The premise of the book is intriguing and I was expecting a gripping thriller but it didn't quite hit the mark. The story seemed to drag at times with too many characters/subplots that slowed the pace. The story picked up with some shocking twists towards the end. A promising adult novel debut so I would like to read more by this author.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very slow read and at places I was almost prepared to stop reading but I was too taken with wanting to find out the why and the who and so continued. It is a story of family lives, love, hatred and above all revenge. he idea of being a cleaner to find out information is excellent because as the book states no one sees a cleaner they are just an inconsequential person that never notices what is happening around them. The final part of the story was really good and very surprising I was well and truly led up the garden path and did not expect such an ending. Although i could not relate to Esme and her family all the characters were well described and each one had long term issues that added to the complexity of the story.

Esmie has only one thing in mind when she gets a job as a cleaner with 3 women, and that is revenge.
The 2 sister and friend all knew her brother, however one of them had an affair with him and ruining his life, when she broke up with him.

A story of complex family relationship and obsession.

Sorry but this wasn't for me, found it hard to get into the storyline and was a bit too slow for me with boring characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK but I cannot really recommend it.

The premise of this had me intrigued from the start. The way Esmie was able to set up her meeting with the people she held responsible for what happened to her brother Nico was well planned. However after this point I found the story too slow and it did not hold my interest.
Not for me I am afraid.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK for the advance copy of this book.

Dark and complex, the reader is led through the story only to find they have been led up the garden path. Searching the the truth about what happened to her brother Nico, Esmie finds herself embroiled in the lives of the residents of a small cluster of three isolated homes, becoming a cleaner for the owners and using her access to their private lives to find answers. Of course, she discovers more than she bargained for as she stealthily rifles through carefully hidden secrets. The best thing about being the cleaner, is that nobody dees you. Taut and filled with suspicion, the reader is kept behind a veil of lies right up to the end.

Simone, Esmerelda and Nico grow up together. Simone's family situation was very difficult and so she spent a lot of time at Esmerelda and Nico's home. Once it was decided that a terrible truth would be hidden, it set in motion a chain of events that was years in the making.
I really liked this book. Most of the characters were damaged in some way, which made for interesting reading for me.

This book wasn't for me unfortunately. The premise sounded really good and I was excited to read it but it didn't pan out. I found the book too slow to keep my interest and it only got partially interesting at 90%. I feel like it could have been really good if the storyline had been more developed and engaging.

Thank you for NetGalley for a free copy of this book.

Esmie is seeking revenge! Her beloved brother is lost to her and she is determined to make the person responsible pay! She sets up a bicycle accident near where the perpetrators live! It works - she’s working as the cleaner for three sisters in their very different residencies but which sister is responsible for her brother? This was an intriguing start and I was held captive for the first few chapters but unfortunately as the story progressed too many loopholes began to appear and the whole story became contrived beyond belief! Disappointing!

Title: The Cleaner
Author: Mary Watson
Pages: 400
Rating: 3/5

Publish date - 16th January 2025

"It's not dust she's looking for.
It's dirt."

Esmie has arrived in Ireland to uncover the truth about what happened to her brother Nico. This was such a twisty turny read. Sub plots. Unlikeable characters. Everything you expect in a mystery thriller. It was a definite page turner. With manipulation, black mail, lies and surprising dark back stories.

I was not expecting the ending, a great plot twist to finish!

You'll love this book if you like
- morally grey main characters
- mystery
- thrillers
- revenge
- twist and turns with sub plots

A very well plotted and clever book. I was totally invested in Esme and raced through this book. Brilliant premise and exceedingly well executed. Totally recommend. I shall be looking forward to reading other books by Mary Watson.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publishers, Random House for introducing Mary Watson to me via this ARC.

Esmie is working as a cleaner for three well off households in a gated estate in Ireland. In reality Esmie is not a cleaner but is here to find out what happened to her brother Nico whilst he was renting a room in one of the houses, and to seek revenge. The prologue grabbed me from the start and I did enjoy the authors writing style, however, it is quite a slow burn.

Briefly, as a cleaner Essie is mostly invisible so starts hunting for clues as to who did what to him. Was it Lincs and his wife Amber; Isabella and husband Paul or possibly Ceanna? As Esmie unravels secret after secret matters get darker. Who can she trust, if indeed any of them? And who is sending her alarming texts?

Told in dual timelines, the present and the past, which reveals more to the reader about Esmie and Nico and their lives. It is good how some startling information is gradually revealed in the authors descriptive narrative and how things take shocking and enexpected turns. What I thought was really well done was how, as a cleaner, Esmie appears invisible to the wealthy characters - which plays perfectly into her hands. A dark and devious thriller with a good level of suspense. An entertaining read.

Smart, quirky and with echoes of Frieda McFadden this is a devious little read. Worth the investment of time.

