Engaging and entertaining. A recommended purchase for collections where offbeat crime and thrillers are popular.

... huh! I found this book engaging for the first 90% but I didn't enjoy the ending as I don't think it fit in with Linda's character throughout the rest of the book.

I enjoyed the writing style of this and the overall odd tone. The pacing was a little slow, which I think was intentional because it felt like a very quiet but messed up story. I think I just wanted a little more from the story--from the main character and from the overall story.

Thank you Scribner ​and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book.
In an unremarkable neighborhood, Linda and her husband Terry lead an ordinary life as an average couple. However, their peaceful existence takes a chilling turn when a series of female murders occur nearby.

Told entirely from Linda's perspective, the narrative unfolds through her eyes. Linda is an introverted and unassuming individual, often overlooked and lacking close friends. Her days are spent working at a charity shop, finding solace in cleaning, and enjoying Jaffa cakes. Initially, I questioned her reliability as a narrator, but as the story progressed, she proved to be entirely convincing. Alongside the main plot, dark secrets from her past, involving her father during her childhood, slowly come to light.

From start to finish, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, with the last few chapters being especially gratifying. Linda's idiosyncratic voice and keen observations added a unique touch to the story. The writing itself is skillful, blending dark humor seamlessly and crafting believable characters. Overall, this book is an excellent read, skillfully executed, and a truly engaging experience.

A fascinating and unique take on domestic malaise, full of secrets and surprises. Loved this literary tale!

Tidy ending was a great title for this! Very twisty and at times unbelievable but overall a good yarn. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher!

3.5 stars

Sad, funny, & full of wonderful characters, this is a character-driven drama with a serial killer plot as a backdrop.

[What I liked:]

•Linda is such an interesting character. She’s a wonderful narrator in the sense that we get her perspective on events, but also much more subtext from the other characters. She’s not an unreliable narrator in the sense that she deliberately misleads the audience, but more in the sense that she’s a bit delusional & sometimes the reader can tell.

•The story construction is masterful! I don’t want to spoil anything, but Linda is full of surprises so don’t underestimate her ;)

•So many great characters! Besides Linda, I particularly like her overbearing mother, her nosy neighbor Malcolm, & her coworker Tamsin.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•Linda is sometimes hard to like. I never stopped rooting for her, but she is very cringeworthy. I mean that’s the point, & overall it works well as a plot device, but sometimes it got a bit much.

•The switching back & forth in time between the hospital & the rest of the story was confusing at first. It might have been easier for me to distinguish if I had been reading the book instead of listening to an audiobook version, though.

CW: infidelity, CSA, suicide, murder, mental illness

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

3★
“ ‘What’s this, Linda?’ She picked it up because quite by accident I’d left it right in the middle of the chair where she always sits.”

Linda works in a charity shop, and she has just left a catalogue of pricey furniture where her co-worker Tamsin can’t miss it. She tells Tamsin they’re redecorating their house (a lie), and also that she’s looking for something nice to wear to meet her best friend (a lie). You get the idea.

The catalogue was addressed to Rebecca Finch at the house she and husband Terry recently bought in a housing estate and moved into. There is nothing stylish about them or their home.

Linda’s job is to sort through all the donated handbags and clean out the sticky debris of daily living that accumulates in the little pockets and corners. This takes place in the stockroom.

“I usually hated being stuck in the stockroom all day by myself, but it kept me away from conversation and theories and hearsay, because you can only take so much before your ears feel too full. Plus, it meant I could open a new packet of Jaffa Cakes and put my music on very quietly without Tamsin giving me one of her looks.”

Today the conversations playing over and over with customers are about the recent murder victim found nearby. Her handbag is missing, so the police have been to the charity shop to ask them to keep a special eye out for it and be extra careful themselves. Linda says she wonders what they used to talk about.

She and Terry have watched the news, seen the press conference about the killing. They are an odd pair, as he is a slob who seems to live to drink beer and litter while Linda lives to daydream and clean. She scrubs everything and begrudges every spot or stain. She has plans.

She noticed something at the press conference, when they put up a picture of the victim, but Terry had already said the police hadn’t got a clue and switched the channel.

“Obviously, I would never go to the police about what I saw at the press conference. I’m no fool.

In the past, each time I’ve been—and I haven’t been that often, I don’t care what they say—they’ve just fobbed me off with one of those volunteer officers and a paper cup filled with lukewarm tea.

‘The thing is, Linda,’ that’s how they always start. As though I have to have the thing pointed out to me by someone else, because I’m too stupid to recognize it on my own. It was the same when I reported the suspicious man in Boots, and when I asked them to check on a strange car parked up on the high street.”

She goes on about the number of reports she’s made, and we get a good picture of her as the neighbourhood busybody. 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.

“Mother isn’t someone I would generally confide in, because I know, even years later, my confession will come back to visit me. She stores everything, does my mother, in the neat little drawers of her mind. She can cross-reference it all, if the need arises. Every comment. Every opinion. Ticked off and recorded, and safely delivered into a future argument.”

As she opens more of Rebecca Finch’s mail, she seems to become fixated on her to the point of stalking. The story gets more complicated and far-fetched. By the end, I didn’t care what happened to anyone, I just wanted to know what the point was.

