A Tidy Ending

A Novel

By: Joanna Cannon

Narrated by: Lissa Berry

“A darkly funny tale with a gloriously sinister twist.” —The Observer (London)

The bestselling author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep delivers a “compellingly creepy” (The Guardian, UK) novel filled with unexpected twists about mysterious murders in a quiet neighborhood.

Linda has lived in a quiet neighborhood since fleeing the dark events of her childhood in Wales. Now she sits in her kitchen, wondering if this is all there is: pushing the vacuum around and cooking fish sticks for dinner, a far cry from the glamorous lifestyle she sees in the glossy magazines coming through the mail slot addressed to the previous occupant, Rebecca Finch.

Linda’s husband Terry isn’t perfect—he picks his teeth, tracks dirt through the house, and spends most of his time in front of the TV. But that seems fairly normal—until he starts keeping odd hours at work, at around the same time young women start to go missing.

If only Linda could track down and befriend Rebecca, maybe some of that enviable lifestyle would rub off on her and she wouldn’t have to worry about what Terry is up to. But in this “sublimely structured and darkly witty” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) tale, the grass isn’t always greener and you can’t change who you really are. And some secrets can’t stay buried forever…

©2022 Joanna Cannon. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Originally published in Great Britain in 2022 by HarperCollins

Ending not so tidy

I felt I wanted to go back to the beginning once I had finished the book, to see all the clues to the ending I may have missed.

Say now what??

This is such a quirky story by an author I love. The phrasing and words she uses are so clever and Linda is a complicated, introverted character with a surprise inside no one saw coming.

Amazing character development and a wonderfully unpredictable story.

Joanna Cannon develops complex, wonderfully human characters unlike anyone I've ever read. Her stories are richly woven and delightfully layered. You THINK you know what is going to happen.. but then she sneaks up on you and you won't be disappointed.

Great book for a long drive

The narrator makes you feel like your watching a play. The author describes everything in the most perfect details that make you wish you could be that clever. I loved the characters, the description and the way the story unfolded. This book made hours of driving slip by easily.

May we please have quirky characters with depth?

I am very weary of characters who are described as "quirky" (but clearly meant to represent autistic people) being portrayed as their quirks and very little else. I think the quirks (autistic traits) are what allistic people see, simply because they can be starkly different from allistic traits and thus stand out. Or perhaps allistic authors are merely doing superficial research into autism before creating their characters.

An autistic person is far more than these traits, in exactly the same way that allistic people are much more than their social ease or lack of preference for routine or enjoyment of hugging and other forms of physical contact. In other words, none of us is merely a stereotype and it is lazy writing that creates a character who is nothing more than that.

That said, the protagonist in this story is a very tiresome person and since we spend all of our time in her head and privy to her thoughts, which are predominately used to display her "quirks," the book becomes boring pretty quickly. I got two hours in and couldn't take any more. Cannot recommend this one.

Pass on this one

Hours and hours of Linda's naïve and silly perspective of the world will bore you to tears. And the unnecessary details about just...everything....make it a long slog toward something happening at the very last moment. And then, the thing that happens is not very interesting and not at all worth the wait. I had been excited about this book, but it turned out to be a total waste of time. And the narrator, good grief, she makes all the irritating characters sound as irritating as humanly possible. Definitely skip this one.