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…

#HalfwayHouse @fitzhelen @OrendaBooks #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour #MeetLou #Edinburgh

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…

My Review

This book was not at all what I was expecting. And Lou O’Dowd is not the heroine I was expecting either. To someone of my generation (I could almost be her grandmother), her behaviour, her language, her life choices, were shocking to my gentler sensibilities (I jest). I am used to reading gory crime thrillers, but the sex scenes (I’ll replace this word Amazon) are still a mystery to me.

We first meet 23-year-old Lou living in a posh apartment, paid for by her sugar daddy. She gets a generous allowance as well, and all she has to do is see him twice a week for a few hours and have sex (that word again), while he shouts ‘Don’t move, don’t move,’ at her. What’s that all about?

After breaking up from him, she looks for a job, but isn’t having much luck. ‘Kept woman’ isn’t that good as work experience on her CV, neither is ‘pretending to be dead for a closet necrophiliac’. But then this job comes up across the world in Edinburgh, where her cousin Becks lives, and she can start straight away and live with her cousin (and all the out-of-work actors and performers who come and go). I think Becks is madder than she is, but at least her heart is in the right place.

The job involves being the night carer at a halfway house for offenders out on licence, but we are not talking about possession of a class A, mugging or burglary, these men are the real deal – two murderers, an ex-rockstar paedophile, a flasher/frotter (Google it)/ sex offender, and a paranoid drug dealer. After the first night learning on the job, she will be alone with them. What?! I don’t see much risk assessment going on here. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.

So off she goes to Scotland, even partying on the plane (not sleeping like sensible people) and arrives in Edinburgh totally exhausted. She has promised to go and see Becks’ new play Plath: The Musical and even though she sleeps through it (I said she would be exhausted), she meets the handsome Tim.

She starts her job and it’s exactly what one would imagine – risky, boring and downright dangerous. First rule of the house – never talk about the inmates to ANYONE. Second rule of the house – never fall asleep on the job. Or feed them after midnight (if we are into film references). Even with drugged hot chocolate.

Halfway House is darkly funny (very dark), shocking, hilarious at times, sad at others. I’m not sure I felt sorry for Lou at any point, her disasters are almost all of her own making, but I did warm to Becks, in spite of her chaotic lifestyle. Did I warm to Tim? You’ll have to make up your own mind.

The ending descends into total madness, but it was the most entertaining part of the book.

Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours

About the Author

Helen FitzGerald is the bestselling author of thirteen 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, Sunday Times, The Week and Daily Telegraph, shortlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and won the CrimeFest Last Laugh Award. The critically acclaimed Ash Mountain (2020) and Keep Her Sweet (2022) soon followed. 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.

About Orenda Books

Orenda Books is a small independent publishing company specialising in literary fiction with a heavy emphasis on crime/thrillers, and approximately half the list in translation. They’ve been twice shortlisted for the Nick Robinson Best Newcomer Award at the IPG awards, and publisher and owner Karen Sullivan was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2016. In 2018, they were awarded a prestigious Creative Europe grant for their translated books programme. Three authors, including Agnes Ravatn, Matt Wesolowski and Amanda Jennings have been WHSmith Fresh Talent picks, and Ravatn’s The Bird Tribunal was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, won an English PEN Translation Award, and adapted for BBC Radio Four ’s Book at Bedtime. Six titles have been short- or long-listed for the CWA Daggers. Launched in 2014 with a mission to bring more international literature to the UK market, Orenda Books publishes a host of debuts, many of which have gone on to sell millions worldwide, and looks for fresh, exciting new voices that push the genre in new directions. Bestselling authors include Ragnar Jonasson, Antti Tuomainen, Gunnar Staalesen, Michael J. Malone, Kjell Ola Dahl, Louise Beech, Johana Gustawsson, Lilja Sigurðardóttir and Sarah Stovell.