I wanted to read A Tidy Ending by Joanna Cannon because one of her other books, The Trouble With Goats and Sheep, was recommended to me by so many people. However, it’s still sitting on my shelf waiting to be read! Hopefully, I’ll get around to it soon!

A Tidy Ending had me gripped from the beginning. Just who was this strange woman, Linda, and why did everyone think her odd? Linda is the protagonist in the story and I honestly couldn’t work out from beginning to end what I should be thinking of her. Is she the victim and a pawn in someone else’s life or is she the mainstay in the plot? She’s weird is what she is, but I definitely wanted to read more of her story. Linda is very insightful, having her own opinions on how she feels people behave in the way in which they do. She’s funny, but she has a sad past which she tries to remember differently than it was.

Joanna Cannon did a great job with all her characters, each has their own quirks and adds to the story, I can’t say too much without giving the plot away but read it, It’s not quite a thriller, a mystery or a crime novel but lots of those mixed together. I simply loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of A Tidy Ending by Joanna Cannon.

I've really loved Joanna Cannons' previous books and her new one doesn't disappoint. I particularly like her writing style which can be very funny, but also really profound in her descriptions of human emotions and the day to day details of life. The twists work well and remain the right side of believable and I could see the street and community quite clearly in my imagination. Feels like a bestseller and I hope there is another one in the pipeline!
thank you to netgalley and HarperCollins for an advance copy of this book

I’d like to thank HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘A Tidy Ending’ written by Joanna Cannon in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Linda was eleven years old when her father was involved in a scandal causing her mother to move herself and her daughter from their home in Wales to pastures new. Linda is now married to Terry and when they move into their new home, albeit just up the road from their old house, she becomes obsessed with the previous occupant, Rebecca Finch, who she wants to emulate and thinks that if she can track her down they can be best friends. When the bodies of young women are found nearby Terry is suspected of being involved partly due to him owning a white van, and Linda who’s a charity shop worker and upright citizen believes it her social duty to help the police in any way she can.

This is a novel of a socially inept woman in her forties who hasn’t had an easy life and even now is the recipient of browbeating by her husband and mother. It’s an unusual story that’s narrated by Linda and has a flowing dialogue that makes it easy to read, an interesting portrayal of the characters and a sequence of events described to perfection. The many twists and turns led me astray from the first chapter making me believe one thing then another until when I reached the ending I was shocked but not totally surprised. This is definitely a novel worth reading and one I can recommend.

4.5* A Tidy Ending by Joanna Cannon is her best yet. A twisty and beautifully written story of relationships and surprises.

Linda Hamnet keeps herself to herself. Friday night in the pub with her husband Terry, weekly visits to see her mother and working in a local charity shop. When a high-end furniture catalogue addressed to a previous occupant of her home, Linda becomes obsessed with the life of that other woman. So much so, she works hard to try and track her down.

A Tidy Ending is hugely enjoyable and I think the best yet from Joanna Cannon. It’s difficult to outline the intricacy of the plot without spoilers but it will keep you guessing all the way through. The characters and well imagined and you’ll be rooting for some and aghast at others … but your allegiance may be questioned as the story unfolds.

Thanks to Borough Press, Harper Collins and Netgalley for an ARC. Thoroughly recommended.

I was sent a copy of A Tidy Ending by Joanna Cannon to read and review by NetGalley. This is another brilliant read from one of my favourite authors. Beautifully constructed characters with such well observed personalities. All totally believable even if they are on the edge of ‘the norm’. Very humorous, especially when something that is said or thought resonates with your own situation, past or present. As usual the author has managed to give us a totally fresh slice of life, making her writing both very accomplished and readable. I loved it!

For a book called “A Tidy Ending”, I don’t think this one has one at all!

Joanna Cannon loves a twist ending and it’s hard to talk about this one without spoiling anything, so I’ll keep it brief. I liked this a lot until everything started to come together at the end and it all felt a bit forced and unbelievable.

