#BlogTour-‘Worst Case Scenario’ by @FitzHelen

Hurray!! Another Orenda Books blogtour with the fabulous Anne Cater of Random Things!

This time it’s my turn to wax literal about the fabulous ‘Worst Case Scenario’ by Helen Fitzgerald

which is out in paperback on 17/05/2019 and ebook and audiobook now.

About the book…

A deliciously dark, unapologetically funny psychological thriller by the international bestselling author of The Cry

`The harrowing plot keeps you gripped until the final, devastating revelation’ Sunday Mirror

Mary Shields is a moody, acerbic probation offer, dealing with some of Glasgow’s worst cases, and her job is on the line.
Liam Macdowall was imprisoned for murdering his wife, and he’s published a series of letters to the dead woman, in a book that makes him an unlikely hero – and a poster boy for Men’s Rights activists.

Liam is released on licence into Mary’s care, but things are far from simple. Mary develops a poisonous obsession with Liam and his world, and when her son and Liam’s daughter form a relationship, Mary will stop at nothing to impose her own brand of justice … with devastating consequences.

A heart-pounding, relentless and chilling psychological thriller, rich with deliciously dark and unapologetic humour, Worst Case Scenario is also a perceptive, tragic and hugely relevant book by one of the most exciting names in crime fiction.

This book is INCREDIBLE. All the hallmarks of a quality Orenda publication are in place and elevated to the max as you are hooked from the first sentence to the last.

‘‘Every time Mary tried to relax in a bath, a paedophile ruined it.’‘

In Mary , Helen Firrzgerald has created an angry, ferocious creature who is railing against all the restrictions her job, and society are imposing on her and she is pissed.

Her filters have gone and she is coming out swinging as menopause hits-her house is an empty nest, the people she shepherds as a parole officer she detests and her husband is forging ahead with his own career. She signs up for a variety of evening classes-including standup comedy-to try and feel, and live again after so many years in the yoke of female servitude. Wife. Mother. Herder of criminals. NO MORE.

The freedom granted her by her impending resignation and her last case-an odious wife killer come celebrity who bestselling book based on letters to the wife he murdered-is her liberation.

It’s an eye opener into the justice and parole system, about which I knew little before starting this book, and Helen is quite clearly a woman without moorings or anchor apart from her strong sense of right and wrong. She is a brilliant and darkly comic creation that alternately leaves you with your jaw dropped in shock or punching the air screaming ‘YES!’

It’s outstanding, refreshing and gives a voice to the unheard-the menopausal woman. She is fully rounded, realistic and loudly in your face and completely fantastic. She is , rightly or wrongly, my she-ro. What a woman, what a writer, what a book.

”Meditation had been stressful for Mary ever since she first tried it two months ago,and she rarely persevered these days.She’d only been at it one minute,when the intensity and uselessness of doing nothing but breathing created a current that seemes to Tazer her to the mat.Mary acknowledged the shuddering feeling, the tsunami of screams in her chest,the insatiable itch of shins she’d scarred attempting to sate these last months.She acknowledged these terrible feelings,shared them with the universe and waited for the zzzzzzz to go away like the horny Zen abbot promised it would.”

This is an absolute blast of a book that literally shakes your bones, rattles your teeth and screams ‘WAKE UP!’ in your ear. It’s purely brilliant.

About the author…

She was raised in the country town of Kilmore,Voctoria, being the twelfth in a large family of thirteen children.

She studied English and History at the University Of Melbourne before later attending Glasgow University where she completed a Diploma and Masters in Social Work. She began writing while working as a criminal justice social worker, where for a period she worked with serious sex offenders in Glasgow’s Barlinnie Prison.

She quit this job for a time to focus solely on her writing career,before returning to the field part-time.

She cites her experience as a social worker an inspiration in the subject matter of her writing.

Links-https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/feb/07/what-its-like-to-grow-up-with-12-siblings

http://orendabooks.co.uk/

Twitter @FitzHelen

@OrendaBooks

@annecater