REVIEWED by Jen B.
TITLE: Outside
SERIES: Death Row Chronicles
AUTHOR: Nicky James
PUBLISHER: Nicky James
LENGTH: 252 Pages
RELEASE DATE: March 13, 2020
BLURB:
Twenty years ago, the crash gates slammed shut on Bishop Ndiaye’s life when he was sentenced to death for a crime he didn’t commit. His life became a waiting game while he sat on death row in one of the country’s worst prisons waiting for his warrant to be signed and his inevitable walk to the death chamber.
But it never happened.
Anson Miller’s arrival into Bishop’s life changed everything, and with nothing more than a hope and a prayer and a kickass lawyer, Bishop fought for his freedom and won.
But how do you reintegrate into a world you no longer know?
Twenty years has brought a lot of change.
Bishop needs to relearn the world, but it isn’t easy when his face has become front-page news, and his story is whispered in every crowd.
Not only does Bishop find himself suffering from severe trauma after his prolonged sentence, but he’s discovered the world on the outside may not be all it’s cracked up to be.
Some days, it’s like he’s exchanged one prison for another.
As if that’s not overwhelming enough, Bishop walked out of prison into the arms of a man he knows he loves, but he’s never explored this part of himself before and hardly knows where to begin. Navigating a relationship, technology, anxiety, and people is overwhelming. The cracks in Bishop’s foundation start to show, and the big man doesn’t know where to turn for help.
Was this whole ordeal worth it?
Maybe he was better off on the inside.
**This is book two in the Death Row Chronicles and is not standalone. It should be read following Inside (Vol 1)**
REVIEW:
This is the follow up to Inside and takes place shortly after Bishop is released and exonerated for the crimes he didn’t commit. Twenty years he spent inside a maximum security prison, the latter years being on death row. That is a mighty long time to be in that setting where you are on a set schedule, your walls are extremely close and you have limited human contact with anyone other than guards. So, it was definitely expected that Bishop was going to have some problems on the other side. You would think that in a case such as Bishop’s there would be protocol in place to allow for some type of reintegration, but that didn’t seem to be the case here. That, coupled with the hounding press and public distrust basically put Bishop into a different type of prison altogether.
Just as when he was inside, Bishop had Anson by his side championing for him. You could see how much Anson thought he was holding back to go at Bishop’s speed, but that became a much broader detail that took a while to come to realization. It wasn’t just the physical relationship that Bishop needed to take slow. He struggled with things everyone else takes for granted. I had expected Anson to be a bit more understanding with this and what Bishop was going through, but I suppose everyone isn’t perfect. Luckily, Bishop finds help and a friend with an organization made up of other exonerated ex-inmates whose purpose it is to provide the support and help newly-released men need. Who better to understand than someone who has experienced the very things Bishop has and has dealt with the exact same things he is going through? They were truly a lifesaver for him and were crucial to his survival.
Thankfully, even though they both had to make some adjustments, Bishop and Anson figured things out and were even stronger in the end. From the get go, I wanted Bishop to find some peace and happiness that was stolen from him for a better part of half of his life. So to see that come to fruition was a beautiful thing. This was a fabulous ending to this story, and while it didn’t have quite the suspense and anticipation of the first book, the writing was just as spot on and the storytelling right on par. I was already a fan of this author, but this story bumped Nicky James right onto my auto-read list.
RATING:
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