A Tidy Ending by Joanna Cannon
Published by HarperCollins, The Borough Press
Publication Date: 28th April 2022
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers, Womens Fiction
Firstly, my sincere thanks to the publisher for allowing me a review copy of this title via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Book Description:
A NICE, NORMAL HOUSE
Linda has lived around here ever since she fled the dark events of her childhood in Wales. Now she sits in her kitchen, wondering if this is all there is – pushing the Hoover round and cooking fish fingers for tea is a far cry from the glamorous lifestyle she sees in the glossy catalogues coming through the door for the house’s previous occupant.
A NICE, NORMAL 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 standard – until he starts keeping odd hours at work, at around the same time young women start to go missing in the neighbourhood.
A NICE, NORMAL LIFE…
If Linda could just track down Rebecca, who lived in the house before them, maybe some of that perfection would rub off on her. But the grass isn’t always greener: you can’t change who you really are, and there’s something nasty lurking behind the net curtains on Cavendish Avenue…
My Thoughts:
Linda is a bit of a misfit, always has been and probably always will be. A "big-boned" girl, rather clumsy, whose mum has never really encouraged her in anything but an ordinary life. Her mum is happy to live vicariously via any means possible whether it's her neighbours, the soap operas she watches on TV or the local newspaper but now Linda is getting older she's not content with the life her mum's settled for and wonders if there's not more out there that life can offer her. It all starts when a glossy catalogue comes through her letterbox addressed to the previous homeowner, Rebecca. The whole concept of a "new improved Linda" is born and in a quest to make it a reality she endeavours to find Rebecca and re-model herself based on Rebecca's classy tastes.
At the same time all this is going on, Linda's husband Terry starts to change too; his work pattern becomes erratic, decades-old habits change only very slightly but enough for Linda to take note. Then the news comes that women have been found murdered in the locality - a field day for Linda's mum's amateur sleuthing to kick in. Luckily for Linda this means that both her mum and Terry are too preoccupied to notice the changes she herself is making, and then - what are the chances?? - Linda manages to track down Rebecca and gradually make friends with her and her boyfriend Jolyon. Linda is made up (literally at one point) but this is the point I began to feel quite sorry for her. In Linda's world she has made a new friend and her plan is coming together but from the outside I was concerned that Linda had led such a sheltered life that she couldn't see what was happening to her.
Joanna Cannon creates characters so incredibly well. Everyone knows a 'Linda' in their community so it's easy to relate to her and her family. Plus, we all must have wondered what life would be like if it was just that little bit more glamorous than our everyday. A bit more money, some smarter clothes, a posher house, all of that. It's also easy to forget that underneath someone's appearance and the assumptions we make about people, there is a different person. One they don't show to the world and that we would never imagine could possibly reside inside the shell that we are presented with. Their backstories often cloud our judgment of who they are too. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, trying to work out the real people inside Terry and Linda, Rebecca and Jolyon. Even so, Joanna still managed to sneak in a great finale to the story just when I thought I had the measure of everyone.
Once again, a beautifully crafted tale from Joanna Cannon. Elsie (from Three Things About Elsie) will remain my favourite of her characters but Linda certainly comes in a very close second.
About the Author:
Joanna Cannon graduated from Leicester Medical School and worked as a hospital doctor, before specialising in psychiatry. Her first novel The Trouble With Goats and Sheep was a top ten bestseller in both hardback and paperback and was a Richard and Judy pick. She lives in the Peak District with her family and her dog.
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