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_______They`re the housemates from HellWhen her disastrous Australian love affair ends, Lou ODowd 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 LouAnd 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__________________________`Tense, claustrophobic and laugh-out-loud funny an amazingly talented writer Michael Wood`A genius combination of horror, humour and humanity B M CarrollPraise 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