And also while I laughed a few times, I think the socially awkward character who doesn’t understand social cues has been done to death a bit at this point and I found it a bit unrealistic.

I was really enjoying this til the end so it’s a 3.5 for me. I’m sure it will be a massive summer read though so I’m interested to see what everyone else says about it!

We meet Linda and her husband Terry in this story , they live your average day to day life .
The book is is written in Linda’s narrative ,a distressing event happened in her child hood and this stays with her.
Linda lives a meek and mild lifestyle whilst working in a charity shop , the character comes across naive but is there another side to Linda?
Girls go missing and are found murdered in Linda’s neighbourhood and this adds the edge of mystery to the story. There are a few threads throughout the book and they are brought together expertly to bring the tidy ending !
I can’t say more about the book without giving spoilers , but I highly recommend you read it!
The calibre of the writing is excellent , it flows easily and I didn’t want the story to end.
A must read!
Thanks to NetGalley HarperCollins UK.

4.5 stars rounded up

Linda has lived in a quiet neighbourhood since fleeing the dark events of her childhood in wales. Now she sits in her kitchen, wondering if this is all there is: pushing the vacuum around and cooking fish sticks for dinner, a far cry from the glamourous lifestyle magazines coming through the mail slot addressed to the previous occupant, Rebecca. Linda's husband Terry isn't perfect - he picks his teeth, tracks dirt through the house, and spends most of his time in front of the tv. But that seems fairly standard - until he keeps odd hours at work, at around the same time young women in the town start to go missing.

This is a cleverly crafted story. Linda's life is slowly falling apart. She's obsessed by the magazines that are still being delivered for the previous occupant, Rebecca. There's also the mystery of the disappearing women. We get chapters where Linda is in an establishment that has an eerie feel to it. Linda in an unreliable narrator. The chapters are told in the then and now format which only makes the story more intriguing. A character driven story that has murders as a backdrop. I was shocked by the ending. This is my first read by the author but it won't be my last.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #HarperCollinsUK #HarperFiction and the author #JoannaCannon for my ARC of #ATidyEnding in exchange for an honest review.

I received an E-ARC with a request for my honest review.

This book follows Linda a woman who works in a charity shop, feels no one notices her and keeps herself to herself.

She has recently moved into a new house with her husband, and one day a brochure comes through for the previous occupant Rebecca Finch.

Meanwhile there have been a string of murders in the area and people are getting worried about who could be responsible. When a threatening letter comes through for Rebecca, Linda decides to start looking for her.

Will Linda find Rebecca? Is everything as it seems in Linda’s life?

This book keeps you wondering what is going to happen and gives clues about who the murderer could be as well as showing how Linda’s life changes.

I found Linda a hard character to work out, sometimes I would relate, others feel sorry for her, and others wonder what she was doing. I would actually say her character left me with an eerie feeling.

The story is mostly told by Linda narrating the past that leads up to the chapters dotted throughout which are set in the present.

Overall, an eerie crime thriller where not everything is as it seems.

This wasn’t my usual style of book and I did find it a little slow but it does have an intriguing storyline.
The characters are quite quirky and the story lends itself to this.
Whilst reading I wasn’t sure what to believe or actually what to think but it all came good at the end.