I desperately wanted to give this book a good review. I loved the premise and the writing itself was really well done. For me, this book really fell flat on two aspects: the plot and the pacing. The pacing felt really slow in the middle of the book and wasn't very enjoyable to read because from about 16%-50% it didn't feel like much was happening. Once the initial set up was done, it felt like we were living in that world for too long before the plot progressed.

However, I would like to praise certain aspects of this book. Firstly, the opening in the prologue was arguably one of the best prologues I've read in a while. it was written so beautifully and as mentioned, I did really enjoy Watson's writing style. It was just hard to read when the plot wasn't progressing not matter how eloquently she writes. I did love how visceral and detailed the descriptions were, it made this book sit so effortlessly in the thriller category without being unnecessarily gory or feeling one dimensional. One of my personal favourites was 'my eyes ate it all, greedy'. Such a gorgeous description!

I also really appreciated how much attention to detail there was. Perhaps, there was too much attention to detail in parts but I did enjoy the extra detail throughout. For instance, I loved how Linc and Amber's dogs were named 'Edward' and 'Bella' after twilight and this was a way of the reader finding out just how different this couple's personalities were in the subtlety of Amber loving Twilight and Linc frankly being embarrassed by it.

The narrative and suspense was also a strong point of this book. It felt like the suspense was woven in so effortlessly even when arguably not much was going on. I think the sinister and creeping suspense is really a hallmark of a good thriller writer. Also, it felt like a very clever plot device to have the protagonist be a cleaner. It added a layer of intimacy and closeness into her client's lives that felt like sleeping with the enemy, that I'm not sure would've been achieved if she hadn't been cleaning their houses.

There was also a nice variety of themes here, the obvious one being grief. However, saying that, it did feel like Nico was in every scene and this omnipresence that was scattered between every line of every page.

All in all, so much good promise but the pacing and ending to me wasn't satisfying enough to warrant a higher rating.

This is my first read by author Mary Watson and I have to say that I thought it was a great read with well-rounded characters and lots of twists and turns.

We follow cleaner Esmie, works hard and basically invisible apart from the tidiness that she leaves for her clients. But she is not just any ordinary cleaner, oh no Esmie is out for revenge and boy she does a good job of it. We learn about her brother and we get to see why exactly Esmie is out for revenge.

I really enjoyed Esmie as a character and hope she maybe in another novel as I thought she was great.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and author for allowing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author for this great book. An enjoyable and fast paced read with deception, twists and turns across every page. I enjoyed this book a lot and was captivated by the mystery. A great read.

A book with a killer twist!

Thank you NetGalley and Transworld Digital for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

After an accident, Esmie manages to talk herself into work as a cleaner for a temporary position for the gated community, Woodlands. She is there with the sole purpose of finding out what happened to her brother, Nico. She needs to find out why his funding was withdrawn for his degree and why he has returned a broken man. As the cleaner, she has access to everything within their homes and remains relatively unobserved to delve deeply.

Whilst she is investigating, she sees the reality behind the rich veneer of these houses, which includes deceit, failing marriages, obsession, and even crime and mystery. She then realises there is more to uncover then just the questions around Nico.

This is a first adult debut novel by Mary Watson, very gripping and atmospheric. There were a couple of moments of implausibility, but these were few and far between. The book drew you in, dragged you along and included a great twist, which caught me unawares.

Very much recommended. 4 stars from me and looking forward to her next novel.

A good psychological thriller set in The Woodlands in Ireland which tells the story of Esmie the new cleaner who has lots of secrets in her past. Lost a star for a slight drag in the middle but made up with a fiery, twisty ending!

3.5/5

Thank you Bantam for a copy of this!

“It’s not dust she’s looking for. It’s dirt.”

Esmie is trying to be invisible as a cleaner working for three wealthy families in the exclusive Woodlands gated neighbourhood. However, she has another agenda. One of these residents hurt someone she loved and she’s after evidence and revenge.

I thought this was a light easy thriller to read however, I didn’t think it was anything particularly special (sorry)!

I love rich people behaving badly and I loved reading about all their juicy secrets. All the characters are unlikeable but in a fun way and I enjoyed reading about them.

I wasn’t blown away by the twist at the end. It wasn’t original and I’ve seen it done much better in other books.

I would definitely consider reading this author again considering this is only her debut. I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next.

The premise of this book sounded intriguing. Esmie travels to Ireland to find out what happened to her brother Nico. She intentionally inserts herself as a cleaner into the households of several families in a gated community. Esmie is secretly seeking answers, and revenge. Sounds promising? I thought so.

However, there are slow burn plots that hold you, then there are slow burn plots that just fizzle out. For me this book was the latter. I felt no connection to the many characters, even Esmie. Yes, there’s a twist here and a turn there but not enough to hold my attention.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK and Transworld Publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.