Grace McGill is a cleaner, but a slightly unusual cleaner, as she specialises in cleaning houses where people have passed away and lain undiscovered for a period of time. Additional work is required to clean these homes of biohazards and ensure that they’re safe to live in again, which is what Grace specialises in. It appears to be quite a lonely life, but Grace carries on, until she starts to notice a common thread through the homes that she is attending.

Coincidences and questions start to pile up for Grace, as she starts to question if there is a common link between the people that are passing away, and whether or not there are any extenuating circumstances? Grace starts to investigate, but will she be able to find a link to the past that can explain what is going on? And is her own life under threat?

I found the premise of this book quite intriguing, as Grace gets more and more involved in the lives of the people who have inhabited the homes that she is hired to clean, stumbling upon a mystery that she then sets to investigate. It is a well paced, interesting story, and I liked that it wasn’t predictable - I feel like it almost started as one story, then took a sharp turn that I wasn’t expecting! I also really enjoy stories that are set in places that are familiar to me, and I found Glasgow very recognisable, to the point of googling some of the buildings mentioned to look at some of their specific features.

I enjoyed this book and would definitely read others by this author, I thought it was interesting and trying to do something different within the genre.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I found this to be an odd triller, quite interesting and twisty but it occasionally lost pace as the story unfolded.

My surprise sleeper hit so far of the year. I thought I'd like this book and I REALLY did. The storyline was quite unique and fantastic. This will be great for those who loved the "You" series. There's Grace doing things she think need to be done. Evening the score. I guess that's why I see a bit of Joe in her. Dark and different but oh so readable. I could not put it down. I want to read more by CS Robertson.
#TheUndiscoveredDeathsofGraceMcGill #NetGalley.

This book starts out really well. It sets the scene of Grace's occupation as the cleaner of houses where people died alone, sometimes undiscovered for months. It also shows glimpses of her personality and her family history.

That is until the reveal in the middle takes the book in a completely different direction. I was disappointed with this turn because unreliable narrators are such a common trope and it also leaves holes in the story, especially with regard to Grace's actions before the reveal. I also felt Grace's portrayal seems off sometimes because she comes across as neurodivergent but it's not confirmed on the page, which feels like a cop-out because she gets to have all the "quirky" traits without proper characterisation. I found this to be a sad book about old people living alone, the trauma of abuse, and toxic masculinity. I wish it was executed better because there were moments that hit the mark emotionally. I'm not a fan of the ending too but I think this book will resonate with many people.

Grace is a likeable character despite her quirkiness and these do become increasingly odd as the story progresses. Twists, turns and suspense aplenty - an all round enjoyable read.

A twisty little thriller. I am not a big lover or reader of thrillers usually so I wasn't pleasantly surprised by this book.

I loved this book, it was intriguing and I couldn't put it down. The character was multifaceted and I had different feelings about her throughout the story. Loved the twists in the plot and the writing was fantastic.

Half of this book is brilliant. The other half? Not so. The Undiscovered Deaths… is one of those carefully constructed novels that’s concocted of complicated layers. A mystery disguises a secret that in turn conceals a hidden truth – usually a perfect premise for a psychological thriller. Problem is, the initially intriguing aspects are overwhelmed by a less-than-gripping cold case investigation which dominates two-thirds of the story.
We’re enticed in by a brilliant beginning but are disappointingly dragged off on an unrelated tangent, chasing what might be a suspicious disappearance from decades ago. Grace herself is a cracking character: one of society’s outsiders who scratches a living as a forensic cleaner. It’s a long way from CSI and there’s nothing glamorous about her profession – she makes the scene of death presentable again after the body is gone. Most of her ‘clients’ are older folk who’ve died at home and lain undiscovered for ages. Grace is more affected by their sad lives and lonely endings than by the inevitable gooey bodily fluids they’ve left behind.
She has a wonderfully weird way of processing the pain she’s witnessed and builds intricate models of the scenes she’s cleaned, miniature panoramas that encapsulate the isolation of an unseen demise. There’s an unflinching honesty to Grace’s fragmenting personality and a gritted-teeth determination to her actions. Author CS Robertson lightens the mood with precision-targeted gallows humour that illuminates Grace’s situation while casting long shadows on modern society.
That’s all excellent, then, but it’s not enough to sustain a full-length novel. Hence the expedition to [yawn…] The two threads have been uncomfortably grafted together, and although I was utterly engaged by the opening chapters I found it hard to maintain that level of interest during the humdrum, ham-fisted investigation which follows. I can’t help feeling that Grace would’ve been better served by a shorter, more focused novella.
That hackneyed ‘summer of love goes horribly wrong’ theme doesn’t mesh well with the more sophisticated and subtle exploration of individual neurosis and societal decay. The result was a book which I half-adored but could barely summon the energy to plod through to the final payoff.
6/10

A very unusual job and a fascinating premise. Grace is a great character that draws you into the story straight away and keeps you hooked.

