This was a quick, fun read! There were quite a bit of slow parts and there were times where I was bored, but the twist at the end solidified me enjoying the book overall.

A Tidy Ending is one of those books that you can't stop reading because you are too invested in the story to let go! I loved this unique and mysterious book with unconventional characters and a plot I never knew I needed! This is going to be a hit this summer!

I felt like the cover was a little misleading! This is a lot darker book than that sunny cover implies. The main character is trying to live a normal life but her past is seeping into her present. I liked the book a lot. It was quirky and a little dark but it really was charming.

A story filled with wonderfully unconventional characters who seem to fit a bit outside of the box, but live a quiet and relatively conventional life in a relatively small and quiet suburban community - until news breaks about what they will soon come to believe is a serial killer.

Before you decide that this one is not for you, this is not a thriller, or not what I’d consider a thriller. There’s no gratuitous violence described in gory detail, just an ongoing story that mainly surrounds a couple dealing with the daily news as time goes by. A husband, Terry, who works, a wife, Linda, who minds the house and has a part-time job working in a charity shop. They moved into their house somewhat recently, not all that far from their former house, and continue to receive mail for the former resident whose taste was apparently richer than theirs.

Linda and her mother, Eunice, left Wales to avoid just this sort of thing. When the body count rises to three, Linda begins to pay more attention to the changes in her husband’s schedule, and the new variations in his work. Linda pays attention to even the seemingly insignificant details. She would bring it to the attention of the police, but knows they’d never listen anyway.

There’s a quirky element of this that reminded me a little of Nita Prose’s ’Molly’ in ’The Maid’, although story-wise this is very different in very many ways. But Linda’s unconventional ways, her views on life and friendship, and the childhood trauma that haunts her has left her a little awkward with people, which also means they tend to either dismiss her or take advantage of her.

This deliciously dark-ish, quirky story brilliantly comes together in a way that I never saw coming.



Pub Date: 02 Aug 2022

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Scribner

This is the first book I've read of Joanna Cannon and I had no idea what to expect.

I was met with an addictive, entertaining, humorous, well written, and fun read. I stayed up until the early hours reading and enjoying the surprising twist.

I couldn't connect with the main character Linda, unfortunately, and found the twist at the end to be completely predictable.

This is my first time reading a Joanna Canon book and saying I’m impressed is an understatement! I don’t usually read mystery books, I went in not knowing what to expect and all I can say is… why haven’t I read more books like this?! A Tidy Ending had me at the edge of my seat at times, binging it in the middle of the night and questioning my sanity during all the twists. And then that ending happened?! Still not over this book and not sure I’ll ever be.

Is there anything more enticing than a narrator who lives a humdrum existence...until her world seems to turn upside down? In A TIDY ENDING Joanna Cannon crafts a suspenseful and fiercely creative portrait of such a narrator--and sets in motion an intriguing and unsettling sequence of events which will have the reader breathlessly turning pages. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to Scribners and to Netgalley for the ARC.

I love an unreliable narrator and Linda is an excellent one—-I kept going back and forth about who did it and who I should trust. It was engaging and felt unique.

Linda is a socially-awkward woman living a hum-drum existence. She leads a small life as a part-time worker in a charity shop, with her overbearing mother and boring husband as the people in her life. When up-scale catalogs arrive in the mail for the prior occupant of her house, she becomes obsessed with the idea that if she befriends this woman, she will be able to live a more glamorous existence also. While she's focused on this pursuit, young women are being killed and her husband is suddenly working erratic hours and may be involved. Linda is an unreliable narrator and it was uncomfortable but interesting to be in her head. Without spoiling anything, far from being "tidy", the ending kind of confused me.

Unfortunately I didn’t finish this book. I couldn’t get into it. I was a bit bored by Terry and Linda’s characters.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this story and how well the author developed especially the main protagonist. The author definitely was artful in distracting the reader from guessing the killer. I don’t want to give too much away so read for yourself and enjoy!

I thought I was getting Finlay Donovan vibes and I got a Eleanor Oliphant instead— I’ll take them both!