The ending was a clever switch if you suspend – and I mean really suspend – disbelief. It was too much of a stretch for my suspenders, I’m afraid, and I didn’t buy it, not with these characters. With some modification to the characters, it could be a great idea.

Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the review copy from which I’ve quoted, so quotes may have changed.

This is my first book from Joanna and I'll be grabbing all of her other books because I loved her writing style. It started a bit slow but it picked up the pace a few pages in. It's really well written and with lots of plot twists. I love an unreliable narrator.

The journey through this story was twisty. It was like walking through a maze and finding yourself somewhere totally unexpected. Well done.
Many thanks to Scribner and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This wasn’t very “tidy” for me. I loved the premise, but the delivery didn’t for for me. Thanks to the author and publisher for my copy in exchange for a review.

A Tidy Ending is Joanna Cannon's third novel, released in 2022.

Our main character and focus of the novel is Linda, a somewhat odd and lonely woman who has just moved to a new home with her husband Terry. Linda works part-time in a charity shop, she doesn't have any friends, and some of her interactions with people are deliberately cringeworthy - she's an uncomfortable character to spend time with.

When Linda finds some post addressed to the former resident of their new home, Rebecca Finch, she is enthralled - the brochures and catalogues hint at the type of woman Rebecca is. If Linda could just track her down, she's sure they could be friends.

Meanwhile, all is not well in suburbia when a spate of murders and attacks leave residents in fear. As the police ramp up their investigation, Linda is unnerved that her husband has been behaving differently of late. But the Terry situation will have to sort itself out - Linda has her own investigation to conduct.

A twisted timeline proves to be somewhat distracting at times, but overall I enjoyed this story. I did think that we were done with the whole "slightly odd loner women" books after an abundance of them at one point (Eileen, Eleanor Oliphant, Elvira Carr) but Linda is a unique character, even if her nagging mother is not.

I don't feel like I can tell you much more without spoiling, but sufficed to say this really didn't go any of the ways I thought it would, which was refreshing.

Thank you to Scribner for granting me approval to read the ARC.

I appear to be an outlier on this one. I didn’t love it. Wasn’t invested. However I listened on audiobook so maybe that’s why? Only when reading other peoples reviews did I know it was a dual timeline book. Either I wasn’t paying attention close enough, or the narrator/author didn’t do a good job of making the timelines apparent? Sorry I didn’t love it. I put it off for a while though As I had an ARC from netgalley and just never got around to it.

This book definitely took me by surprise! The cutesy cover really did not prepare me for the unique tone of the story. I loved how the characters were somewhat unpredictable and that there was a strong sense of humor throughout the book. The now and then chapters really keep the story moving, and I couldn't put it down. I would definitely recommend this title to lovers of cozy, atmospheric suspense novels and mysteries.

I loved this book. Like loved it. It was such a fascinating mix of lit fiction and secret horror. Thank you to Scribner for the gifted ARC my honest review.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Linda is a socially awkward housewife just trying to make it through the day without too many germs in her house. She works for a charity shop, is annoyed by her husband, and has a tragic backstory. When a series of murders occurs in her town, she starts to change her routine and habits. (I don't want to say too much more about the plot because there is a serious surprise!)

Linda will remind you of other unreliable narrators and other characters in literature who are just not quite the same as others (think Eleanor Oliphant). Her interesting take on life and on what other people are thinking and doing will make you laugh and make you root for the woman who everyone thinks is a little weird.

I highly recommend this book, especially the audio version read by Lissa Berry. Fans of cozy mysteries and character-driven women's fiction will love this absolutely original story.

I could not wait to recommend this nasty little gem to readers and staff alike. This one has a mean twist that I could not see coming! I have been recommending it to people who liked Mrs. March. Thank you!

I did not read this story and have no plans to read due to demanding TBR stack.

The low ranking is not a reflection of the work itself, but rather speaks to the fact that I selected other books over this title.

Just recently, I saw this book on a list of psychological thrillers you’ll never guess the ending of, and I’d have to agree with about 60% of that statement. I was surprised by about 60% of the ending of this book, and I think that’s pretty impressive, considering I’m hard to surprise.

Overall, this book wasn’t the easiest book in the world for me to read, because I found it to be too long. For me, it just took too long to get into gear and the whole first act was so slow I wondered if I was going to like it at all. I kept with it, though, because I had a feeling it might just pay off in the end. In some respects, it did, if only because I like my predictions to be proven correct (yay for validation) and because I do so love when a book manages to sneak something in totally under the radar that I had overlooked entirely that gets a chance to sucker punch me at the last turn.

I don’t want to spoil this book, and so much of what I could say about this book would spoil it entirely for you. I can tell you that Joanna Cannon has a way with words and turns of phrase that can be dizzyingly fascinating. She can turn out a double entendre with such grace you pass it by without realizing it was even a double entendre until after you’ve passed it and moved on. Phrases laden with double meaning will feel light as air until they are repeated and the dime drops and you realize just how much that same phrase meant in the previous context. It’s like a spell or a ritual at times. This book is filled with rituals, because rituals are the route to an organized life for a disorganized mind.

If you want to take a walk on the weird, trippy, and tidy side of psychological fiction, I’d recommend this book. You’ll likely spend up until the last few pages guessing.

Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for granting me access to this title.