'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 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…

‘Tense, claustrophobic and laugh-out-loud funny … an amazingly talented writer’ Michael Wood   ‘A genius combination of horror, humour and humanity' B M Carroll.