''In Limbo'' () is a 1985 science fiction novel by Christopher Evans, set in contemporary Britain. The novel explores the experience of protagonist Michael Carpenter who has been detained in a mysterious windowless institution called Limbo by its inmates.

Plot summary

Michael Carpenter awakes in a windowless

institution Institutions are humanly devised structures of rules and norms that shape and constrain individual behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions a ...

. Although the regime in Limbo is quite liberal, Carpenter is not permitted to leave nor to know its purpose. Carpenter's fellow inmates are introduced:

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

intellectual Wright, corpulent joker Riley, fitness fanatic Treadwell and the nervous Sinnott. The highlights of Carpenter's time are his meetings with the glamorous Dr Dempster. The inmates' have increasing conflicts with their guards. Through these conflicts, the novel explores flashbacks to Carpenter's earlier life. After leaving university, Carpenter has drifted from one dead-end job to another, and also moved between various unsatisfactory sexual relationships, with the strident

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

Veronica, the

kleptomania Kleptomania is the inability to resist the urge to steal items, usually for reasons other than personal use or financial gain. First described in 1816, kleptomania is classified in psychiatry as an impulse control disorder. Some of the main cha ...

c Karen, married colleague Eleanor and the unstable Penny. The novel ends as the inmates make an escape attempt. The book concludes when Carpenter's first steps back in the outside world. 1985 British novels 1985 science fiction novels British science fiction novels Novels set in prison Panther Books books {{1980s-sf-novel-stub