5* "Malan again takes you on an intriguing spiritual journey as we follow the protagonist, John, in search of answers lying always just beyond his reach. Malan manages expertly to hold you in suspense and gives just enough detail regarding the mysterious prisoner, luring you in and keeping you reading and accompanying John to find the answers. This story has a unique quality of confusion between dreams and reality; it has many layers of interpretation largely due to Malan's use of rich imagery and allusions to a variety of spiritual sources. John Cockshaw's fine illustrations enhance this spiritual quality. Ultimately, Malan allows the reader to make up his/her mind about the message this story conveys. A very thought provoking story, skilfully told." By AM on Amazon.co.uk
5* "If you had the chance to clear your debts, have the job that you always wanted in somewhere nice and all you had to do was find the key would you do it This was the proposition given to John Andras a prison officer, and all he had to do was speak to a special prisoner.John was quite downtrodden with life, with lots of debt and wife he only sees in passing, he tends to go to work on autopilot. After sorting out an incident at work, things seemed to click in place and he became more confident in himself, so when he was offered a secret mission by the governor, he became a bold with his comments. However it started to go downhill once he met Seth. Not a lot is known about Seth. He reminded me of a new age guru as when he was getting abused in the prison, he was still calm and philosophical.Set in a prison this story had a sense of foreboding. Whilst reading this I could feel the oppressiveness of the prison and how bad prison life was. The violence was raw whether it was the guards or the prisoners. Something different in this book was John’s nightmares, they were depicted by some brilliant artwork and this made the story come alive as you could see what he was dreaming. The final scenes were built up to a dramatic showdown which I never saw coming. This was a quick read which left me wanting to know more about Seth and his philosophy." Yvonne on Amazon.co.uk
"The second collaboration between Malan and Cockshaw in their A Darkness in Mind series (the first, Quest & The Sign Of The Shining Beast, was published in 2016), The Prisoner tells the story of prison guard John Andras who comes to the attention of mysterious new warden, Elliot Danvers, when he intervenes on the behalf of a prisoner who is beaten by three other guards. The warden is impressed by Andras’ almost supernatural ability to defuse the situation and calm the prisoner, almost as if he willed it with his mind. Danvers makes the miserable Andras an offer the guard cannot refuse; help get information out of mysterious prisoner “Seth” in return for promotion and a transfer away from the stifling environment of Morningstar prison.
What follows are brief conversations between prisoner and guard, delving into the purpose of our continued existence and whether there really is any point to life at all. Seth seems to lead Andras down meandering paths that the guard at first assumes are distractions to keep him from locating the mysterious “key” the warden seeks, but actually drives Andras on a journey towards self-awareness. In between these thoughtful conversations, Malan offers us a small insight into the nature of the guard through interactions with friend and head of security, Freddie, and, more importantly, his relationship with his wife, Madeline. Malan shows a stagnant marriage through their very short encounters, usually for a couple of minutes in the morning before she leaves for work and a couple of minutes when Andras returns from a shift before collapsing into sleep.The evocative and mesmerising artwork provided by Cockshaw perfectly accompanies Malan’s poetic prose during the depictions of Andras’ enigmatic dreams.
Sometimes they tend to expand on the spiritual nature of the discussions between Andras and Seth, or Andras and the warden, the previous day. Sometimes they seem quite mysterious at the time of reading. But they foreshadow what is to come later in the book as Andras is driven to the very edge of madness by the exhausting soul-searching and the pressure put upon him by the warden and his henchmen. The reader, too, will feel as though they have been through an emotional wringer by the time they reach the climax.
Overall, Malan delivers an enthralling story exploring some of the more burning questions of human nature. The dialogue between his characters is intriguing and entertaining, while the descriptive language he employs, especially during Andras’ “dream sequences”, is often mesmerising, even more so when it is combined with Cockshaw’s artwork. While delivering a thoughtful and entertaining tale, Malan doesn’t spoon-feed the reader and there is much still left in darkness for the reader to interpret for themselves. And maybe just enough to suggest we should start from book one and become totally lost to the darkness in mind."
By THOMAS JOYCE - This is Horror
