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 is always 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

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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 House is both a breathtaking thriller and an unapologetic reminder never to corner a desperate woman...

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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

Helen FitzGerald is the author of ten adult and young adult thrillers, including The Donor (2011) and The Cry (2013), which was longlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and adapted for a major BBC drama. Her 2019 dark-comedy thriller Worst Case Scenario was a Book of the Year in the Literary Review, Herald Scotland, Guardian and Daily Telegraph, shortlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and won the CrimeFest Last Laugh Award. Helen worked as a criminal justice social worker for over fifteen years. She grew up in Victoria, Australia, and now lives in Glasgow with her husband. Follow Helen on Twitter @FitzHelen.