The Prison Doctor   by Amanda Brown

Some memoirs of a person disillusioned with the general practitioner profession finding herself perchance working in prisons, for the new challenges. The voice of the author is quite strange, coming across as flat, unemotional and matter-of-fact, but describing some very stressful situations and the difficulty of coping, including the fact that emotions do come into play. She says that eventually she had to leave Wormwood Scrubs, because of the rise in Spice making the place increasingly dangerous, but provides little clues as to what really broke the camel’s back and the emotional reasons for finally making the decision to leave. Ultimately one is left feeling that these memoirs are extremely selective, and very much held back by the (understandable) need for prisoner--and personal--confidentiality.

They are also held back by a limited writing style, which does nothing to convey any sense of atmosphere.

So it is something of a frustrating book, but, despite everything, it is an absolutely compelling read; more for the interesting subject matter than the writing of this particular doctor.