A bright and ambitious woman with a dead-end job takes advantage of those around her until the consequences of a crime committed to advance her life pose the ultimate challenge to her truthfulness.

Natalie is a girl who should be going somewhere. Beautiful, bright and ambitious, she's stuck in a dead end job in the accounts department of Nu-Line Telecommunications. Living her life through wild weekends, yearning for something more.When she sees a chance to change her life, she takes it. After all, its' only a minor crime. Nobody will be hurt, will they? But Colin gets hurt. He's the man who Natalie marries. And other people's lives are changed, terribly and irrevocably. Because Natalie's actions do have consequences - tragic consequences.Poignant and beautifully written, Deborah Moggach's new novel is a cautionary tale about the terrible battle between desires and greed, about human hopes and our own frailty in the face of temptation.

"A chilling, impeccably plotted novel" (Cosmopolitan UK) by the bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Praised as "extraordinarily skillful" by award-winning writer Anita Brookner, Deborah Moggach has written an extremely powerful novel about the beautiful, bright, and ambitious Natalie, who should be doing something with her life. But instead, she's stuck in a dead-end job and instead of improving her place in the world by her own efforts, takes advantage of the honesty of those around her, ultimately leaving them damaged and broken. Of course she denies responsibility, even when confronted with undeniable evidence that she is involved. So, when she sees a chance to change her life, she doesn't hesitate to take it, even if it's at the expense of someone else. After all, it's only a minor crime. Nobody's going to get hurt. But Natalie's actions actually do have unforeseen and tragic consequences, and the ultimate question is will she be capable to meet the final demand to own up to what she has done? Emotionally taut and beautifully written, Final Demand is a cautionary tale about the battle between greed and love, and our own frailty in the face of temptation.

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An accountant's plan to escape her dead-end job does more damage than she thinks in this novel by the author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
The beautiful, bright, and ambitious Natalie should be doing something with her life. But instead, she's stuck in a dead-end job. And instead of improving her place in the world by her own efforts, she takes advantage of the honesty of those around her, ultimately leaving them damaged and broken. Of course, she denies responsibility, even when confronted with undeniable evidence that she is involved. So, when she sees a chance to change her life, she doesn't hesitate to take it, even if it's at the expense of someone else. After all, it's only a minor crime. Nobody's going to get hurt. But Natalie's actions actually do have unforeseen and tragic consequences, and the ultimate question is will she be capable to meet the final demand to own up to what she has done?
Emotionally taut and beautifully written, Final Demand is a cautionary tale about the battle between greed and love, and our own frailty in the face of temptation.
Praise for Final Demand
"Marvelously tricky. . . . While some thrillers tick off a checklist of red herrings on a predictable march to the finish, Moggach's creations, with their layered personalities and shifting motivations, throw more guesswork into the mix. And something to ponder, too: matters of morality, complicity and fate." —Becky Aikman, The New York Times
"Tense and splendid. . . . Moggach, a versatile writer . . . has all the empathetic and stylistic gifts needed to put a reader inside the lives of a dozen disparate characters and make one care about their fates?even that of a callous protagonist who may (or may not) experience a last-minute redemptive epiphany." —Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal (Best Mysteries of 2017)
"Thought-provoking. . . . A slow-burning novel. . . . Notable for its depiction of how our actions affect others, even as it maintains its spot in a moral gray area. Natalie is a wickedly fascinating character." —Publishers Weekly
"Brisk and neatly plotted, with a full-bodied cast headed by the irrepressible Natalie." —Booklist"

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Clear and easy-to-use, with full instructions and quick-reference contents page, make this resource ideal for both self-study and classroom use including teacher-directed group work. It includes teachers' notes and stimulating exercises such as word games, puzzles, quizzes and crosswords.

-- Final Demand -- The New York Times “Tense and splendid. . . . Moggach, a versatile writer . . . has all the empathetic and stylistic gifts needed to put a reader inside the lives of a dozen disparate characters and make one care about their fates¿even that of a callous protagonist who may (or may not) experience a last-minute redemptive epiphany.” —Tom Nolan, -- Publishers Weekly “Brisk and neatly plotted, with a full-bodied cast headed by the irrepressible Natalie.” — -- “.

"Natalie, beautiful, bright, and ambitious, should be doing something with her life. But instead, she's stuck in a de ad-end job and instead of improving her place in the world by her own efforts, takes advantage of the honesty of tho se around her, ultimately leaving them damaged and broken. Of course she denies responsibility, even when confronted with undeniable evidence that she is involved..."--OCLC

Natalie, beautiful, bright, and ambitious, should be doing something with her life. But instead, she's stuck in a dead-end job and instead of improving her place in the world by her own efforts, takes advantage of the honesty of those around her, ultimately leaving them damaged and broken. Of course she denies responsibility, even when confronted with undeniable evidence that she is involved. So, when she sees a chance to change her life, she doesn't hesitate to take it, even if it's at the expense of someone else. After all, it's only a minor crime. Nobody's going to get hurt. But Natalie's actions actually do have unforeseen and tragic consequences, and the ultimate question is will she be capable to meet the final demand to own up to what she has done?.

Natalie is a girl who should be going somewhere. Beautiful, bright and ambitious, she's stuck in a dead-end job in the accounts department of Nu-Line Telecommunications. Living her life through wild weekends, yearning for something more. When she sees a chance to change her life, she takes it. After all, it's only a minor crime. Nobody will be hurt, will they?

'Final Demand is strong on narrative, dashing the reader along, but, though fast-paced and transparently written, nevertheless creates people of memorable complexity' Independent Natalie is a girl who should be going somewhere. Beautiful, bright and ambitious, she's stuck in a dead-end job in the accounts department of Nu-Line Telecommunications, living her life through wild weekends and yearning for something more. When she sees a chance to change her life, she takes it. After all, it's only a minor crime. Nobody's going to get hurt. But other people do get hurt, because Natalie's actions do have consequences - tragic consequences. Poignant and beautifully written, Final Demand is a cautionary tale about the battle between greed and love, about human hopes and our own frailty in the face of temptation. 'A chilling, impeccably plotted novel' Cosmopolitan 'Powerful...vividly evoked' Sunday Times

Bestselling author Deborah Moggach, who "captures mood through careful choice of detail and has a deft sense of the grotesque" (James McNamara, The New York Times Book Review) delivers an extremely powerful novel about the consequences of greed and deceit in her gripping page-turner Final Demand.Natalie is a girl who should be going somewhere. Although beautiful, bright, and ambitious, she's stuck in a dead-end job in the accounts department of a telecommunications company, living her life through wild weekends and yearning for something more. While processing the final notice payments on cus­tomer's accounts, Natalie devises a simple little scam that could change her life in a major way. And since it's only a minor crime--nobody's going to get hurt-- she doesn't hesitate to follow through her scheme.But when Natalie's selfish actions have tragic conse­quences, she learns there's no such thing as a victimless crime. A cautionary tale that "captures the soulless sign of the times" (Jerry Broton, New York Times bestselling author), Final Demand is a beautifully written, emotionally taut story about the battle between love, envy, and misguided aspirations, and our own frailty in the face of temptation.

Natalie is a girl who should be going somewhere. When she sees a chance to change her life, she takes it. After all, it's only a minor crime. From the author of Tulip fever.