Macabre and effective psychological crime thriller with engaging unreliable narrator.. but I wont say more .. kind of overdoes it at ending but grippjng .. and some characters are cartoonish (her dad?) .. but, it really works!

Brilliant twisty little thriller had me hooked from page one and the ending was not to be missed, will look out for more from the author!

Grace is a professional cleaner, a cleaner of houses where bodies have been laid for weeks, sometimes months, she cleans, disinfects, cleans again and resorts her findings, but Grace has a strange hobby of making models of the room the person was found in. On one such clean up Grace finds a stack of newspapers all from the same day of different years and explores the mystery surrounding them. A good book with a lot of good twists.

Unique thriller which evolves from a refreshingly different point of view. It draws you in straight away and keeps you hooked until the end.

If ever there was a novel that takes you over to the dark side, and keeps you there, it is the Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill.

Or maybe it was Grace McGill was already over on the dark side, but she does a good job of hiding it. She is a death cleaner after all. Someone who goes in and cleans up crime scenes that most people cannot stomach. Even reading the cleaning sometimes made my stomach churn they were that graphic.

The Undiscovered Deaths is twisting and murderous. Dark like the plot; and the Glasgow weather that almost plays a character in the novel. Then it gets darker, and darker. Is there a serial killer on the loose? Is it random deaths or are they linked? And just who is Grace McGill, apart from being a socially awkward death cleaner?

This novel is dark and disturbing, clever and well written. I loved it.

What a job to have – cleaning the homes of those who have died and were left undiscovered for a period of time. Of course the reader’s opinion of Grace McGill as she carries out this work, is one of mixed disgust and admiration: how could anyone choose to do that and apparently enjoy it and yet … she does it in such a respectful manner and somebody has to do it.
During one of her assignments Grace becomes entangled in the mystery surrounding the disappearance of a young woman in the past and she is determined to discover what exactly happened. Whilst the reader is moving happily along believing that quest is the main storyline, Robertson suddenly casts doubts upon the main character and this provides that enticing twist.
With a degree of mystery-solving, gritty detail combined with a quite major twist and even a moment of potential romance this should have wide-spread appeal.
Thank you to Hodder and Stoughton and NetGalley for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Grace McGill has lost her mom and her alcoholic dad doesn't show any affection at all. She lives alone apart from her cat and spends all day cleaning the houses of people who have died alone and not been discovered for some time.

After cleaning the house of one elderly gentleman, she is curious as to why he has hoarded years worth of newspapers but all from the same date. His life intrigues her enough to try and find out who he was and what happened that made him end up the way he did.

Grace is the narrator which makes it easy reading and you get a connection with her character. The book isn't gory but there are some descriptions that may make you queasy if tickle-stomached.

A great and unusual storyline

Grace McGill is an intriguing character. The premise of this novel is great.

CS Roberston writes this intelligent crime thriller with sensitivity, humour and explores loneliness and the sadness of life with aplomb.

Perfect for fans of "If I Can't Have You" by Charlotte Levin.

I really didn’t feel this book.

Parts were good but I feel it was slow and boring in most parts. It took me nearly a week to read which is very very slow for me. It just didn’t grip me and make me want more. 2.5 stars

This was a very twisty, intriguing and tense story! I found myself wondering what might happen next, on the edge of my seat!

This was such a unique storyline, following Grace McGill as she goes about her job cleaning the homes after the bodies of the occupants have been discovered, often weeks and months after their death. In dealing with what remains after the bodies have been removed, Grace sees a glimpse of their former lives and tries to paint a picture of the people they were when they were alive. It’s in doing this that she starts to unravel a mystery from long ago and we follow her as she turns from disinfecting to detecting, with some quite dramatic and tense moments along the way.
Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for the review copy.