Linda is a forty-three year old housewife (I use the word advisedly), insignificant, retiring – and so ignored by everyone; classically OCD about tidiness – and so forever cleaning and tidying her house. She lives somewhere in the West Midlands, but she was born and spent her early childhood in Wales. She and her mother moved away following the traumatic death of her father, who had been under investigation for some unspecified crimes (details of these early events percolate through the book). Her husband, Terry, is a feckless white-van-man, who might have lost his job (details again are scattered throughout). The Estate where they have recently come to live, indeed the whole West Midlands region, is abuzz with speculation about the serial killer who has been targeting young women. Linda, however, is a solipsist (though far from being the narcissistic kind) and largely ignores the murders as not being part of her world. Then a catalogue addressed to the previous occupant, Rebecca Finch, is delivered to her house, and Linda becomes obsessed with the life style depicted therein and with Rebecca, who she conceives to be a soulmate. She must find her!
The story weaves a complicated web as it twists and turns, dropping clues (or are they clues?) creating pictures (but are they real?), revealing truths (or are they lies?). It is told, mostly in flashback, by Linda, who appears to be in some sort of sheltered accommodation, sans Terry, sans her mother, for reasons which are not disclosed. It is also unclear how much time has elapsed between the events in the story and the, largely lack of, events in the home/hospital/whatever. The ending is inevitable, but you won’t realise that until you reach the ending because you’ll have more than one solution in your head – but probably not the right one!
Linda’s voice as she narrates the story seems ‘old’, full of detailed observations of everyone and everything she encounters, deeply philosophical in the way one might imagine an inciteful but reclusive bystander might create an illusion of the world – but coloured by the events that happened in Wales. I found myself hearing her sound like Alan Bennett, the actor and playwright, partly because her style is very like that which he uses in his “Talking Heads” vignettes. At first I was uncertain that this voice was one I wanted in my head but I slowly realised that it was absolutely integral to the story. The story IS Linda.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

I am a big fan of Joanna Cannon, so I can certainly say I was excited to delve into this story.
In this book we are introduced to a cast of quirky, intriguing characters, all of whom have their own stories to share.
Told from Linda's point of view - our narrator - we learn about her marriage to Terry, Their marriage is far from perfect, and of late they have found themselves in a rather mundane relationship. They are opposites in many ways, with Linda liking things to be done in a certain way, and Terry having a rather laid back personality, this causes some obvious clashes between the couple.
When bodies are found, everyone is sent into a state of panic and most are scared to leave the house at all. This story is told in such a unique, gripping way, combining a strong sense of character development alongside a mystery that needs to be solved.
A fantastic read that I would certainly recommend to others.

Linda is a bit of a misfit, always has been and probably always will be. A "big-boned" girl, rather clumsy, whose mum has never really encouraged her in anything but an ordinary life. Her mum is happy to live vicariously via any means possible whether it's her neighbours, the soap operas she watches on TV or the local newspaper but now Linda is getting older she's not content with the life her mum's settled for and wonders if there's not more out there that life can offer her. It all starts when a glossy catalogue comes through her letterbox addressed to the previous homeowner, Rebecca. The whole concept of a "new improved Linda" is born and in a quest to make it a reality she endeavours to find Rebecca and re-model herself based on Rebecca's classy tastes.

At the same time all this is going on, Linda's husband Terry starts to change too; his work pattern becomes erratic, decades-old habits change only very slightly but enough for Linda to take note. Then the news comes that women have been found murdered in the locality - a field day for Linda's mum's amateur sleuthing to kick in. Luckily for Linda this means that both her mum and Terry are too preoccupied to notice the changes she herself is making, and then - what are the chances?? - Linda manages to track down Rebecca and gradually make friends with her and her boyfriend Jolyon. Linda is made up (literally at one point) but this is the point I began to feel quite sorry for her. In Linda's world she has made a new friend and her plan is coming together but from the outside I was concerned that Linda had led such a sheltered life that she couldn't see what was happening to her.

Joanna Cannon creates characters so incredibly well. Everyone knows a 'Linda' in their community so it's easy to relate to her and her family. Plus, we all must have wondered what life would be like if it was just that little bit more glamorous than our everyday. A bit more money, some smarter clothes, a posher house, all of that. It's also easy to forget that underneath someone's appearance and the assumptions we make about people, there is a different person. One they don't show to the world and that we would never imagine could possibly reside inside the shell that we are presented with. Their backstories often cloud our judgment of who they are too. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, trying to work out the real people inside Terry and Linda, Rebecca and Jolyon. Even so, Joanna still managed to sneak in a great finale to the story just when I thought I had the measure of everyone.

