An enjoyable story that kept me guessing. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review this book. Will recommend to others.

A very tidy ending indeed but not one I saw coming! Another great book by Joanna Cannon. Linda the narrator lives a mundane life with her husband Terry and works part time in the local charity shop. Nothing much happens in her life but then she starts receiving glossy brochures through the post for Rebecca the previous owner of her house. Could some of Rebecca’s glamour rub off on her? At the same time young women are being murdered in the neighbourhood. Why is Terry never at home when these events happen? I can’t say much more without giving the plot away other than to say this book had me gripped from start to finish!

Another complex tale from the brilliant Jo Cannon, a bored unsatisfied housewife seems ignored and forgotten but nothing is quite as it seems. You feel you are reading one fairly mundane life story then suddenly your need to re read to find the clues to what is really going on.
Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

Meet Linda, a quiet, socially awkward woman who could almost be “on the spectrum”. She works in a charity shop, is married to dull Terry, cooks nothing more exciting than fish fingers and lives an ordinary hum-drum sort of life until the body of a murdered girl is found nearby.

Following the receipt of an anonymous, sinister, letter Linda becomes determined to find Rachel, the previous occupier of the house now owned by Linda and Terry, ostensibly to warn her. She uses the internet to stalk Rachel, eventually making contact with Jolyon, Rachel's partner, and so a strange relationship begins.

There are wonderful characters in this book, not least Linda herself. Her mother Eunice, lover of gossip and drama, is surely someone known by most of us – brilliant characterisation. To give you more of the plot would be to reveal too much, and this is such an enjoyable read I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone.

I just love Joanne Cannon's writing. Having read The Trouble with Goats and Sheep I was confident I would enjoy this, and it didn't disappoint. Everything about this book is fabulous – and I don't often rave about books. Just read it!

My thanks to Netgalley for a free download.

Linda looks to the world like a very dull, neurotic and boring woman, with an equally dull husband, but what goes on in Linda’s head, and also creeps into her actions at times, will have you holding your breath and reaching for something to calm your nerves as you wonder if you dare to turn the page! I had a feeling of deep unease all the way through this book, and the ending came as a complete shock. Joanna Cannon is a really excellent writer, with perfect pacing, strangely enticing characters and a great story to tell.

Mixed feelings about this. I enjoyed ‘The trouble with sheep and goats’ and ‘Three things about Elsie’ a lot. This had all the stuff Joanna Cannon does well - wildly unreliable female narrator, suburbia, wry observational humour, tragi-comedy, life wisdom, biscuits - but the murder narrative was uncomfortable and implausible. Actually it was all pretty implausible. Linda, the central character, is a memorable creation and the novel’s great strength, although her social ineptitude is cringe-makingly hard to take at times. I think I’d have preferred the same main character and a different story though.

A controlling husband....a niaive wife...a community living in fear as young women go missing...

Linda wants to have a better life. She wants to make new friends but what is she willing to do to make that happen. And why all of a sudden is her husband Terry being strange and keeping odd hours??

What is in Linda's past that may come back to haunt her? And why is her mother so strange?

This is a twisty turney who dunnit. Enjoyable and kept me guessing to the end

A very clever and intriguing read. Linda, the narrator, tells us all the detail of her life...but what is really going on? She seems like a somewhat socially awkward suburban housewife, either overlooked or avoided, but there's a lot more going on with Linda than you'd expect! There's a dark secret in her past, from her childhood in Wales, there's a domineering mother and an unobservant husband, and her pristine house doesn't exactly reflect her internal life!

I didn't like Linda, but she is fascinating. She's a mixture of seeming naivete and base cunning, a sharp observer of people and a superbly unreliable narrator.

Summary
Linda is one of life’s innocents, a naïve soul who is easily overlooked and under-estimated. She and her over-bearing mother fled Wales after a childhood trauma, and she is now married to the rather boring and predictable Terry, living on a large housing estate, working in a charity shop and wondering if there is more to life than cleaning up after Terry and cooking fish fingers.
She yearns for the glamorous lifestyle of the catalogues which come though her door addressed to the previous occupant, Rebecca, and Linda thinks that if she tracks this woman down some of her apparent perfection may possibly rub off on her.
Meanwhile, the once predictable Terry has started keeping odd hours at work, and several young women start to go missing in the neighbourhood….

