I liked the premise of this book, and thought it was a good debut novel with an unsettling, unlikeable narrator - always the best ones!
However, I did struggle with the writer's style, particularly at the beginning; it felt unnecessarily
verbose and didn't hook me into the story and I needed a second attempt to get through the whole book.
Thank you to netgalley and Little Brown books for an advance copy of this book.

This Immaculate body by Emma van Straaten is heartbreaking, magical, and real. In her debut novel, van Straaten fuses parasocial fantasy, existential crisis, horror and thriller with such an exemplary display of narrative power, that you are shocked to know that this is her first book.

The premise of the book is simple — Alice is in love with Tom, a man whose house she cleans every Wednesday for a year. She is efficient and detailed — she not only cleans every smudge, but also counts the tablets in his vitamin bottle to see if he is taking them daily, peruses through his work emails, and check his weekly planner so she can engineer a ‘meet cute’.

From then on, it is a voyeuristic descent into what is a dark obsessive journey which culminates unsuccessfully in a ‘meet cute’ where Alice realises that only love is not enough, and takes a plunge into a grief-filled abyss deepened by heartbreaking confusion and rejection, prompting you to empathise with her.

Alice is morally ambiguous, you don’t know how much of her truths are lies but, van Straaten writes her with such vulnerability, that you are almost inclined to forgo her evil machinations. The author’s world building and backstory of Alice are extraordinary, with mind-blowing dreamscapes, which push the narrative further, matched only by characters who seem as unaware of the operatic web of lies that Alice weaves.

A complicated morality tale with plenty of operatic intrigue, strong young characters and skin-crawling atmosphere created by van Straaten through Alice’s very open obsessive train of thought obfuscating everything to serve only her, makes this debut novel succeed on all counts.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Great storytelling that will leave the reader unsettled. Some edge of the seat moments throughout. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy

Emma van Straaten was the winner of the inaugural Women’s Prize/Curtis Brown Agency Discoveries Award for the first 10,000 pages of her work-in-progress novel then provisionally titled Heartstring and whose genesis she described as follows:

"When I first moved to London, I became a casual cleaner for a couple who lived in the same block of flats as me. I'd advertised in the communal post-room, and after a five-minute interview with Sarah, was hired to pop round twice a week. They left cash on the counter, and communicated by the odd note, so I never saw her again, and never met her husband at all. Arriving often minutes after they'd left for work, it wasn't long before I felt I knew them. Their surroundings seemed to give me clues as to their personalities and I grew oddly fond of them. I began making all sort of involuntary judgements and assumptions from this strangely intimate relationship I had with their belongings, as I washed up their breakfast bowls, straightened the books on their bedside tables and folded their clothes. They eventually moved away (which I’d known would happen because of the twelve-week pregnancy scan that appeared on their corkboard and the subsequent estate agent brochures spread on their kitchen counter), but the experience stayed with me. Several years later, I signed up for an evening creative writing course for which I wrote a short story, drawing on this uneasy knowingness. My classmates found my depiction of an obsessive cleaner who blindly loves the inhabitant of a flat she cleans unsettling. I wanted her story told more fully, her fixation made more frightening, so I started writing Heartstring."

On the week she was told she was the winner she had her first child which did slow down the completion process, but things did proceed (the final edits to the book were made just ahead of the due date of her second child) and now the novel is due for publication in early 2025 – although renamed “This Immaculate Body” in the UK and “Creep” in the US (overall I am not sure any of the three titles quite works although the UK one is a lot more striking).

The book fits very firmly in the unlikeable female genre (complete with the usual unfiltered – and here slightly unhinged – behaviour and deliberate gross out obsessions with bodily fluids) – a kind of Moshfegh/Cottrell mash up although thankfully set in the UK which made it a little more relatable (and added Oliphant-esque shades).

The narrator Alice is part English/part Asian (the author is part Mauritian) and has an older sister Cass: once both inseparable and often mistaken for twins they have diverged over the years in education and career (Cass – Law at Oxford, Magic Circle Law Firm; Alice – English Lit from which she dropped out, initially gig-work as a cleaner, then as a clerical paralegal), friendship (the unravelling of their closeness emerging gradually over time) and body image (Cass glamorous, Alice binge-obsessed).

During Alice’s abortive cleaning gigs she becomes obsessed with one client – Tom – and retains him even while office-working (excusing her once a month hourly clean as a therapy session) and is convinced that he is equally desirous of her (or at least will be if she can engineer the right opportunity).

Most of the novel follows her on her obsession – her regular sweeps of his flat, trying his food and toiletries (many of which she then starts eating/using herself), stealing away small items including monitoring his email on his (rather unbelievably – but this is not a book which exactly attempts to major on credibility of plot or character) unprotected laptop, her attempts to engineer encounters meetings (knowing what she does of his itinerary), lengthy volunteering at a nursing home where she first grooms and then infects one of Tom’s relatives so she can be present when he visits, sabotaging his relationship with his girlfriend, all culminating in her gate-crashing a family trip to Paris to celebrate his mother’s birthday – all of course with predictably disastrous consequences.

At the same time, she treats what seems to be a potentially promising relationship set up by a colleague as little more than an inconvenient smokescreen and ignores her sister’s attempt at contact.

The book has some distinctive quirks: her nursing home visit ends with a patient dying and she thereafter continually reimagines in her head the explanation for this death. And early on we learn that one of her colleagues is engaged to someone whose names Alice “cannot summon the energy to remember. Its probably James. Let’s be honest. It always is, every man my age is called James and if they aren’t they might as well be” and thereafter every male character is a James (I counted at least six).

To be honest I think the novel would have worked better with even more of these quirks/repeat jokes– as it was the humour and pacing in the book (and clear quality of writing) which made it one of the least unlikeable of a genre that really does not work that well for me.

I suspect this book will be a big hit in 2025 and I would not be surprised to see a Women’s Prize longlisting.

This book was incredibly unsettling, I loved it! It was well written, delving into the thoughts of Alice, our main character and her obsession with Tom, a man who's flat she cleans. I felt like it was a bit slow to start, but before I knew it I was hooked and couldn't put the book down.

I've not read many books with an unreliable narrator but this has encouraged me to look at more. Some of her actions are awful but honestly I felt like I KNEW Alice and I really wanted to help her.

I loved the descriptive writing style. I'm looking forward to seeing what this author does next!

This was the last book I read of the year and instantly made my top 10.
It was so original that I kept thinking I’d read something similar before but was wracking my brains to think what it was.
I love a dark book about obsessive relationships and unhinged messy women so this was a real wheelhouse for me.
Everything in this book is gross and fun and unintentionally funny. I loved it.

5 stars.

I really enjoyed 'This Immaculate Body', even though I was completely freaked out that it all starts with a cleaning job! I read some parts as one would watch something peeking through their fingers, thinking, "No, she wouldn't do that," and she does!

Emma van Straaten writes a convincing, obsessive protagonist, and I look forward to reading more of her books.

Recommended read if you enjoyed 'Death of a Bookseller' by Alice Slater and/or 'Wetlands' by Charlotte Roche.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the advance copy.

Emma van Straaten manages to get across obsession in "This Immaculate Body" so well. Alice cleans for Him (Tom) every Wednesday. She is totally obsessed and tends his flat with love and imagines conversations between them and how she will win him over. As the book progresses you realise that her life is pretty much empty. She has a dull job but has managed to wangle Wednesday mornings so that she can clean His flat and she lives for Wednesdays. As the story moves on, she becomes more and more obsessed. From her perspective, she is just dedicating her love and devotion to Him but of course from other people's perspectives, her behaviour is deeply disturbing. A very uncomfortable read at times but well done for the author to convey this behaviour so well.

This is one of the most unsettling and darkly captivating books I’ve read in a long time. It follows a woman’s descent into a delusional obsession with a man whose house she cleans, and the story only gets darker as her mindset becomes more unhinged.

The protagonist is deeply flawed—she’s a pathological liar, manipulative, and outright cruel to those around her. She uses and mistreats everyone who cares about her, making her a character you love to hate. And yet, despite her awfulness, the writing draws you in so completely that you can’t look away.

This book pulls no punches. Some moments were so dark and disturbing that they were almost too much to bear, and I found myself struggling to reconcile some of the choices made by the protagonist. But that’s what makes it such a raw and eye-opening portrayal of mental illness. The author captures how delusion and obsession can take hold and spiral out of control, creating a horrifyingly realistic depiction of a fractured mind.

While the protagonist’s actions are nearly unforgivable at times, the excellent writing and deeply unsettling tone kept me hooked.

Easily a top 3 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.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7083762647

What to say about short novel narrated by Alice, lonely, struggling with an eating disorder and a bona fide stalker? Creepy, claustrophobic, like watching a car crash in slow motion but I couldn't look away or stop turning the pages. Alice by turns inspires pity, sympathy and true horror. Not a nice book, but brilliantly done and will stay with me for a long time after finishing it.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Alice has been cleaning Tom’s flat every Wednesday for a year. She becomes infatuated by him and wants nothing more than to meet him face to face and for him to fall in love.

This is a story about obsession and the way women are perceived. It highlights just how far people will really go to get what they want.

I liked this book! I found some parts really interesting and exciting but other parts quite slow. It took me quite a wee while to read this which surprised me considering I thought this was right up my alley!

I think I’m still a bit confused about what actually happened so can’t wait to find others who have read it who can maybe explain 🙈. There’s a chance I might reread it next year to see what my thoughts are when I’m in the mood for it!

I’d recommend this if you like a weird book and books about obsession!

I was completely intrigued by the premise of this book. Alice has been cleaning Tom’s flat every Wednesday for the past year. Wiping surfaces and smoothing out his bed sheets, these simple acts leading to a deep infatuation. Counting down the moment until they will meet face to face, but she soon discovers that love may not be the cure she had hoped for. Brilliantly written, this novel slowly draws you in as it explores, class, race, loneliness and mental health and it will stay with you long after you turn the last page. Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group and the author got the chance to review.