Once again, a beautifully crafted tale from Joanna Cannon. Elsie (from Three Things About Elsie) will remain my favourite of her characters but Linda certainly comes in a very close second.

. Linda was such an interesting, seemingly compulsive character whose life had been torn apart by an incident from her past. She seemed to be easily manipulated but there was more to her than people realised
This is the third book I’ve read by this author and I’ve loved every one of them

Joanna Cannon has created yet another memorable character - Linda Hammett. Linda is an awkward 40 something married to Terry and with a past that she would rather people forgot. Consumed with a desire to be liked, Linda tries to ingratiate herself with all she can meet, following the often given advice of her mother. But try as she might, Linda just can't make friendships stick that is until she tracks down Rebecca the previous occupant of her house, whose mail she continues to receive.

Unsettling murders close to home and the increased police presence in the local streets brings old memories to the surface. Nothing is quite as it appears in the world narrated by Linda, where is the line between reality and fantasy?

This book will definitely keep you guessing and is difficult to put down.

It's all about Linda, we know that she is married to Terry, we know that her mother is controlling and we know that her father was involved in a scandal when she was a child. We also know that young women are being murdered in the local area. But we only know this because it is what Linda tells us.

I'm pretty sure that this book is better than I give it credit for, but it didn't work for me. I couldn't get a handle on Linda, and I know that her being an unreliable narrator is the hook but I struggled with the wildly diverse elements of her character. It just didn't make sense to me, and it's a shame as I did enjoy the beginning, it was only as we learnt more that it felt less credible.

Unfortunately I was unable to finish reading this book which was a first for me. I really struggled with the writing and slow pace of the book with nothing much happening in it. However, I have seen some amazing reviews on this so maybe I may pick it up and try again at a later date.
My star rating will be up to what I read to and then stopped.

The interesting characters made me stick with reading this book, it was a bit on the odd side.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

A Tidy Ending by Joanna Cannon is the type of book that as soon as you’ve finished it you want to re read it to spot all the clues so cleverly placed throughout. I found myself often thinking about this book when I wasn’t reading it trying to figure out what was happening and now I know, well wow what an ending.

A Tidy Ending focuses on Linda who is married to Terry. She works part time in a charity shop whilst Terry works odd hours in his own job. Unsatisfied with her life and marriage, Linda’s interests become piqued by the glossy catalogues that arrive for the previous occupant of her house. Linda decides to track the woman down and befriend her. All the while the community in which Linda lives, having escaped her childhood trauma in Wales, becomes rocked by the disappearance and murder of three young girls.

Linda is a perfect example of an unreliable narrator. It is fascinating to read her viewpoints and take on things. She is seemingly very socially unaware, unable to pick up upon social cues, what others think about her and the undercurrents in the ways they talk to her. The story is told chapters that alternate between ‘then’ and ‘now’ which further adds the the intrigue and mystery of what’s happening. As you’re reading it’s hard to know how much trust you can put in what Linda says which makes it all the more fun to try to figure out what’s happening.

In the story Linda has a very particular way in which she approaches a crossword, wherein which she had to look at all the clues first to see how everything comes together before she’ll ever commit pen to paper. You know as soon as you read this passage that it’s exactly the way the story will unfold, that it’s only when you reach the end that everything will become clear. That you’ll want to look back and have all those ah-ha moments now you know where the story is headed.

This is not a fast paced thriller, but rather a slow build character driven story set with the murders as the backdrop. Cannon’s writing is beautiful and and so tightly plotted; she weaves together this mystery so brilliantly that you’re desperate to know what’s really going on throughout. The ending was rather abrupt, but goodness me did it pack a punch.

Wow, what a book! I really enjoyed it. It was very well written and I loved the main character, Linda. Such a clever book, filled with observations, you feel you really get to know her. I thought the story flowed well and although it was a bit of an abrupt ending, I don’t think anything more needed to be written. I definitely recommend this book, thank you #netgalley