My thoughts
Just when you think Joanna Cannon cannot possibly beat the brilliance of her first two novels, along comes A Tidy Ending, and you realise that, with her third one, she has completely excelled herself and pulled off a truly excellent cosy crime type of murder mystery.

The story flits between three different timelines: the “Now” which is in some kind of institution or hospital; the immediate past of recent happenings on the estate; and then Linda’s childhood in Wales, with each transition between time and place managed perfectly.

The multiple timelines approach is echoed in the multiple plot strands of the novel, and Joanna Cannon manages to knit them all together to provide the Tidy Ending of the title, but, for the reader, there are some surprises along the way, the most breath-taking twist, and a truly memorable and stunning ending – none of which I can expand upon to avoid spoilers. All I will say is that the plotting is remarkable and seamless, and I never saw what was being done for one moment.

Joanna Cannon has deftly created a cast of wonderful characters: a bossy and overbearing mother; the dull, unexciting lover-of-routine husband; the gaggle of curtain twitchers and gossips on the estate; the woman with the apparently dream lifestyle. They are all so beautifully drawn and lifelike that there are many you simply cannot warm to or trust, but you always have sympathy for Linda, who is socially awkward, can’t always “read the room”, is a lifelong under-dog, and also our narrator.

Sharply and astutely observed, perceptive, and told throughout with a delicious turn of phrase and a healthy dollop of wry humour, this is writing that Alan Bennett or Victoria Wood be proud of. The minute I had finished I wanted to read it again, to look for the clues I had missed and to appreciate again the fantastic prose. This is a gem of a book and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Thank you to NetGalley and to HarperCollins for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Linda is bored and boring. Her life with husband Terry leaves a lot to be desired, and her over bearing mother, Eunice, is a nightmare! After a recent house move, Linda starts to enjoy the mail still being delivered for a previous resident, and dreams of a life she could have. When several young girls are murdered, the realisation that there might be a serial killer in the local community really catches Linda’s attention and that of her mother. A dark period in their past is hinted at and bit by bit more is revealed.

I loved this book, right from the start I was drawn in and found it totally absorbing. The characters are beautifully developed and the twisting plot certainly kept me engaged. The last chapter is brilliant!

Would most definitely recommend. An easy 5*’s.

Thank you NetGalley.

This is the first book by Joanna Cannon I’ve read. I would definitely read more by this author, this book was just mesmerising more or less right from the word go. Linda, the protagonist who tells the story in the first person is a fascinating character. As the reader, you hear a lot of Linda’s thoughts, there is dialogue with the other characters in the book but much of it is what Linda is thinking to herself, her observations of others, as well as thoughts about herself. She comes across as having low self esteem and leads quite a lonely life.

I found parts of the book quite humorous. Linda’s observations of life, of her mothers reactions to things, of her interactions with others were at times funny, if a dark humour. At other times you feel so sorry for Linda as she seems easily manipulated, with other characters taking advantage of her apparent desperation to make friends.

There is little more I can say. I most definitely wouldn’t want to give a single thing away or spoil the reading of this book for anyone. It’s an absolute treasure of a story. There are twists, there’s the unexpected and I thought the conclusion was just sooo damn clever. I just loved it, completely.

*Review to be posted to my blog close to publication date and posted to GoodReads now.*

Well drawn characters & an intriguing plot lulled into a false sense of security... only for it all to be completely unturned upsidedown.

- I absolutely loved it!

Like her previous novel 'Three Things About Elsie', Joanna Cannon's 'A Tidy Ending' is structured around the slow reveal of an unreliable narrator. Linda is a middle-aged woman living an unhappy life, socially isolated, awkward and possibly suffering OCD. As a series of murders unfold in Linda's town, she is drawn to investigate the disappearance of the glamorous Rebecca, who previously lived in her house.