This is such a dark and engaging book about obsession and loneliness, showing a protagonist who is rapidly spiralling out of control.

Alice cleans Tom’s flat every Wednesday, becoming infatuated with him despite the fact they’ve never met. She thinks about him constantly, imagining their first meeting and how perfect their relationship will be. When I first started reading this, I assumed Tom was an ex-partner because of all the detail she goes into, so it was very disconcerting when it became apparent that she didn’t know him at all. It’s dark and creepy, with an anxious build-up to her meeting Tom and how this will unfold.

The writing style was very erratic, reflecting Alice’s state of mind as she became more obsessed with Tom. Despite her behaviour being unacceptable and weird at times, the author still manages to make you feel for Alice, with commentary around loneliness and isolation. It’s uncomfortable and heartbreaking, with a compelling voice making it impossible to put down.

Would definitely recommend this one!

*I was gifted an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

Alice, who has an underrepresented profile, is obsessed with Tom, and gives us the closest inspection you can get of her mind and life.
Van Straaten’s writing is amongst the best I have seen in the unreliable narrator + obsession + mental health issues triangle.
Her narrator’s (Alice) voice is specific, unique and elaborate. I cannot emphasise enough how good the writing was leaving no room for vagueness. The use of language was a great as it could be in a conversational first person narrative.
We are never sure how much of Alice’s obsessive, naive behaviours stem from trauma, or are a combination of neurodiversity and trauma. She displays symptoms of some personality disorders as well. I must admit, I found a minor aspect of her behaviours and beliefs to be quite conflicting, but complex characters can have conflicting qualities.
I found her wit, mix of humanity and evil and her narration quite engaging.
Besides, the setting was contemporary.
Near the end, I had minor reservations about the plot developments, but overall, I think the pacing and the ending were ideal.
This would have easily been a shorter novel and still be good enough, but the length was used to add depth and detail. It felt necessary.
I believe novels should be looked at within their own context. It is a five-star read for what it intends to be,
In my wider reading, I often go for other styles of narrative and more plot, though I never lost interest in this book and Alice hence solid 5 stars even with my general preferences.

Funny, sharp and unsettling, This Immaculate Body asks big questions and offers no straightforward answers. I'll be thinking about it for a long time.

The prose is lucid, beautiful and incredibly readable. Alice's voice is perfectly pitched and controlled. She's creepy and unreliable, yes, but also thoughtful and intelligent in so many ways, and strangely hopeful. It's quite a remarkable achievement to create a character who's at once so disturbing, frustrating and endearing. And that, I think, is the great achievement of this book. Through the lens of an unhinged narrator and obsessive love story, Emma van Straaten digs into big questions around loneliness and shame. Both in our strange cultural moment, when our intimate lives are so mediated by tech, but also as a universal feature of human life, intersecting with race, gender and trauma. She beautifully weaves together so many small cruelties and kindnesses, both in Alice and the people around her. It's all so messy and moving and human.

I can't wait to see what Emma does next.

Creepy, twisty, unnerving look through the lense of female obsession.

The writing style takes a little getting used to at first as we sink deeper into our main character’s disturbed state of mind - the author is clearly skilled and writes descriptively.

I definitely think this is a polarising book - it wouldn’t be for someone who struggles with character led stories.

For me, I struggled to connect with Alice and I think that was partly because we were plunged straight into her state of mind with no context or understanding as to why she was the way she was.

But I can absolutely still appreciate this as a skillfully written story and I think fans of Fatal Attraction/American Pyscho would like this!

According to the book description it contains a lot of social comment on “women, mental health the lost in society”
For me it was too rambling and I found I didn’t care about the protagonists.

2.5

I love books about obsession, but this one didn’t work for me, which was a big disappointment.

This is an unsettling read following Alice, a cleaner who becomes obsessed with a man called Tom. She cleans his apartment and is convinced they will end up together even though they’ve never met. She starts to piece together intimate parts of his life and spirals more and more out of control as the book progresses.

This is described as “convenience store woman meets baby reindeer" and I think that comparison isn’t that accurate. I think coming into the book with that expectation is maybe why it fell short for me. I did enjoy Alice as a character—she was unlikeable and unhinged—my kind of favourite character. But I felt little sympathy for her.

Once I hit 25% in, I started to feel quite frustrated with the writing. It was repetitive, and I couldn’t click with it in the way I wanted to. Anyways, a 2.5! Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for an early eARC.

3.5 rounded up. This is a story of female obsession - Alice is obsessed with Tom, the man whose flat she cleans, and takes it to new and disturbing levels. I liked the tension in this book, the commentary on race and class and how this is was intertwined in Alice’s very complex - and negative - identity and perception of self. I was less of a fan of the overwrought writing (there was no need to capitalise Him, He and His: the reader gets the obsession without this) and a lot of the commentary on weight was hard to read.