Worst Case Scenario

A deliciously dark, unapologetically funny, and nail-bitingly tense psychological thriller by the international bestselling author of The Cry

NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER

***Guardian, Telegraph, Herald Scotland AND The Week BOOK OF THE YEAR***

***Sunday Times TOP 40 Crime Novels in the Last 5 Years***

***Longlisted for Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2020***

'Shocking, gripping and laugh-out-loud hilarious from the first line to the last. Brilliant' Erin Kelly

'This frenetic novel's strongest assets are its sheer verbal energy and the acerbic views of its heroine, who resembles a female Frankie Boyle' Sunday Times

'The main character is one of the most extraordinary you'll meet between the pages of a book' Ian Rankin

'A scandalously rude comic masterpiece' Daily Telegraph

'Sublime' Guardian

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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.

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'Laced with pitch-dark acerbic humour, the classic thriller gets a hell of a twist' Heat

'This darkly, funny, shocking and surprisingly emotional thriller is unlike anything you've ever read before' Fabulous Magazine

'This novel is a funny, agonising account of one good woman's battle with rage, guilt, fear, duty and disaster' Literary Review

'Absolutely compelling company from start to finish in this wonderful, energetic, hard-hitting and deeply funny novel' Big Issue

'Simply stunning. Dark, uncompromising, funny, and almost impossible to put down' Luca Veste

'Outrageous, extremely funny and ultimately devastating' Ambrose Parry

'Dark humour and darker truths permeate a thrilling crime novel that is fabulously transgressive and completely unique … nobody writes like Helen Fitzgerald' Mark Billingham

'Helen Fitzgerald is one of a kind, and a welcome breath of fresh air in the world of off-beat but achingly relatable crime fiction' SJI Holliday

'A dark, comic masterpiece which manages to be both excruciatingly tense and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time. Great stuff!' Mark Edwards