I read that Joanna Cannon is influenced by Alan Bennett, and this is evident in some glorious aphorisms and strikingly good domestic details. However, on the whole this novel is no so well-realised as the previous one. I guessed the ending quite early on, and didn't feel that the trail that led there hung together very convincingly. Contrary to the name of the nove, there were some untidy details which bothered me - for example, Linda's mother firstly lives a long train journey away, and later it's only four miles. Nevertheless it's an enjoyable read which rattles along and would also make a great film.

Wow wow wow wow wow, I’ve just finished this book and the ending, the literal last couple of sentences gave me goose bumps.

When I fist started this book I was drawn in by the characters and was curious to know what was happening and how it would all develop.

There was a slump for me in the middle where I started to loose interest and it was going a little too slow.

However the last 20% or so of the book complete saved it for me and it’s SO worth getting to that ending.

Recommend this one, 4/5 due to the slower bit in the middle.

Joanna Cannon has done it again. She writes so insightfully about people. The characters are flawed and believable and I fell right into the daily life of Linda in this novel. People don’t notice Linda, they dismiss her and put her down. She is married to Terry and it is not a fulfilling or exciting marriage. We follow Linda as she meets a dubious couple who are trying to lead her into a life of crime, under the guise of being their friend and helping them. You must read this book because it is so well written, seemingly so simple, yet filled with twists and turns. All I am going to say is I was not prepared for the ending.

This is such an interesting read and incredibly insightful. Linda, comes across as being 'simple', she cleans her house nearly all day, picks up on tiny details, is awkward at making conversation, seems to obsess over finding a 'best friend'... you're instantly drawn in as this story is told in first person so you spend your days inside Linda's head, inside her world... you hear her thoughts, you live her life...

When local women are found murdered, Linda doesn't seem that anxious, but it's clear there's something not quite right about her home, is it her husband Terry? Why doesn't he go to work anymore? Where does he go when he's not at home?

But Linda isn't interested in the murder, she's more interested in trying to make best friends with the woman who used to live in her house - Rebecca. She finds a way to see her daily in the place she goes for lunch and she becomes obsessed with her - changing her look, wearing clothes just like her...

I was absolutely intrigued and hooked in right away. This story was so incredibly told and amazingly insightful, there are some very interesting and life-changing moments within it where it makes you look at life and what you consider 'normal' and how what may look innocent to one person may look different to others... I really enjoyed it and can't wait until it's published so I can discuss it with others!

I really liked the author's observations about the tiny little details of normal day to day life, and to begin with I enjoyed the character of Linda. But after a while I found I tired of her. It was clear that she was going to be an unreliable narrator, and whilst I didn't guess what was going to happen, I just found myself feeling more and more upset on Linda's behalf that she was so subject to being used and manipulated. Of course, the ending is tidy, as the title suggests, and I did find myself gripped in the final chapters, but the middle section did drag a bit for me, so that brought my rating down.

But the writing is excellent, and it's an intriguing story, even if I didn't fully buy into the ending.

What a fascinating character Linda is. Her quirky observations and judgements made me smile, but mixed with the humour are many dark moments from her past, and of course there are disturbing events in the present.

All of the other characters are interesting too, her husband, mother, neighbours, colleagues. Several of them are just odd enough to be potential suspects, so this is a book to keep you guessing right to the end and it is only in the very last pages that everything is revealed. It wasn't until I finished that I realised how brilliant the title is.

After finishing the book, I was really intrigued by the chapters headed NOW, and I felt that I needed to re-read some sections in order to understand the ending. The twist in the very last pages seemed brilliant at first sight, but having thought long and hard about it, things just don't add up. I think I must be missing something!

I've only read Joanne Cannon's non-fiction before, but now I feel it's time to delve into her other works of fiction.

Another brilliant one from Joanna Cannon. A wait for it zinger of a book! Family strife, a community in fear, a couple of baduns, and in the middle of it all, the wonderful Linda, navigating her way through life. Loved it!

This was an easy fun read, typical of Cannon, with strong characterisation, an unreliable narrator and things not being all that they seem. The way the plot developed surrounding mental health made feel uncomfortable, especially with the conclusion. But I did not predict the twist and found this entertaining.
With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this digital ARC in exchange for this honest review.