This book follows Alice, a mixed race young woman living in London. She meets Tom through an app for house cleaning and soon falls in love with him. As she cleans his apartment she spies on him and is soon interfering with his personal life, as she plots the perfect way for them to meet. Overall, a story about a parasocial relationship on steroids; Alice a deeply lonely and solitary figure infiltrates Tom's life and their imagined life soon overtakes her sense of reality. She doesn't have close relationships and lives in a toxic cycle with her relationship to food and her body image, this leaves her in free fall. A deeply disturbing read and I have never cringed so hard. I would recommend to readers that enjoyed Sheena Patel's " I'm A Fan ". I would also recommend the audiobook narrated by Hanako Footman.

I received this eARC from NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK | Fleet in exchange for a free and honest review.

Dark, bloody - perhaps a new genre - stalker-lit? Left me wondering what the (anti)heroine looked like - I feel like I could picture her - and Tom - as if they’re on my Insta too. Scarily felt true-to-life. Thanks to the publisher for the chance to review via NetGalley.

This Immaculate Body by Emma van Straaten is a chilling study of a woman’s obsession with a man she’s never met, but feels she knows intimately from cleaning his flat every week. In its examination of loneliness through an unreliable narrator, it is partly reminiscent of Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller, but with added themes of body dysmorphia and stalking. It isn’t a relaxing read, but is well written with compelling characterisation.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5 stars)
This Immaculate Body is unsettling in the best way, a slow, spiralling descent into obsession, loneliness, and the fragile boundaries between fantasy and reality.

For a year, Alice has been cleaning Tom's apartment. She knows the smell of his shampoo, the placement of every vitamin, the exact texture of the creases in his bedsheets. But they've never actually met. And yet, she's convinced that what they have, this one-sided intimacy, is something more. As Alice prepares for the moment she believes is inevitable; that they'll finally connect in the way she's imagined, the story unravels in quiet, eerie ways that make you question everything she believes to be true.

This book is not about romance; It's about obsession, alienation, and what happens when someone slips too far through the cracks. Alice is a deeply unreliable narrator and not always a likable one, but that's what makes her so compelling. Her loneliness is palpable, and the way the story handles class, mental health, and invisibility, especially how society views women who don't "fit the "mould, is powerful and sharp.

The writing is haunting and precise, with a quiet tension simmering just below the surface the whole time. It's the kind of book that lingers in your mind and makes you feel just uncomfortable enough to know it's doing something right.

It is a bold, confident debut and one I'll be recommending to readers who love psychologically complex characters and messy, thought-provoking storytelling.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK | Fleet, for supplying me with an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

“Alice has been cleaning Tom’s flat every Wednesday for a year. With every smudge wiped from his coffee cup, every multivitamin counted from the jar, every crease smoothed out in his bed, Alice spirals deeper into infatuation."

You know those slippery characters who you think you know and it turns out you don't? Well this book was a perfect display of just how unhinged the reader-character relationship can be (in a good way)!

Emma van Straaten has created a book that is equal parts dark and compelling, challenging how much you know of who you read, and what else there is to discover about someone when you're led deeper into their psyche.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

This book was a wild ride - while it's clear from the start that Alice is not a reliable narrator, you go back and forth with her across the course of the novel. By the end you're almost rooting for her... almost. van Straaten writes engagingly and explores some really interesting areas, particularly mental health and obsessive behaviour. Hard to say whether I'd actually recommend this to any of my friends, but I'm glad I read it.

Easily a top 5 of the books I’ve read this year. Alice is one of the most solid and clear characters I’ve ever read, and for all of her flaws and crimes, Emma Van Straaten somehow makes you love her; a display of the author’s undeniable talent. This Immaculate Body is layered, thrilling, spectacularly-paced. It is impossible to put it down, while at the same time inevitable that this book will turn your stomach. I can’t wait for more from Van Straaten.

Thanks to NetGalley, publishers and author for an ARC of This Immaculate Body.

I started this book unsure if I would be able to finish it. I did, and though I'm glad to have finished it I'm not sure if i could recommend it.
Alice, the protagonist, is completely unhinged. She is rude, unlikable and out and out crazy. The book is set in Alice's POV, and it's hard to tell if the explicitly long descriptive sentences are due to Alice, or if this is the author style of writing.

