The premise for this book really grabbed me. Cleaners have unprecedented access to the most intimate aspects of our lives, silently working amongst our most personal of effects and seeing things which aren’t for the eyes of the outside world. The idea, therefore of a cleaner infiltrating people’s lives, undercover style, to avenge the fact their brother has been put in a coma is brilliant and held a lot of promise. Our main character Esme does this and becomes a cleaner in a set of apartments where her brother Nico rented a room. She discovers many secrets along the way as she delves into the lives of the people she encounters. There is a however…. I tried really hard to engage with this book but unfortunately struggles. I’m not sure if that was me or the book, perhaps you’ll have to give it a whirl and make your own mind up, I’m thinking it’s probably a bit Marmite and you’ll either love or hate it. I skim read from about two thirds through as I was determined not to entirely give up but I wasn’t turned, sorry.

Esmie takes a calculated step into the lives of the secluded residents of The Woodlands, becoming their cleaner as a way to dig into their secrets. Her ultimate goal? To uncover the truth about her brother Nico, who mysteriously disappeared while living in this enigmatic community.

As Esmie delves deeper, it becomes clear that no one in The Woodlands is who they appear to be. With every character hiding a secret, the story masterfully unfolds layer by layer. Readers are drawn into Esmie’s investigation, discovering shocking truths alongside her.

The narrative seamlessly intertwines Nico's past with Esmie's present, building tension and intrigue as the mystery unravels. The pacing is sharp, and the twists keep you hooked until the very last page. A compelling and suspenseful read that explores themes of trust, deception, and the lengths one will go to for family.

I liked the idea of this book but it wasn’t quite executed as I’d hoped.

There were too many storylines running concurrently, I got a bit lost. I found the ending and the twist to be unrealistic. However, it was an enjoyable read that kept me hooked to find out what would happen.

I couldn’t stop turning the pages. The tension kept building, and the story’s unpredictable twists left me speechless, a true masterpiece from the author.

We meet Esmie (Esmeralda) who’s come to Ireland from her own, far away country. She’s on her bike but waiting by the edge of the road for something. That something turns out to be a fast driving car with two men in it. Of course there’s a small accident but Esmie is being carried into a lovely home by the owner of the car – and the home – by the name of Linc. His friend is Paul. Together with their wives Amber and Isabelle they live in The Woodlands, a very fancy neighbourhood. There’s also Ceanna, sister of Amber, who lives alone after the death of her husband, child ánd father, who’s only recently passed away.
But why is Esmie there? She’s there to take revenge on these people. On of them was the cause of the death of her brother Nico, who came to Ireland for his PhD but came home broken and unrecognisable to his and Esmie’s mother and their best friend Simone, his fiancée.
Complicated? Not at first sight. But Esmie slowly gains the trust of the people she meets at The Woodlands, not in the least because she actually is a very good cleaner (although she has a completely different profession) and because all those people share different secrets and Esmie is someone who can keep a secret.
Before long, we read about Esmie’s background and begin to understand what happened to her brother – and there are secrets behind secrets.
I read this book in just a few short hours because it grabbed me from the first few pages. There are secrets behind secrets, and some unexpected twists. None of the characters were very deep but just interesting enough to want to know how this very well written story would end.
Thanks to Random House and Netgalley for this review copy.

Esmie takes on a cleaning job at the houses of 3 wealthy families in order to find out which of the women had an affair with her beloved Nico leading to him being in a coma. A lot of the book is spent with Esmie snooping around all three houses, making me question how she had time to do the cleaning for which she was employed. However, with surprising secrets and unexpected links between characters, this became an enjoyable read as the book progressed.

Esmie inserts herself into the lives of the people in The Woodlands becoming their cleaner where she is able to dig into their lives and discover the truth about what happened to her brother Nico when he was a part of the community.

No one in the woodlands are quite what they seem and everyone is hiding a secret. The reader discovers the secrets along with Esmie and I loved the way the story of Nico is weaved into the present story as the truth is unveiled.

A really good who dunnit book. I enjoyed the scene settings in Ireland and the descriptions of the location. I did find some a little repeating in the middle but overall a good thriller read.

The Cleaner follows the story of Esmie, who 'finds herself' with a job in a prestigious neighbourhood cleaning the homes of the wealthy. But she isn't there to clean, she's there to get answers and revenge.

