Esmie has travelled far to try and find out what happened to her beloved brother so she poses as a cleaner and integrates herself into the connected families. This is an interesting story with good characters and it did keep me guessing. I do however feel it was slightly long and perhaps did not need to be quite so. It’s an entertaining read nonetheless.

Esmie is hired as a cleaner for a family, but she is there to uncover their secrets what really happened to her brother when he was over studying. Who was the mystery woman that he fell in love with?
The story goes back and forward to the happy times with Nico before he went to study and to the present day.
I couldn't really get into this story and I found the characters very annoying throughout the book Overall rating 2 1/2 stars

Fantastic story, really enjoyable and fast paced read full of twists and turns, would highly recommend, thank you for the adnavded copy.

I had high hopes for this book, but unfortunately, it fell flat for me. From the start, I struggled to connect with the characters and often found myself confusing them throughout the story. The only character I truly liked was Esme.

The pacing felt slow, making it difficult to stay engaged. Instead of feeling compelled to keep reading, I pushed through just to avoid DNFing.

If you enjoy slow-burning psychological thrillers, this might be for you—but sadly, it just wasn’t for me.

Thanks to Random House UK and Netgalley UK for ARC.
We know from the outset that young cleaner Esmie had depths hidden from the small tight knit Woodlands estate in which she cleans. It's clear to the reader that she has engineered the job so that she can find out more about the residents for her own purposes. Turns out they have more secrets than she bargained for and she is quickly drawn into a dark forest indeed.
This is well crafted by an established YA novelist. For my taste it was a little too twisty and gothic, but I think many people will love spending time in this small part of Ireland.

A twisty book, with sinister undertones, an unexpected ending, and full of unreliable narrators.

Told across dual timelines, we follow Nico, Esmie and Simone as they grow up, and the aftermath of Nico's fateful time studying away from home.

With Nico ill in hospital, Essie follows his tracks to Ireland, trying to work out why his university funding had been withdrawn and he was forced to leave his course. Someone had betrayed him and she wants to find out who.

She manages to get herself a job cleaning for the small group of houses in the gated community where he had been lodging, giving her ample access to roam the houses looking for clues. In doing so she uncovers much more than she expected. Everyone seems to be hiding secrets from each other, and she is determined to use this to her advantage.

Not a comfortable read, with unreliable narrators, unlikeable characters, and various side stories. The ending is good but I struggled with the pacing leaning towards meandering rather than suspenseful.

A bit of a slow start but developed into a gripping storyline. Well written. Interesting plot cantering around a miked up family and equally mixed-up protagonist. Different ending to that expected. I would recommend this as a god read.

Good story, gripping. good twists with the main character that I never expected. Kept me reading. Look foward to hearing more from Mary Watson

Thanks to NetGalley, publishers and author for an ARC of The Cleaner.

True rating 3.5 stars.
A good book with a good storyline.. I did want to enjoy it more, it is a great promise for a book, but something just didn't fully click with me to give more stars.
Recommend reading

This is a gripping thriller that keeps readers on the edge of their seats from start to finish
The plot is filled with unexpected twists and turns, the writing is both engaging and suspenseful, with well-developed characters that add depth to the narrative.
The pacing of the novel is perfect, with just the right amount of tension to keep readers hooked without feeling overwhelmed.
Really enjoyable

3.5★s
The Cleaner is the third stand-alone novel by prize-winning South African-born author, Mary Watson. Why is twenty-five-year-old music teacher Esmerelda Theodora Lorenzo, calling herself Esmie, posing as a cleaner on the outskirts of an Irish university town? She has fled trauma, distress and violence in her small South American town, leaving behind a loving mother, an older brother in a coma, and a once-best-friend, now fiancée of her brother.

Almost three years earlier, Nico Lorenzo enthusiastically took up a scholarship to continue his neuroscience studies in Ireland. Six months ago, he returned, a changed person. A love affair gone wrong had seen his funding withdrawn, his dream over. But he is taciturn, won’t explain, and seeks consolation in drugs and alcohol.

Esmie manages to con her way into cleaning for three families at The Woodlands, knowing the cleaner is usually invisible. Her job gives her access to the intimate details of the three families with whom Nico was close while he was here. Her well-honed revenge plan has three stages: find Nico’s lover, learn what she cared about most, and take that away from her.

But as she probes their private lives, she discovers a lot going on behind the scenes in these apparently happy families: an academic obsessed with his wife’s dead aunt; a doctor exerting coercive control over his wife; a woman selling prescription drugs to bored housewives and students; a grieving woman determined, at any cost, to block the disposal of her beloved father’s home; and a wife who dallies with her husband’s students. There’s drugs, theft, extra-marital affairs, and blackmail.

The astute reader will soon guess that Esmie might not be an entirely reliable narrator, and that her mental state is less than stable. Watson uses flashbacks to drip-feed the back story that results in Nico’s coma state. And the reader needs to don their disbelief suspenders for a number of aspects of the plot, including how easily she falls into the job, and how a woman cleaning at least six houses manages to spend so much time snooping. And is the motive for all this really credible…? A slow-burn thriller that drags more than it should.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Random House UK – Transworld.

An interesting read with lots of twists and suspense. Some of it was a bit odd for me, but it was enjoyable.

Thank you to the author, publisher and netgalley for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

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.