A Tidy Ending: The latest dark comedy from the Sunday Times bestselling author

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Linda is a wonderful character, whose seemingly insignificant life and treatment by those around her, makes us want to protect and look after her, and want only what she wants for herself.

The story gets even more interesting when a body of a young woman is found nearby and it doesn’t end there. Meanwhile, Terry has been keeping odd hours at work, and his tiresome qualities become more and more grating to Linda.Her mother is another real piece of work, a controlling woman who moved Linda to Wales after some family event in their past, something to do with her father, which is revealed only slowly. Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the review copy from which I’ve quoted, so quotes may have changed.

While there is an underlying thread connecting everything, it doesn’t become apparent until the final 10% or so. Linda seems to know what she wants and won’t rest until she gets it, and right from the start, where we realise Linda is in some kind of psychiatric ward, do we understand that this is a layered and intriguing story.

Her fondness for her father despite the dark secret and her complicated relationship with her toxic mother make her more vulnerable in our eyes. The book and I got off on the wrong foot almost immediately, when two identical phrases are used within pages of each other— “perched on the arm of a settee. Meanwhile, Terry is going to work and coming home, and expecting his dinner on the table, and for Linda to be there for him.