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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable and Suspenseful Read, 7 May 2008
I was surprised with the so-so reviews I've been reading about "The Cleaner" as I just finished reading it and enjoyed it immensely. Yes - the characters are not very deep and well-rounded but that seems to reflect the type of work the main character does - go in, clean up the mess - in this case bodies and evidence - and don't ask any questions.
I found this book very difficult to put down and went along for the ride which entailed lots of plot twists and sticky situations. If you are looking for a suspenseful read without too much boring filler text then this one will keep you on your toes and running to the finish line.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Slight but Enjoyable, 14 April 2008
The Cleaner, the debut thriller by Brett Battles, follows the adventures of Quinn, a freelance intelligence agent whose speciality is cleaning up (hence the title) scenes of violence to ensure that there is no come back to any agencies that may have been involved. When readers meet Quinn he is already an experienced operative with years of field work to his name and a solid reputation. Although nominally freelance, the majority of his work is for The Office, a shadowy agency that is possibly part of the US Government. As the book opens Quinn has been summoned back from vacation by The Office to look into a mysterious death in rural Colorado. Shortly after starting his investigation both Quinn and his employers come under attack from an unidentified group, forcing Quinn to go on the run without support and with only his assistant/protege and an old and somewhat reluctant friend to provide help. Between the three of them they must work out who would want Quinn and The Office shut down permanently and why.
What follows is a globetrotting adventure that falls firmly into the spy-thriller as fantasy genre; that it to say that it doesn't make any claims that it is a realistic portrayal of the worlds of espionage or intelligence gathering. The Cleaner is very much an old-fashioned thrills and spills, identify the global conspiracy style affair that mixes elements of Ian Fleming, Robert Ludlum and numerous other writers to create a story that is big on action but light on realism. This is throw away stuff, with a capable hero working to uncover a non-specific conspiracy and save the day via the application of whizz bang technology, street smarts and a large dollop of luck.
Like all similar books of its ilk, The Cleaner is not big on indepth characterisation or moral uncertainties. In this story the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad. Both sides are willing to use violence, but the good guys only as a means to defeating the bad and never against the innocent. As the titular lead and hero Quinn is capable and tough. His background is sketched out in enough detail to make him more than a cipher but no further. The supporting cast however, are pretty much one note and we learn little about them beyond their history with Quinn.
The main plot is slight and mostly provides a reason to send Quinn and his friends bouncing from one country to the next. When the conspiracy is finally revealed it turns out to be relatively small scale in terms of its aims; although it could pontentially have global ramifications. Then there is the obligatory twist that can be seen coming a mile off so comes as no real suprise when eventually revealed. Overall there is nothing really new or fresh in The Cleaner.
It is however, an enjoyable, rapidly paced read. The action is reasonably well handled, the dialogue isn't horrendous and there is a petty decent sense of place to the numerous locations visited. Its utterly disposable of course (you'll be hard pressed to recall the plot a few days later) but as a beach read or a way to kill time on a long flight its perfect. It also leaves you with a vague interest in seeing what Battles manages to do with the inevitable sequel if this first Quinn adventure proves to be a success.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fast and fun - what's wrong with that?, 7 April 2008
After reading the new paperback edition I went online to look up the next in the series and discovered the hardback edition had rather negative reviews. This really surprised me. OK, so more character depth and a bit more detail would enhance the novel, but it was still an enjoyable read. More of a 'sense of place' would also add to the flavour of the book - the description around the airport in Vietnam was evocative and I'd have appreciated more like that. But hey, this thriller was still gripping and it reminded me of a fast action movie (like one of the Bourne films) that makes a fun night out although it won't tax the brain. So if you enjoy fast, quirky-hero thrillers (such as Lee Child's Reacher) I'd recommend the first in this new series about Quinn (the freelance 'cleaner' who cleans up the mess left by private and state espionage)and his apprentice Nate and former 'cleaner' Orlando (suspect we'll see her again!). I look forward to the next in the series.
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