The Cleaner

The Cleaner Synopsis

There is a copycat serial killer on the loose in New Zealand, and the real Christchurch Carver is determined to find him…
 
'Dark, bloody, and gripping ... classic noir fiction' John Connolly

'Cleave uses words like lethal weapons' New York Times

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Joe is in control of everything in his simple life - both his day job as a janitor for the police department and his 'night work'. He isn't bothered by the daily news reports of the Christchurch Carver, who, they say, has murdered seven women. Joe knows, though, that the Carver killed only six. He knows that for a fact, and he's determined to find the copycat. He'll punish him for the one, then frame him for the other six. It's the perfect plan because he already knows he can outwit the police.

All he needs now is to take care of all the women who keep getting in his way, including his odd, overprotective mother and Sally, the maintenance worker, who sees him as a replacement for her dead brother. Then there's the mysterious Melissa, the only woman to have ever understood him, but whose fantasies of blackmail and torture don't have a place in Joe's investigation.
 
Shocking, twisty and breathtakingly tense, the international bestselling The Cleaner is a masterpiece of suspense, and a brilliant, dark, bloody masterpiece.
 
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Praise for Paul Cleave
 
'You may think you know where it's going, but you couldn't be more wrong. A true page-turner filled with dread, rage, doubt and more twists than the Remutaka Pass' Linwood Barclay
 
'Paul Cleave is an automatic must-read for me… it grabbed me by the throat, shook me around, and left me breathing hard. Fantastic, and highly recommended' Lee Child
 
'A true page-turner, with an intriguing premise, a rollercoaster plot and a cast of believably flawed characters' Guardian
 
'An absolute BELTER of a book … I'd forgotten how good Paul Cleave is!' Sarah Pinborough
 
'Cleave writes the kind of dark, intense thrillers that I never want to end' Simon Kernick
 
'Tense, thrilling, touching. Paul Cleave is very good indeed' John Connolly
 
'Relentlessly gripping, deliciously twisted' Mark Billingham
 
'An intense adrenaline rush from start to finish' S J Watson
 
'A riveting and all too realistic thriller' Tess Gerritsen
 
'A gripping thriller …I couldn't put it down' Meg Gardiner
 
'This very clever novel did my head in time and again' Michael Robotham
 
'This thriller is one to remember' New York Journal of Books
 
The psychological depth of the leads bolsters the complex plot. This merits comparison with the work of Patricia Highsmith' Publishers Weekly 
 
'Riveting from start to finish. Smart and twisty, this book will get under your skin' Liz Nugent
 
'Shocking and chilling. A literary ice plunge. I absolutely loved it' Helen Fields
 
'Complex, detailed and oh, so clever' Sam Holland

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