I enjoyed this book. The characters were really well written and I quickly became invested in their stories, although none of them were particularly likeable. I could really clearly picture the neighbourhood setting and this helped me immerse myself in the story.

There were twists and turns aplenty and I enjoyed discovering them.

My thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for sending me this ARC in return for an honest review.

@currentlyreading__
Book 71 of 2024

A few weeks back I was sent a copy of the upcoming ‘The Cleaner’ (publication January 16) and was automatically intrigued by the synopsis. It was right up my street. This is the debut adult novel by @marym_watson and certainly keeps the tension bubbling throughout. Esmie is the eponymous cleaner, working for three households in an exclusive area of Ireland. She isn’t looking for dust - she is looking for dirt and Esmie is not who she seems. She is not a student taking language classes to improve her English, she is a woman seeking justice. She is Esmerelda Lorenzo, employed by the rich inhabitants of The Woodlands and she is finding answers to the question of what happened to her brother, a brilliantly talented PhD student who was kicked off his course in Ireland. He lodged at The Woodlands and seemed to have interactions with each of the families Esmie cleans for. So, she will keep going as the invisible member of staff who no-one looks twice at.

As I said, tension simmers in this domestic thriller and each of the characters pull you into the story. What I didn’t see coming was the twist. A gasp and a rapid blink of the eyes later I devoured the rest of it hungrily ready to experience the denouement.

If you like a simmering tense thriller this is for you.

#bookworm #iamreading #bookreview #kindle #bookreviews #bibliophile #bookreview #mustread #bookobsessed #bookrecommendations #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #thecleaner #netgalley #marywatsonauthor

Esmie works as a cleaner for three households in an exclusive area. She is almost invisible to and certainly taken for granted by the rich people she works for. This is fine for Esmie who plans to use this invisibility to take revenge on one of them. The Cleaner is a great thriller with loads of tension and a surprising twist. Most of the characters were well written, particularly the awful employers but I couldn’t take to Mama Bear and, at times, lost patience with Esmie herself. Great plot though.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for this review copy.

Mary Watson’s debut adult novel, The Cleaner, is a masterclass in suspense, delivering a gripping and original storyline that had me hooked from the very start.  Without fully reading the blurb beforehand—the proof cover alone was enough to draw me in—I was immediately drawn into Esmie’s world: a cleaner who’s far more than she appears.

The tension as she navigates the secrets of the wealthy had my heart racing, constantly fearing she’d be caught snooping. Watson paints a vivid picture of a secluded street of posh houses on the edge of town, where everyone seems to be lying, hiding secrets not only from their neighbors but also from their own families and spouses. These tangled webs of deceit added layer upon layer to the story, making it even more engrossing.

Watson plays a brilliant game with the reader, putting each character in the spotlight at one point or another, creating a constant guessing game about who is responsible for the actions Esmie is seeking revenge for. I thought I had everything figured out early on, suspecting I knew who was behind it all—but I was wrong. Watson’s clever plotting kept me second-guessing myself, and just when I thought I had it all figured out, there was a twist that completely changed everything. It was a brilliant, unexpected turn that took the story in a direction I never saw coming.

Esmie’s journey is as emotional as it is thrilling, and her relentless determination kept me turning pages late into the night. The pacing is impeccable, and the narrative brims with tension, making it impossible to put down. Watson has crafted a story that’s both unique and utterly unforgettable.

The Cleaner is perfect for fans of psychological thrillers with a fresh twist. Mark your calendars for 16 January — you won’t want to miss this one!

Over the last few years, an interesting domestic staff-turned-avenger subgenre has emerged in thrillers, and each one has been great. This novel has some similarities with the work of Lucy Foley, who often casts domestic staff as ancillary characters whose motives and powers are underestimated by those for whom they toil. The Cleaner does, however, cast such a person in the spotlight: a young female by the name of Esmeralda Lorenzo, determined to find out who is responsible for the downfall of her brother Nico, once a promising PhD student in Ireland who is now a hospital patient in a deep coma. To solve the mystery of his downfall and to exert revenge, Esmeralda cleverly integrates herself into the lives of three families with properties on the upmarket estate where her brother Nico used to live. As a member of this gated community that is built on financial wealth, privilege and secrets, Esmeralda has to work hard to pursue her secret enquiries while remaining invisible to those for whom she cleans. But what to do with the secrets about her own brother she uncovers? And how to react when Nico eventually wakes up from his coma?

An interesting entrant into this new subgenre, this novel was exciting to read but slightly overcomplicated due to too many characters, backstories and layers of gossip. My thanks go to the publishers and to NetGalley for the free ARC gifted to me in exchange for this book review.

This is definitely a slow burn read, follows Esmie who is avenging the hurt caused to her brother Nico who has been expelled from his Irish degree course. They only know the partial story and it takes most of book for you to find it out

The story does go very slowly at times but stick with it as has good ending with few dark twists

An enjoyable book but a slow burn. Esme goes to work as a cleaner at four houses where the owners are all connected. Her brother, Nico once lodged there and is now in a coma. Esme wants to find out what happened to him and seek revenge. None of the characters are particularly likable not even the perfect Nico. Watson drip feeds information often jumping time periods. The twists tend to be obvious.

This was such a gripping revenge thriller! Esmie secures herself a job as the new cleaner for the 3 luxurious homes in The Woodlands, a gorgeous rural Irish setting. Overlooked and underestimated by her rich employees, they have no idea that she’s targeted their homes on purpose - to try to find out what happened to Nico when he stayed there as a student which has changed him forever…

This was quite a slow burner for me, and at first I wasn’t sure if I would fully get into it. But as I got further into the story, I found it totally absorbing, full of darkness and intrigue. There were interesting themes around seeming to have it all - versus what goes on behind closed doors - and where the desire for revenge really comes from.

And the ending - oooooh it was all very clever and quite sinister! A really different and intriguing story!

A slow burn revenge plot. I had high hopes for this book but unfortunately I lost interest so far through. I was curious however as to the outcome. The ending saved the day.

This book really surprised me, the twists and turns were unexpected and the main character, Esmie, was well developed and filled me with sadness for the task that she had undertaken.

THE CLEANER by Mary Watson.
Release date set for the 16th of January 2025.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher Penguin and Mary for this ARC.
Revenge is best served cold and all that.
I enjoyed this book.
It wasn't as fast paced as i normally read but still a good book.
The storyline/plot is good.
This is mary's first adult novel

Esmeralda Lorenzo, Esmie for short, is a young woman on a mission. Nico, her older brother, is lying in a coma in hospital, his PhD funding withdrawn and sent home in disgrace from his studies in Ireland. She is determined to find out who was responsible and to destroy them. He was a lodger in a house on the The Woodlands, a very upmarket gated community. Esmie has travelled over to Ireland and manages to engineer an accident in order to meet two of its residents. She offers her services a s a cleaner and begins to insinuate herself into their lives determined to find the person responsible.
As a cleaner, she is invisible in her leggings and t-shirts and just there to clean up their mess to make everything perfect again. It centres on two couples and a pair of warring sisters, Amber and Ceanna. Esmie met Linc, Amber’s husband after the accident. She also met Paul who is their next door neighbour and is married to Isabelle. All is not well behind their picket fence. But Esmie doggedly pursues her own agenda by snooping around their houses while discovering secrets and gossip. Unfortunately, she becomes part of them.
But they all want something they can’t have. Linc wants the lost papers of a dead poetess, Eden Hale, Ceanna wants her stepfather’s cottage and contents and Amber wants to be loved completely by one man despite resorting to others. Isabelle has another life which is becoming too close to the Woodlands as she chafes at her gilded case.
Prior to moving to Ireland, Nico was engaged to a local girl, Simone, who has, to put it mildly, anger management issues and Esmie did not approve of her. Perhaps with good reason.
And then Nico wakes up…..
This is the author’s debut adult novel as she is known for her YA books. This showed in ‘The Cleaner’ as, at times Esmie seemed a lot younger than 25. The book reminded me in parts of ‘Maid’ by Stephanie Land in its depictions of invisibility, cleaning routines and being an unseen part of peoples lives.
However, I didn’t really care about the characters as they seemed to exist in their own vacuum. Linc mooning after Eden Hale and her ‘lost’ work – even Esmie rolled her eyes at him always going on about her and after a while so did I. I also found it hard to believe that Esmie had so much time to go snooping and that incriminating writing such as stories of escape were so easy for her to find and read at length. The book was slow in some places and I thought that it could have been shorter. However, the twist at the end was a surprise as was the bittersweet ending.
There were some good plotlines specially Isabelle’s sideline which has huge and disturbing ramifications. I wasn’t so interested in Amber and her pastimes.
Although this book wasn’t really for me, I would like to read the author’s next book.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.