This book kept me on my toes with its dark atmosphere and twists along the way. Defiantly recommend.

Esmie is supposed to be invisible. Just a cleaner with a foreign accent that no one quite has time to place. Her uniform of leggings and a duster allows her to explore the homes of the wealthy, unseen; an outsider creeping around the edges of privilege.
But as she sweeps through the exclusive Woodlands gated neighbourhood, cleaning is the last thing on her mind. Treading silently over the polished wooden floorboards and cloud-soft carpets, Esmie gathers up the mess of broken marriages, quiet deceptions and careless failures. She tucks away their fragments, keeping them safe. For now.

I didn’t like any of the characters in this story and it seems to be overwritten. Extra sentences added to drive home a point and unnecessary. The concept is good but it didn’t work for me. It’s a slow burn that never really ignited in my opinion.

I was very excited to have received this arc as I saw so many talking about this one and the cover and name drew me in. Unfortunately this one took me a while to get into and to read as I would put it down and then leave it and come back to it. It had some good twists and I like the single narration too. Over all a good thriller but nothing mind blowing. I would be interested to see what the author writes next. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley for my copy!
I would say I enjoyed this book but I didn't find it to be anything special.
There were some good bits but overall I wasn't blown away by the twist.
Would definitely read more of their work in the future tho.

I was really excited to read this after seeing so many good reviews but sadly it just isn’t for me. I got to 37% in but I just wasn’t enjoying it. I found the main character’s relationship with her brother to be a little odd and the plot line to be slightly unrealistic. I tried several times to get more in to the book but I just couldn’t connect with it. Thank you for the opportunity to be an ARC reader for this book.

I loved the premise of this one. There's some fabulous writing and atmospheric scenery. It took me a while to get into, and I found bits hard to believe but it really picked up towards the end with a powerful, twisty denouement

Esmie is a seemingly ordinary cleaner with a hidden agenda. She finds herself in the midst of a group with plenty of dark secrets, but her own past is far more tangled. Instead of just cleaning, she’s there to expose their hidden truths and seek revenge for someone she cares about. This book is a thrilling ride, filled with intricate character motivations and a plot that keeps you guessing. The twists are sharp, and the gradual reveals keep the tension high throughout. A fantastic read that will leave you hooked until the very last page. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Thanks to netgalley for allowing me to review this book. There was plenty to enjoy in this book with twists but I couldn't get to like the characters. I felt a disconnect to the narrative overall and kept putting the book down. I think this might be because I never quite fully believed the reason behind Nico’s deterioration, the affair wasn’t convincing enough to me. I was expecting the book to get better as the chapters went on.

The Cleaner is a dark and atmospheric thriller, a story of love, obsession and revenge.

Esmie travels to Ireland to seek revenge for her brother Nico. Posing as a cleaner, she infiltrates herself into the residents of The Woodlands, believing that some of them hold the key to discovering more about what happened to her brother while he was living in Ireland before he had to suddenly return home.

What she finds is three families full of secrets, all of which she stores away as she begins to piece things together. We get to know Esmie as we travel back to learn more about her life growing up and she proves to be a fascinating if complex character. With a supporting cast of interesting if largely unlikeable characters, all with their own baggage, this is a book that keeps you guessing as you try and figure them all out. The twists keep coming until …… let’s just say my jaw hit the floor!

The epitome of a page turner, this had me hooked - Watson combines thoughtful, almost lyrical prose with an underlying tension to create a compelling read.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.


.
The Cleaner Mary by Watson is a domestic thriller were a Brazilian cleaner comes to investigate and take revenge on the people who caused her brother to quit his studies and return to home in disgrace.

The Cleaner is a well crafted thriller that uses its setting to examine how people are trapped in the roles that are given to them by society and how it can be difficult to break out of them. As these roles set by society are so rigid.

The writer, Mary Watson uses a single narrator to tell the story which both allows readers to understand why she wants revenge and the way that the families involved perceive the cleaner as a piece of equipment rather than a human being.

In addition the advantage of the sole narrator allows the novel to become better at hiding its twists and turns from the reader's perspective. Including accepting what the narrator says is the truth.

While the premise for the novel was interesting and carried out in a competent way by the writer. The story took a long time to deliver on its objective, meaning The Cleaner by Mary Watson while not bad is not one I would highly recommend as a must read.

