Cannon’s shrewd characterisation, sparky observations and subtly menacing plot makes this a darkly funny and delightfully sinister read.’ – Mail on Sunday After The Hammets move houses, Linda becomes fixated on the previous tennant, Rebecca Finch, after receiving her mail. Rebecca’s fashion magazines lead Linda to believe that she lives a more glamorous life than she does. Intent on befriending Rebecca, Linda cyber stalks and ingratiates herself into her life. Meanwhile, Terry is going to work and coming home, and expecting his dinner on the table, and for Linda to be there for him. As he increasingly spends more time at work, the news is filled with stories of young girls going missing, and as the reader, our imagination starts to wonder exactly where Terry has been and what he has been doing when he isn’t at work and hasn’t arrived home..

A Tidy Ending’s lead character Linda’s first-person narrative, initially exudes a vibe similar to Nita Prose’ The Maid and Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, in that her world-view is small and heavily shaped by past traumatic events. Discuss the character of Linda—what are her personality traits, eccentricities, and obsessions? What did you think of her as a narrator?

A Tidy Ending

Jo's writing is as delicate and precise as tapestry and Linda is a character you'll never forget." - Jill Mansell Most of the narrative is about her observations about the people in her neighborhood, social interactions with colleagues and neighbors, and dealing with her frustrating mother. She must find common ground with people, and this is through things like the television show Coronation Street and will use these talking points as the basis for her answers to police, as to what she was doing and when. She has no breadth of experience, and almost everything she utters is cringeworthy. Jacqueline Sutherland’s debut has a very different lonely woman at its heart. Kat’s husband has recently died in a car crash. She is miserably isolated in the countryside until her one friend, Ginny, urges her to join a club for the recently widowed, where she meets a man bringing up his daughter alone. Kat has always wanted children and jumps at the chance of an instant family, but is Nico really who he seems? And is Kat? This is a twisty, chilling look at the lengths one woman will go to get what she wants. First Born

She didn’t reply. Sometimes, they don’t. Sometimes, it’s as though you haven’t spoken at all, as if your world and their world are running quite happily side by side, but there isn’t any way of moving between one and the other. Joanna Cannon creates a world that is so real, so parochial and stifling… Then adds in a killer. Glorious.’ – Jane Fallon, Getting Rid of Matthew This main character, Linda, reminds me a lot of Molly. It’s not said outright in either book, but both women seem to be on the autism spectrum, and both are meticulous about cleaning. Both completely misunderstand other peoples’ intentions, both are kind of clueless as to how others live their lives, and both are totally unaware of social cues. A Tidy Ending is a delectable, engrossing and darkly humorous tale, featuring as its unlikely heroine the middle-aged and deceptively introverted Linda. Early into this audiobook, I realised it was a thriller/suspense novel and was considering whether to finish it, as I want to take a break from the genre. The well-realised character and the captivating narration kept me listening.Charity shop worker Linda becomes obsessed with the glamorous previous occupant of the suburban home into which she and her husband Terry have recently moved. Under-stimulated by her humdrum life, and the frequent target of ridicule and gaslighting from both her husband and mother, Linda finds a private delight in poring over fashion and lifestyle catalogues that arrive in the mail for the mysterious Rebecca, meanwhile fantasising about a more exciting existence of her own.