The Cleaner by Elisabeth Herrmann

The Cleaner by Elisabeth Herrmann
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 400

Publisher - Bonnier Zaffre

Blurb from Goodreads

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.




My Review

We open at a children's home in Germany, 1985, a child is placed in the middle of the night - no questions asked. Flip to present day, Judith Kepler is a crime scene specialist - cleaning up scenes to return them to livable areas. When she comes across one crime scene it opens up links to her own past, things Judith may not wish to revisit. As Judith digs she crosses the path of members of Stasi and ends up on a path of death and destruction.

I thought this book was primarily going to be about a crime scene tech, learning about techniques and to be fair there is a bit of that. However it is a bit of a thriller, crime, mystery combo. Lots of action, twists and turns and Judith is one ballsy feisty character which is nice to see and pretty loyal. Focused, driven and can certainly handle herself, she isn't afraid of confrontation and will see something through to the bitter end.

The book has almost two tones, the first being a build up and getting a feel for who Judith is as a person and the second is action, shooting, being hunted or hunting. It works fine and whilst this is my first dance with this author I would read her again, 3/5 for me this time.

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