I absolutely loved this book. It's sad, it's creepy, it's deeply unsettling - it's right up my street.

Alice cleans Tom's flat every week. She puts her heart & soul into it - it's the only job she really loves. The problem is, she loves it so much because it's Toms flat. She believes he's leaving her secret messages around the place and in his reviews on the payment app. As Alice becomes increasingly obsessed, her behaviour becomes not on erratic but also dangerous. As imaginary love spills into real life, so Tom and those around him are increasingly in danger.

De Clérambault's Syndrome isn't specifically mentioned, but it certainly springs to mind as Alice's erratic behaviour spirals uncontrollably.

An excellent read, highly recommended. I can't wait to see what the author writes next.

A dark unsettling story of obsession
“Every Wednesday, Alice cleans Tom’s flat, though she wipes down surfaces and hoovers the floor, she also counts his multivitamins and examines his fingerprints. She falls in love with him”
The author captures the turmoil of Alice, as she becomes fixated with Tom, we watch her self destruct.
It becomes increasingly difficult to read, but also compelling.
Alice is a character you will never forget.
An impressive, compulsive debut read, blurring fantasy with reality
Thanks @evswrites, @littlebrowngroup_uk & @netgalley for giving all the Baby Reindeer vibes

I DNF’d after a few days as I wasn't enjoying it and misjudged whether the content would be for me. The writing itself is excellent and I might well return to it to see if I get on better at another point, but all I really wanted the main character to do was see a therapist and have someone give her a hug.

I couldn't finish this. I love an unhinged woman/unlikeable protagonist, but she was just so awful I couldn't continue. It's very overwritten too and a weird obsession with blood and menstruation? And very little character development. All these things combined made it a no for me.

A creepy story where I was torn between loving and hating the main character. However she was full of life and I wanted to read more. It’s always a treat to read a book by someone you have heard of and then realise this is a debut. I’m very much looking forward to more by her. A very strong and enjoyable debut.

Best book I've read in a while - dark, shocking and compelling! Can't wait to see what Emma van Straaten write next.

I devoured this book. I had the privilege of reading Emma’s early submission when I was involved with the Discoveries Prize in its inaugural year, and even then, I knew she was something truly special.

The story centers around Alice, a young woman who becomes increasingly obsessed with the man whose house she’s been cleaning every Wednesday for a year — a man she’s never actually met in person. As the moment of their first face-to-face meeting approaches, Alice spirals deeper into the delusions she’s created for herself.

What Emma has crafted here is a novel that’s visceral, primal, and utterly raw. Yes, it’s a book about obsession, but it’s also about loneliness, the heavy expectations we place on romantic love, and a woman’s struggle with her self-esteem. It’s honestly such an impressive debut!

Alice has been cleaning Tom’s flat for some time and develops an unhealthy obsession with him, despite never having met him. Her obsession builds and her behaviour and stream of thoughts become more alarming as the novel goes on.
Unreliable and unhinged narrator - check. Unsettling and engrossing - check.
I couldn't put this down for the first half but I felt it lost abit of steam after that. It wasn’t a read I enjoyed, in fact, I found it downright uncomfortable, but that was probably the point!

I am not sure where to start with this one. For the first thirty per cent, I was nearly-constantly on the verge of DNF’ing – I ploughed on because it was short, and relatively easy to read. But something about Alice’s story kept drawing me in and I am really glad that I finished the book, despite the less than stellar beginning.
Alice cleans Tom’s flat; she is also fully, delusionally convinced that herself and Tom are destined to end up together. They have literally never met but she feels that she knows him thanks to her job. This unhinged premise reminded me a bit of Maud Ventura’s “My Husband” from last year; like the narrator of that novel, Alice’s obsession stems from cripplingly low self-esteem. She has a fraught relationship with her body and her family – but above all she is desperately lonely, which fuels her obsession with Tom.
As you may have gathered, this was a novel of two halves for me. I found the writing style hard to get used to; over-written is putting it mildly. he prose was too purple, the language over-the-top but not vivid. Alice’s narrative voice is strong but she doesn’t speak like a real person, which is rapidly becoming a major gripe for me, especially when it comes to character-driven novels like this one.
Alice is obviously an unreliable narrator of the highest form, and fairly unhinged; I think these characters work best in a literary context when we kind of understand where we’re coming from – it’s why novels like Gone Girl and My Year of Rest and Relaxation work so well. Who amongst us, etc etc. But I just didn’t get Alice, or why she was so obsessed with Tom. She didn’t develop over the course of the novel either, so it made it really hard to connect with her beyond muttering “jesus, this girl needs therapy” under my breath every five minutes.