Having read the synopsis for this book, it seemed intriguing and I was eager to get started.
Whilst I was reading, I was absorbed and not wanting to put it down, but every time I did stop reading, I found it hard to get motivated to start again. There were parts of the story I did find tedious. Therefore it has taken me a good few weeks to finish this book. At no stage did I consider not reading to the end, so there was obviously sufficient enjoyment to see me through, but maybe it just wasn’t quite to my taste.

On one of Esmie’s first days in Ireland, she is knocked off her bike and managed to source work as a cleaner for the driver of the car. One would assume this I was nothing more than a happy coincidence but no - Esmie has been waiting here for the person who owns the house because she needs to get inside…

Esmie is searching for her brother who returned from Ireland a broken man due to one of the inhabitants of these seemingly perfect houses. We never find out exactly where Esmie is from but through a split timeline we learn more about the tragic and terrifying events that led her here.

This is an intriguing read with a twist I didn’t see coming!

This was so good I bought the hardcover after arc reading it

'Houses know. They watch, taking in every small thing. They see when you're lonely or loved up or lying'

I couldn't put this book down!
I love the cover straight away that got me wanting to read it,
It's fast Paced and you can't wait to finish it but miss the book when it's over

Esmie is a cleaner at the gated community of The Woodlands. She works at three houses: Linc & Amber’s, Paul & Isabelle’s, and Ceanna’s.

The first two couples are married, whilst Ceanna is Amber’s sister.

As Esmie keeps cleaning, she can’t help but overhearing and noticing that all is not well and everyone is hiding something.

However, the five people Esmie cleans for, don’t know that she arrived in Ireland with one goal: revenge for her brother’s decline. Nico was living and studying in Ireland, and was Ceanna’s lodger.

Something happened at The Woodlands and Nico abruptly stopped his studies without qualifying. When he arrived back home, he wasn’t the same person. Now he is lying in a coma and Esmie is desperate to uncover what truly happened…

I liked the sound of the book a lot better than its execution, I’m afraid.

I found the characters tedious (including Esmie) and as I read so many psychological thrillers, I was able to predict the major twists.

It wasn’t for me, but it might be for you!

Many thanks to Bantam for approving my NetGalley request to read and review this title.

Esmie is a cleaner who engineers her way into cleaning for a group of people with a lot of secrets. Not as many as Esmie though, who hasn’t come to clean, but to uncover these secrets and to use them for revenge for someone she loves.
This is a gripping book, full of complex motivations for people trying to get what they want. Good twisty plot with excellent gradual reveals. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

‘The Cleaner’ is Esmie‘s story; she has moved from an unnamed South American country to Ireland, ostensibly for language lessons but actually to find out what happened to her beloved brother Nico when he was in Ireland.

Nico had been lodging with Ceanna, one of three women who live in their luxury homes in a secluded lane with their families. Esmie hopes that by working as a cleaner for all of the families, she’ll be able to uncover information about what happened to Nico, why he had to leave Ireland in an hurry and take her revenge.

The more Esmie discovers about the three families, the more family secrets and intrigue she uncovers, from the women, their husbands and their various children.

It’s a middle class professional background, with doctors and academics amongst the families. One husband Linc, is a lecturer obsessed with folk poet Eden Hale, dedicating his life to writing and researching her. Esmie gets caught up in his obsession and hunt for Eden’s missing work.

There’s so much to relish in this book, it can’t be rushed and I enjoyed taking my time following the story and finding out more about all of the characters. Mary Watson is an accomplished writer who knows how to weave a compelling literary narrative that reveals its secrets at just the right moment

Absolutely loved this book! From page one I was hooked and couldn’t wait to pick the book back up.

I can’t wait for more from this author!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

While there was plenty to enjoy in this book (twisty plot lines, morally grey and unlikeable characters), I felt a disconnect to the narrative overall. I think this might be because I never quite fully believed the reason behind Nico’s deterioration - the affair wasn’t convincing enough to me. Nonetheless, I read this in a day, which says a lot about the book’s readability and the author’s capacity to write an engaging story.

Although not really the type of book I would normally read I found myself fascinated by the storyline. A female wanting to take revenge on the person or people she suspected of causing her brother’s death. A twist later in the tale clarified one aspect that I had found puzzling. Interesting characters despite some not being very likeable.

Really enjoyed this book many thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this