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The Cleaner
The Cleaner: A gripping thriller with a dark secret at its heart | Elisabeth Herrmann
6 posts | 4 read | 3 to read
An unforgettable heroine. An unforgiveable past. For fans of Child 44, The Lives of Others, and Stasi Child, The Cleaner is a gripping thriller that will chill and intrigue as the sins of the past catch up with the secrets of the present. Pools of blood, scenes of carnage, signs of agonising death - who deals with the aftermath of violence once the bodies have been taken away? Judith Kepler has seen it all. She is a crime scene specialist. She turns crime scenes back into habitable spaces. She is a cleaner. It is at the home of a woman who has been brutally murdered that she is suddenly confronted with her own past. The murder victim knew Judith's secret: as a child Judith was sent to an orphanage under mysterious circumstances - parentage unknown. And the East German secret police were always there, in the background. . . . When Judith begins to ask questions, she becomes the target of some powerful enemies. And nothing will ever be the same again.
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charl08
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What do your shelves say about you?
Judith's are remnants of people's homes she can't bear to see thrown in a skip.

40 likes1 stack add
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charl08
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Now reading...

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ShookBelf
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I saw an ad on Facebook this week for 'A Box of Stories', essentially £10 for 5 completely random books (all new). I took a chance and ordered them, they arrived today and I'm pleasantly surprised. Don't think I would have picked any of them up from a bookshop but there's only one of them that I don't think I'll read (Girl on the Net - not my cup of tea at all). Not a bad bookhaul really for £10. Happy Christmas to me!! 😊😊😊

rockpools Wow! 5y
Lauram What a great idea! 5y
40 likes2 comments
review
andrew61
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Pickpick

I enjoyed this thriller which centred on ghosts from east Germany of the 1980's. Our heroine judith kepler is a cleaner, that is she goes into properties where people have died or been murdered to restore for resale. In one flat a woman appears to have a connection to her past that then links her to a journalist seeking to expose stasi secrets. I njyd the read, albeit a romantic thread was a distraction but I'll definitely look fwd to more by her

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IReadThereforeIBlog
Mehso-so

Elisabeth Herrmann's spy thriller (translated from German by Bradley Schmidt) has a clever premise that makes great use of East Germany's history and the tricky issues thrown up by reunification but the story itself is clunky, especially the dialogue, and Judith's behaviour never rings true while the romance teased with Kaiserley is tedious and unconvincing, which means that ultimately this is an okay read rather than a great one.

andrew61 I finished it yesterday and enjoyed the premise, the unusual character, and the plot so later will be a thumbs up but agree the romantic element was unnecessary. Also i got quite confused with the characters. 7y
IReadThereforeIBlog I got the feeling the author was trying to go for a relationship that echoed that of Salander and Blomqvuist in Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and that was why Judith kept acting weird in some of the chapters (the outbursts in particular kinda annoyed me). Look forward to reading your review. 🙂 7y
2 likes2 comments
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andrew61
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#junemostanticipated #junebookbugs
I'm hesitant to post this as whatever i plan changes either by a visit to the library or my mood when i finish a book. Anyway the tagged book was a library reserve(german crime), one for the boys is another library, the lost europeans i ordered + really looking fwd to, and greengates was a podcast recommend and bizarrely my 1st persephone - happy june reading everyone.

batsy I've had my eye on The Cleaner, would love to hear your thoughts on that one. 7y
andrew61 @batsy so far im 100 pages in and it has me hooked, i like the idea of a heroine who doesn't fit in the stereotype mould so im looking forward to reading tonight. 7y
batsy @andrew61 That's good to hear! I'm always up for an unconventional female lead character 7y
12 likes1 stack add3 comments