Halfway House

Meet the roommates from hell


On her first shift at a halfway house for violent offenders in Edinburgh - the only job she could get - rebounding Australian expat Lou is taken hostage. For nine long hours, the only people who can help her are the residents. But who can Lou trust? The mum-and-dad-killer, the elderly legless rockstar paedophile, the stammering suicide chat room guy, or the Armani-suited conman?

Slick, darkly funny and nerve-janglingly tense, Halfway House is a breathtaking thriller and an unapologetic reminder: never corner a desperate woman.

A genius combination of horror, humour and humanity - Ber Carroll

'Halfway House is a genius combination of horror, humour and humanity. Helen Fitzgerald is an immense talent whose portrayal of family dynamics is powerful and frighteningly familiar.' Ber Carroll

'One of the funniest books I have read for a long time...I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which went to places that I had no expectations that it would go.' - Sue Turnbull


'I enjoyed the madness and embraced the strangeness of the characters'. - Crime Fiction HQ


'FitzGerald is one of those authors that seem to be able to pull off the utterly and inexplicably crazy...[She] write[s] dark, sly humour in a way that gives you permission to laugh a lot.' - AustCrime


'Halfway House is a pacy, engaging and at times darkly funny read.' The Scotsman

Helen FitzGerald is the bestselling author of thirteen adult and young-adult thrillers, including Ash Mountain (2021) and The Cry (2013), which was longlisted for the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award and is now a major BBC/ABC drama. Helen worked in a Halfway House in Edinburgh herself and as a criminal justice social worker for over fifteen years. She grew up in Kilmore, Victoria, Australia. She now lives in Glasgow with her husband.

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