Mo Hayder has mastered the art of gothic crime novels – my favourite one of hers so far is Tokyo, but Poppet comes next. I was delighted to get it early on the Kindle and I read it fast. Well paced, with a plot split into three parts which eventually all come together, the novel features one of Hayder’s favourite characters, DI Jack Caffery. Police Diver Flea Marley is not far, as usual, but don’t think you need to have read the other books, this works well as a standalone novel. The plot is unnerving and stressful (don’t read it at night when you are alone). The story centres on a high-security mental ward where a number of sinister, surreal events take place, each leading to the unexplained death of a patient. All patients are very nervous and keep talking about a non-human entity which haunts them. AJ, one of the staff, feels something deep and sinister is playing out in front of his very own eyes, and he tries to talk his boss Melanie Arrow into action. When a patient is released – Isaac Handel who killed his parents in a horrific manner at the age of fourteen – all hell breaks loose… Who is the next victim going to be? Isaac stalks the ward’s staff one after the other. Naturally – it’s Mo Hayder after all – there is more than meets the eye, and as one character puts it, “all is not always as it seems”. Fabulous ending, scary plot, even a bit of romance… all the ingredients of a great novel by Mo Hayder.