Halfway House

On her first shift at an Edinburgh halfway house for violent offenders, a young woman is taken hostage ? and that's just the beginning? The twisty, shocking, darkly funny thriller by award-winning author Helen FitzGerald. 'A new novel from Helen Fitzgerald isalways a major event ? magnificent'Mark Billingham 'Outrageous, hilarious and dark as hell - this is Helen FitzGerald on absolute top form' Doug Johnstone '[Lou] is irresistible and very funny ? The set-up is fascinating, the narrative is both fast-moving and convincing' Literary Review _______ They're the housemates from Hell? When her disastrous Australian love affair ends, Lou O'Dowd heads to Edinburgh for a fresh start, moving in with her cousin, and preparing for the only job she can find ? working at a halfway house for very high-risk offenders. Two killers, a celebrity paedophile and a paranoid coke dealer - all out on parole and all sharing their outwardly elegant Edinburgh townhouse with rookie night-worker Lou? And instead of finding some meaning and purpose to her life, she finds herself trapped in a terrifying game of cat and mouse where she stands to lose everything - including her life. Slick, darkly funny and nerve-janglingly tense,Halfway Houseis both a breathtaking thriller and an unapologetic reminder never to corner a desperate woman? __________________________ 'Tense, claustrophobic and laugh-out-loud funny ? an amazingly talented writer' Michael Wood 'A genius combination of horror, humour and humanity' B M Carroll Praise for Helen FitzGerald **Shortlisted for Theakston Crime Novel of the Year** 'Sharp, shocking and savagely funny' Chris Whitaker 'Dark, dark, deliciously dark'Amanda Jennings 'Wickedly funny, breath-stealingly tense and utterly chilling'Miranda Dickinson 'The main character is one of the most extraordinary you'll meet between the pages of a book'Ian Rankin 'Sublime'Guardian 'A dark, comic masterpiece'Mark Edwards 'Urgent, angry, absolutely terrifying' Erin Kelly 'Tantalisingly powerful'The Times 'The classic thriller gets a hell of a twist'Heat 'FitzGerald writes like a more focused Irvine Welsh or a less misogynist Philip Roth'Daily Telegraph 'Domestic life is rarely served up quite so dark as this' Sun