The ending was…a choice. I still can’t work out how to feel about it. I kind of love when this sort of novel makes me feel like I am losing my mind alongside the narrator, but a lot of it just felt a bit chaotic and strange. 3 stars, one for Hanako Footman’s impeccable narration.

Alice is an unreliable and obsessive narrator. In this disturbing and dark tale the protagonist is sure that the man she is cleaning for is the love of her life. He just doesn't know it yet. Van Straaten has a wonderful and unique writing style. I couldn't put this book down. Fantastic!

INTRO
I had started hearing hype about this book last year and had become practically unhinged with my obsession of it. When the publishers Little, Brown Book Co and NetGalley allowed me to read an advance copy I could have kissed them in my euphoria. They asked for my honest thoughts in exchange for the ARC and all I can say is this book is off-the-charts amazing with an absolutely ICONIC character in Alice. I knew this book and I were meant to be together, that's right this is "The One" you need to read it!

SYNOPSIS
Alice has been cleaning Tom’s flat for almost a year. He is her only client, her ‘soul’ focus. Alice cleans, collects, documents, and takes samples every Wednesday from 9-10am. Her tender fascination with Tom has grown into unhinged obsession, and despite never meeting in person, she is convinced they are meant to be together. Tom is unaware that his cleaner is reading and curating his inbox, engineering the perfect meet cute via his diary, and scaring off any potential threats to their future happiness. Committed to her belief that he is ‘The One’ Alice is blindsided when her fantasy faces reality.

MY THOUGHTS
I confess I am obsessed with Alice. I adore books about unhinged women. I feel Emma Van Straaten has created an absolutely ICONIC character in Alice but also one who needs treating sympathetically and with care. Alice is a victim of one of the most common circumstances we face in todays society; isolation and loneliness are key drivers in her unhinged behaviour. She has an obsessive need to connect with another human and believes romantic love is the answer. Alice is also crippled by the unbearable pain of body dysphoria caused by the cruelty of her peers following her lack of understanding around romantic interactions and appropriateness during her formative years at school

I will never stop thinking about Alice, about the way women talk to themselves, and treat their bodies, and view love as the answer to fulfilment. This is one of the best books I have read so far in 2025. This is a love sonnet to the lonely, and the lengths it can drive behaviour for human connection.

From the moment you open the pages of This Immaculate Body you cannot stop turning the pages.
It’s a one-woman monologue told by Alice, Alice who cleans Tom’s flat every Wednesday and then goes to her everyday job as a paralegal.
All very ordinary, but Alice is far from ordinary, she is obsessed with Tom, with the idea of Tom, of his clothes, the sheets on his bed, the gherkins that she regularly tops up in his fridge. Alice and Tom are destined to be together, to marry and live the romantic dream, happily ever after, except Tom is unaware, has no knowledge that Alice loves him.
This is the story of a mad, unhinged woman or did something else lurk beneath that drove Alice to more bizarre and extreme measures for that final coming together, of Tom’s realisation that he loves Alice.
I was utterly wrapped in the narrative, at turns shocked, felt empathy, sorrow, disgust, wanted to yell at Alice to stop, to get help. This was a woman spiraling out of control pushed by the actions of Tom but also her own mind twisting his actions to mean something else. Her final act was one of desperation but finally revealed to the reader the reasons behind her mindset, her actions.
This was an utterly brilliant novel of a woman’s spiraling mental health, lonely, isolated, no self-worth, looking for love, for validation, unable to take compliments on her apparent beauty. And what about that ending - wow
Fantastic!