The Assistant

A heart-thumping thriller packed with exciting twists.

A masterclass in tension. Plotted like an intricate spider's web, I was glued to the page for the entirety.

Jennie Godfrey, Sunday TImes bestselling author of The List of Suspicious Things

Revenge is a dish best served up spotless...The relentless attention to detail is wonderfully claustrophobic.

A modern fairy tale – beautiful, dark, visceral, truly spellbinding.

Sunday Times and Irish Times No. 1 bestselling author Andrea Mara

Tense from the first page, the pressure builds inexorably. A multifaceted tale of secrets, obsessions and betrayals.

Sam Lloyd, bestselling author of The Memory Wood

Mary Watson is from South Africa and now lives on the west coast of Ireland. She has a PhD from the University of Cape Town, where she taught for many years. She won the Caine Prize for African Writing for her adult publishing in South Africa, and in 2014 was named on the Africa39 list of writers under 40 with the potential to define trends in African literature. Her YA novels have been nominated for the Irish Book Awards and the Carnegie medal. Her adult debut, The Cleaner, was an instant Irish Times bestseller.

You say he harassed you. 
They say you murdered him… 
 
Maia has always kept her eyes firmly on the prize of her career, never allowing herself to be distracted by love. Then she meets Jacob. He is intelligent, charming, attractive. He also happens to be her boss. 
 
For a while, they enjoy a whirlwind romance. Then things between them turn sour and she tries to end it, but he won’t leave her alone. She lodges a formal grievance, but the harassment only gets worse. Calls in the middle of the night; her precious work sabotaged. She decides to have it out for him once and for all. 
 
The very next morning, he is found dead – and Maia is top of the list of suspects. Unless she can unravel the mystery of his murder, she’ll go to prison for the rest of her life. 
 
But maybe, with his killer now on her trail, that’s where she’d be safest…

Mary Watson

A heart-thumping thriller packed with exciting twists.

The Cleaner is a masterclass in tension. Plotted like an intricate spider's web, I was glued to the page for the entirety.

Revenge is a dish best served up spotless...The relentless attention to detail is wonderfully claustrophobic.

You'll race through this compelling, sinister mystery.

Propulsive...compulsive and ambitious.

A sinister page-turner...that takes readers on a psychological journey.

A modern fairy tale – beautiful, dark, visceral, truly spellbinding.

Tense from the first page, the pressure builds inexorably. A multifaceted tale of secrets, obsessions and betrayals.

The Cleaner is a richly textured thriller that veritably hums with menace. Taut, twisty and beautifully atmospheric, it pairs a gripping plot with dark, intricate themes. Class, privilege, wealth and entitlement are all put on trial in this immersive tale of betrayal and revenge.

Kia Abdullah, author of Waterstones Thriller of the Month Those People Next Door

The Cleaner is utterly gripping, dark and gothic – a brilliant tale of jealousy, envy and betrayal with one hell of a twist. I devoured it. A tour de force and the arrival of a brilliant new voice in adult fiction.

Edel Coffey, author of An Post Crime Fiction Book of the Year Breaking Point

In The Cleaner, Mary Watson creates an immersive, twisty, character-driven web of family secrets and lies that builds to an ending you won't see coming.

Fiona McPhillips, author of When We Were Silent

A rollercoaster ride of manipulation and obsession - I couldn’t put it down.

Lisa Hall, bestselling author of Between You and Me

Dark, tense and intriguing, these characters linger in your mind long after you've put the book down - and what a twist!

Sam Blake, No. 1 bestselling author of Little Bones

I loved this tightly plotted exploration of privilege and damaged people, and the twists just kept coming.

Laura Pearson, Kindle No.1 bestselling author of The Last List of Mabel Beaumont

The Cleaner is a layered tale that takes a sharp look at themes of privilege, identity and class...it's a book that you’ll whip through, thanks to its twists, turns, hate-readable characters and dramatic climax.

Oh my goodness - the twists in this! Dripping in atmosphere, this tale of revenge is edgy and immersive, laying bare the fractures within a picture perfect household with a scalpel-like precision.

What a wonderful book - I hope it becomes the bestseller it deserves to be. I was hooked from the opening page - a totally compulsive read. Beautifully crafted.

Marsali Taylor, author of The Shetland Mysteries Series

If you’re a fan of crime thrillers, this is your next must-read. You won’t want to put it down…

If you’re after an edge-of-your-seat thriller, look out for this one.

Mary Watson is a writer of great skill... hard to put down and harder to forget.

It's not dust she's looking for. 
It's dirt. 
 
Esmie is meant to be invisible. Just a cleaner with a foreign accent that no one quite has time to place, and a uniform of leggings and a duster that allows her to explore the homes of the wealthy Woodlands gated community, unnoticed. 
 
Which is exactly what she wants. Because Esmie isn’t really a cleaner. 
 
One of the residents of Woodlands has ruined her life. And when she finds out who, she’s going to make them pay . . .

Mary Watson

Praise for The Cleaner

A heart-thumping thriller packed with exciting twists.

The Cleaner is a masterclass in tension. Plotted like an intricate spider's web, I was glued to the page for the entirety.

Revenge is a dish best served up spotless...The relentless attention to detail is wonderfully claustrophobic.

A heart-thumping thriller packed with exciting twists.

The Cleaner is a masterclass in tension. Plotted like an intricate spider's web, I was glued to the page for the entirety.

Revenge is a dish best served up spotless...The relentless attention to detail is wonderfully claustrophobic.

A heart-thumping thriller packed with exciting twists.

The Cleaner is a masterclass in tension. Plotted like an intricate spider's web, I was glued to the page for the entirety.

Revenge is a dish best served up spotless...The relentless attention to detail is wonderfully claustrophobic.

Books by Mary Watson

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