Just finished and I’m a bit creeped out. I wasn’t expecting this kind of burb mom story.

I do admit though— I feel a little challenged writing a review because I loved it while I also not wanting to continue reading.

Linda gave me Eleanor Oliphant vibes. The unlikable personality of Linda felt awkward because she’s the main character and she wasn’t always fun to read. And as others have said: The book is slow moving. Very slow. If you’re in for a quick read, this one isn’t going to keep you in it nonstop. It’s a slow one! although, if you’re in for -take your time until things start moving- a pick it up here and there kind of story— This will be a hit.

Confession: in the slower parts I tried skipping ahead and then ended up going backwards. It’s slow enough you want to skip ahead, but skipping ahead just made me want to back and reread anyway so don’t skip ahead, just don’t plan to joyfully bounce into a Finlay Donovan kind of suburban vibe.

Over all- it’s a very good book. A little wordy. But whew— Creeped me out. I’ve got my eyes on my quirky neighbors now.

Linda is a very strange woman. Her life is strange & her perceptions are strange as well. And they are getting stranger. Her husband appears to be a sort of slug who just goes to work & exists with Linda. When Linda gets hold of a catalog mailed to the previous resident of her home, she becomes intrigued by the styles she sees being marketed to this previous resident.

This was an interesting & very different novel. It was a really good read. The ending is not at all what I expected & that makes for a book worth getting hold of. Strongly recommend.

What a twist. Honestly, half way through this story I became quite annoyed with the main character's naivety, but what a surprise ending. The title is well suited for this story, would definitely recommend. Thanks netgalley for the copy to review.

"If you fill your head with songs, it takes up all the space in there and stops anything else from getting in." WOW. At times I felt so sorry for and yet perturbed by Linda, our narrator. She seemed so obtuse, "seemed" being the key word. To say more would not be fair; one of my 5 star reads in 2022. Excellent characterizations, witty zingers, and lots of what the heck????

P. S. Thanks to #Edelweiss and #Netgalley for the ARC.

I started this book three times. Assuming this was going to be a ‘slow burn”, I kept at it. Unfortunately, I found it lacking in many areas. The main character, Linda, is a socially inept/awkward woman with obsessive/compulsive issues. She works in a thrift shop. She is married to Terry, a benign lug, who spends little time doing much besides making a mess, or watching TV. Linda’s mother, is intrusive and controlling. So far, not one likable character.

The story continues with a series of women being murdered in Linda’s neighborhood and the constant police presence, along with the parallel story of Linda becoming obsessed with finding the former occupant of her home, after “obsessing” about magazines being sent to her home, in the name of Rebecca Finch. Obsession is the major theme here and the book drags on as Linda finds Rebecca, fantasizes about their friendship, obsesses about “all things Rebecca” which is simply another delusion for “twisted Linda”. The writing throughout is “disjointed” and there was nothing plausible about the ending. I love mysteries/thrillers and stories filled with fascinating characters. This book ticked none of those boxes for me.

I read the authors Three Things About Elsie so I was prepared for the writing style and structure. It still was a bit tough to get through the beginning. But just like her other book, pieces start to come together and fit to give you the fuller story.

Lesson? No one is ever who they seem. Eesh.

Linda, a socially awkward woman unable to read body language, facial expressions, etc (she can't tell when someone is trying to get away from her or laughing at her), receives mail at her new home for the previous occupant, Rebecca. She becomes convinced that she and Rebecca will be best friends. Meanwhile, multiple murders occur in the area where she lives and her husband, Terry, has been acting strange. All of this brings to mind Linda's past, when her father was accused of something terrible that changed the course of her life. This is a hard one to rate. I liked all the subtleties of Linda's lack of social awareness. The characters were mostly unlikable. The ending was both surprising and not. I feel like if I read this a second time, I might get more out of it, but I don't think I liked it enough to read a second time. I enjoyed the author's previous book, Three Things About Elsie, better. 3.5 stars rounded to 3.

Interesting story but lost me through the middle I felt the story dipped around 40% in. Good but overall disappointing