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wild_hydrangea 's review for:
The Cleaner
by Paul Cleave
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
As a Christchurch native I loved hearing about pre-quake Christchurch in the audio version of The Cleaner. There was lots of nostalgia in the old square police station, the strip, South New Brighton, and other real Christchurch locations used in this novel. I loved some of the inside jokes about Christchurch included by Paul Cleave. I promise Christchurch is not as bad a place to live as Cleave makes it out to be. We are not all serial killers or thieves.
I struggled to get hooked on the crime storyline, and couldn't connect at all to main character Joe. It was refreshing to have most of the novel set from the killer's point of view, but this just highlighted further how incompetent the police force appear to be, and how dislikeable Joe is as a character. I'm not entirely sure how Melissa fit into the storyline either,what made her blackmail Joe when she discovered he was the killer instead of just turning him in?
It is pretty cool to find books set in your hometown and I want to celebrate Cleave for chosing Christchurch. I don't think the decision making throughout The Cleaner was explained sufficiently to readers to rate this any higher though.
I struggled to get hooked on the crime storyline, and couldn't connect at all to main character Joe. It was refreshing to have most of the novel set from the killer's point of view, but this just highlighted further how incompetent the police force appear to be, and how dislikeable Joe is as a character. I'm not entirely sure how Melissa fit into the storyline either,
It is pretty cool to find books set in your hometown and I want to celebrate Cleave for chosing Christchurch. I don't think the decision making throughout The Cleaner was explained sufficiently to readers to rate this any higher though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail