inmates but the staff too. As there is rumours of corruption in the ranks and drugs being smuggled into the prison. She doesn’t know who she can trust in the prison until she falls for one of the Prison officers Molly Rana. Can she trust Molly and is she who she says she is? As Kenedy has suspicions that she may not be who she says she is.
I like the premise of this story. I thought that this is a great start for a debut novel. The story is atmospheric and a believable setting of in a Prison setting. But with so many characters I struggled throughout to connect to the characters and the ending was a bit disappointing. 3.5 stars from me.

I’ve been collecting my thoughts on this one for a while since I read it. I love a crime/mystery as much as the next girl and this one being set in a prison was new for me - it was a world that I’m not familiar with as I don’t really read much into what the prison system, or the administration of a prison is like.

I thought the story line was interesting and I liked that it was an investigation into not only the prisoners, but the prison staff too. It felt like it was something that you would hear on the news and felt believable in that it wasn’t outside of the realm of possibility - thinking about it, I would believe that this type of investigation is commonplace within prisons.

This was an enjoyable read and I would recommend it to anyone looking for this type of novel, I’m just not sure I vibed with it fully personally.

The story is set in a prison and is told from the POV of Kennedy, who is a Intelligence Analyst, think 'Line of Duty' but in a prison, and from one of the prisoners. I enjoyed hearing from both sides. I suspected everyone and trusted nobody.

I wanted to find out who Scout was but the book ends on a cliffhanger. I'm not sure if it's deliberate or because there is a follow-on book to come. I hope it's the latter.

I enjoyed the premise of this book and the story, it was gripping and the characters were engaging. Recommend to new readers of the genre as it was a fast paced, action packed thriller

I love the setting on this and the incident that happens to Kennedy, the main character, starts the story off really well. I liked the antagonism between the intelligence staff and the prison guards, and the new arrival in Kennedy’s office added to the tension. I did however struggle to engage with the characters, I liked that some chapters were told from the perspective of one of the prisoners however by the end I was questioning whether it added to the story, I think if parts were told from points of view of multiple prisoners it might have worked better. There’s clearly a lot of issues at the prison, beyond what you might expect and the threats on Kennedy felt very real but I just never totally got into this story but I persevered with it only for it to have a total non ending with so much left to be tied up but not in a to be continued style (although I’m assuming there will be a continuation) which just left me frustrated.

An exciting new voice in crime fiction! Five By Five is not to be missed!

I love the setting and the insights into a part of prison life that I didn't even know existed. The characters felt utterly believable and the sharp writing style really draws you in to the story. I loved the cliff-hanger ending and can't wait for the next instalment!

Thanks to the publisher and author for the opportunity to read

I really appreciate the opportunity to read and review this arc but unfortunately I really struggled to get into it and did not connect with any of the characters, that just made me not care for the story or what happened to them, it was well written and felt well researched though