Mary Watson’s adult debut, The Cleaner, arrives as a meticulously crafted psychological thriller that transforms the familiar domestic noir landscape into something far more sinister. Set against the manicured lawns and hidden secrets of an exclusive Irish gated community, Watson delivers a narrative that peels back layers of privilege to expose the rot beneath.
The premise appears deceptively simple: Esmie, a seemingly invisible domestic cleaner, infiltrates the wealthy enclave of The Woodlands with a hidden agenda. What unfolds is a masterclass in unreliable narration and moral ambiguity that will leave readers questioning everything they thought they understood about justice, love, and revenge.
The Art of Invisible Predation
Watson’s greatest strength lies in her protagonist’s duplicitous nature. Esmie—whose true identity as Simone, Nico Lorenzo’s former fiancée, is gradually revealed—embodies the perfect predator hiding in plain sight. The author skillfully exploits societal blind spots around domestic workers, particularly foreign women, to create a character who weaponizes her own invisibility.
The opening chapters establish Esmie’s methodical approach to infiltration with surgical precision. Watson’s prose mirrors her protagonist’s calculated movements through these privileged homes, each sentence measured and deliberate. The author demonstrates remarkable restraint in revealing information, allowing tension to build through what is left unsaid rather than melodramatic revelations.
Esmie’s position as a cleaner becomes a brilliant metaphor for her mission—she has come not to clean up messes, but to create them. The irony is delicious: while scrubbing surfaces and organizing closets, she simultaneously unravels lives and relationships with the same meticulous attention to detail.
A Web of Interconnected Betrayals
The narrative structure of The Cleaner by Mary Watson deserves particular praise. Watson weaves together multiple timelines and perspectives, gradually revealing how past sins echo into present consequences. The relationship between Nico, his sister Esmerelda, and Simone forms the emotional core of the novel, with flashbacks to their shared home revealing the toxic dynamics that set everything in motion.
The author’s portrayal of Nico’s downfall—from promising academic to drug-addicted exile—serves as the catalyst for Simone’s transformation into Esmie. Watson doesn’t shy away from the uncomfortable truth that love and obsession often wear the same face. Simone’s violent history, particularly the murder of her abusive father, establishes her as a character capable of extreme measures when cornered.
The secondary characters in The Woodlands are equally well-developed, each harboring their own secrets and motivations. Isabelle’s double life as both trapped housewife and drug dealer “Alex” provides a compelling parallel to Esmie’s own deceptions. The revelation that she was Nico’s mysterious lover adds another layer of betrayal to an already complex web.
Where Privilege Meets Consequence
Watson excels at exposing the hypocrisy of the wealthy Woodlands residents. These characters exist in a bubble of entitlement where consequences seem negotiable and morality is flexible. Paul’s controlling nature, Amber’s manipulative affairs, and Linc’s obsession with the dead poet Eden Hale all contribute to an atmosphere of moral decay disguised by material comfort.
The author’s decision to set the climax during a midsummer garden party is particularly effective. The juxtaposition of celebration and violence, of public festivity and private horror, creates a memorable tableau that speaks to the novel’s central themes about hidden truths.
Technical Craftsmanship and Pacing Issues
Watson’s prose style adapts beautifully to her unreliable narrator, becoming more fragmented and urgent as Esmie’s carefully constructed facade begins to crumble. The author’s background in poetry is evident in her precise word choices and atmospheric descriptions, particularly in the scenes set in the cottage where Linc obsesses over Eden Hale’s lost works.
However, the novel suffers from pacing issues in its middle sections. The extended sequences of Esmie methodically searching through personal belongings, while thematically appropriate, occasionally slow the narrative momentum. Some readers may find themselves frustrated by the deliberately withheld information, though this reviewer argues it serves the story’s ultimate purposes.
The incorporation of the Norwegian folktale “The Sweetheart in the Wood” provides an elegant framework for the story’s themes of predator and prey, though Watson perhaps relies too heavily on this metaphor in the latter chapters.
Moral Complexity and Character Accountability
The Cleaner by Mary Watson refuses to provide easy answers about justice and retribution. Simone/Esmie emerges as both victim and perpetrator, someone whose trauma doesn’t excuse her actions but certainly explains them. Watson forces readers to grapple with uncomfortable questions: Does past abuse justify present violence? Can revenge ever truly satisfy? When everyone is complicit in various degrees of wrongdoing, who deserves punishment?
The novel’s most unsettling achievement is making readers complicit in Esmie’s mission. We want her to succeed in exposing Isabelle’s crimes and Amber’s betrayals, even knowing the methods are unconscionable. This moral murkiness elevates the work above simple thriller territory into something more psychologically complex.
Character Development and Relationships
The relationship dynamics Watson creates are simultaneously toxic and magnetic. The revelation that Simone killed her father years earlier recontextualizes every interaction, casting doubt on whether any of her emotions are genuine or carefully performed. Her ability to compartmentalize violence while maintaining intimate relationships speaks to a sophisticated understanding of psychopathy.
Linc emerges as perhaps the most tragic figure—a man so obsessed with a dead poet that he becomes blind to the living woman manipulating him. His willingness to drug his sister-in-law Ceanna to obtain keys to Eden Hale’s safe reveals the depths of his obsession and moral flexibility.
Technical Execution: Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths:
- Masterful use of unreliable narration that maintains suspense without feeling manipulative
- Rich atmospheric writing that brings the Irish setting to life
- Complex character psychology that avoids simple villain/victim dynamics
- Clever use of domestic spaces as both sanctuary and trap
Areas for Improvement:
- Occasional pacing lags during investigative sequences
- Some plot threads feel underdeveloped (particularly Róisín’s story)
- The ending’s resolution feels somewhat rushed after the careful buildup
- Certain coincidences stretch credibility
Comparative Context and Genre Evolution
The Cleaner by Mary Watson joins the ranks of sophisticated domestic thrillers like Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl and Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series. Watson brings a fresh perspective to familiar themes of class conflict and hidden violence, using her South African background and Irish setting to explore issues of belonging and otherness.
The novel’s treatment of immigration and class invisibility adds social commentary that elevates it beyond pure entertainment. Watson understands how societal prejudices can be weaponized by those clever enough to exploit them.
Final Verdict: A Compelling if Flawed Debut
The Cleaner by Mary Watson succeeds as both an engaging thriller and a meditation on the nature of justice. Watson has crafted a morally complex narrative that lingers long after the final page. While the novel has structural issues and occasionally indulges in overwrought metaphor, its psychological sophistication and atmospheric writing mark Watson as a promising voice in the thriller genre.
The book’s exploration of how trauma shapes us—and how we shape others through our actions—feels particularly relevant. Watson refuses to offer redemption or easy answers, instead presenting a world where everyone pays a price for their choices, sometimes long after they’ve made them.
For readers who appreciate psychological complexity over action sequences, and moral ambiguity over clear-cut heroes, The Cleaner by Mary Watson offers a satisfying if unsettling experience. It’s a book that trusts its audience to grapple with uncomfortable truths about human nature.
Recommended for Fans Of:
- The Secret History by Donna Tartt – For its exploration of privilege and moral decay
- In the Woods by Tana French – For its atmospheric Irish setting and psychological depth
- Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn – For its unreliable narrator and family dysfunction
- The Silent Companion by Laura Purcell – For its use of domestic spaces as sites of horror
- Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty – For its examination of secrets within affluent communities
The Cleaner announces Mary Watson as a thriller writer to watch, even if this particular outing doesn’t quite achieve the heights of the genre’s masterworks. It’s a promising debut that suggests even better things to come.
