by Mary Watson
SYNOPSIS
It's not dust she's looking for.
It's dirt.
Esmie is meant to be invisible. Just a cleaner with a foreign accent that no one quite has time to place, and a uniform of leggings and a duster that allows her to explore the homes of the wealthy Woodlands gated community, unnoticed.
Which is exactly what she wants. Because Esmie isn’t really a cleaner.
One of the residents of Woodlands has ruined her life. And when she finds out who, she’s going to make them pay . . .
REVIEW
'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' is my main takeaway from The Cleaner and I enjoyed every single page of this dark tale of revenge! Esmie arrives at the gated community The Woodlands under the guise of a cleaner looking for part-time work. What these families don't know is that she has another, much more sinister reason, for wanting to insert herself into their lives. Day by day, Esmie gradually puts together the missing bits of the story she needs to fully get her revenge on those who have taken something incredibly important to her - listening to hushed conversations, sneaking around on her days off, searching for clues and building the evidence that she needs. There is a subtle suspense running throughout the story, as the reader you are constantly slightly on edge and always waiting for Esmie to be caught out every time she begins snooping around one of the houses. The events of the book take place over a relatively short space of time, each day Esmie tries to find out more, asks different questions, finds another angle to look into. Despite this, the book never feels slow or drawn-out, I was desperate to get to the bottom of what actually happened, who was involved and why. The chapters looking back at Esmie's life before were also really helpful in building up a picture of her as a person and why she was so determined to make these people pay for what they had done. I loved the fact that Esmie wasn't exactly perfect herself - everyone has flaws and this made her not always likeable as a character but definitely more believable.
The Cleaner is full of 'love to hate' characters, full of secrets and full of intrigue. It was great to be able to spend time getting to know all of the characters and then be hit with twist after twist that changed your opinion on them every time. Overall this was a really interesting idea for a thriller and kept my attention the whole way through.
Thanks to Anne Cater - @RandomTTours, Mary Watson and Bantam UK for the opportunity to read and review.
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Publisher: Bantam UK Genre: Crime Fiction / Thriller
ISBN: 978-0857506030
Pages: 400pp
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