I was auto-approved for this one and I impulsively accepted it because I liked the idea of a story from the perspective of a crime scene cleaner. That is what this book is, but it’s also very much not. I could never have predicted the way that this book turned out and I loved every page-turning moment of it.
Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for the eARC of this book. It has not affected my honest review.
About the book:
Death is not the end. For Grace McGill, it’s only the beginning.
When people die alone and undiscovered, it’s her job to clean up what’s left behind – whether it’s clutter, bodily remains or dark secrets.
When an old man lies undetected in his flat for months, it seems an unremarkable life and an unnoticed death. But Grace knows that everyone has a story and that all deaths mean something more.
What did I think?
I couldn’t predict a single second of the book. The synopsis is very vague, and that is definitely the right way to read this book. I went knowing very little and it ended up surprising me enough that it earned a rare 5 stars. If you like thrillers with dark secrets buried in the past, and a complicated and difficult female protagonist, you’ll love this book as much as I did. Grace is not remotely likeable and that made me love her.
The twist in this book pulled the rug out from under my feet then kicked me in the teeth for good measure. That’s all I’m willing to say about the twist, because that’s all I knew going in and I had so much fun reading this that there was a point where I was sat at my desk with my head in my hands as I listened, utterly focused on the audiobook. I probably looked unhinged. Which was okay, because I felt unhinged listening to parts of this book. I’ve been reading more horror and thrillers lately, and while I was expecting a kind of murder mystery thriller, what I got was a psychological thriller more on par with My Sister, the Serial Killer and The Majesties. Intense and a little overwhelming, but in the best way.
I loved the atmosphere in this book. As the book progressed, it became progressively intense and unnerving until I was desperate for answers and equally desperate to look away before things got any worse. This book wasn’t for the faint at heart and even with my usual soft spot for intense thrillers and gross fiction, I found myself a little shivery at the descriptions of the death scenes. This is going to be one of those novels that sticks with me for a long time, haunting my thoughts, and a lot of that is due to Grace as an incredibly unreliable and uncanny narrator. I have no doubt I’ll be looking out for more from C.S. Robertson.
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Release Date: 20th January 2022
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