The first book in a series is often slower as the author builds the characters, gives them a back story, then sets their feet onto a path that is sure to put them square in the middle of trouble. While John Milton is an excellent character with a great back story, Mark Dawson spends a little too much of my time trying to convince me of Milton's desire to escape a job he no longer wanted to do. I was sold well before Dawson finished his set up. But, the story was eventually going in the right direction and would pick up speed and tension along the way until Milton completes that first step in his quest for redemption. It's going to be interesting to see where his quest takes him next.

I started this book, set it aside, picked it up again, did not finish. I didn't like John Milton and didn't think that the character he is supposed to be would behave as he does. Reminded me of "Luther" but without the depth.

‘John Milton is the man the government call when they want a problem to vanish. But what happens when he’s the one that needs to disappear?’

‘After a botched job leaves a bloody trail, government assassin John Milton does the one thing he’s never done before: he hides.‘
The ending of THE CLEANER, Book One in the John Milton, left me puzzled to the point I Must read Book Two to see what direction the Series takes next.

Overall, an intense read that has me hoping one character in particular and their parent survive, and that more is revealed in the books that follow.

This book did not go the way I thought it would. I expected an assassin who retired and then was chased all around, in order to cut the loose end that he had become. That is what happens right at the beginning and end book but that is it. Instead, John leaves the group led by Control and sort of becomes a secondary character as the book definitely focuses more on Elijah and the LFBs and the gang trouble, including riots and shootings in Hackney. I think the blurb describing the book is a bit misleading in that regard.

There is still lots of action and violence so some people might like it, as long as they don't go into it expecting it to be a spy thriller. Though, since this is the first book about John Milton, there might be more of the spy/assassin on the run stuff later on in the series. I probably would not read more though, unless I could be assured it was actually about John.

This story was ok. I don’t think it was exactly what I was looking for as I did expect more action throughout. This was a depressing look of gang life in London which I am sure is a real issue, but most of the book had nothing to do with the very interesting character of John Milton. I was very intrigued about a government assassin that one day decides he doesn’t want to kill people anymore. That’s not your everyday story. While the basic premiss of trained bad ass protects innocent people who have no idea has been done usually the government or agency controlling the assassin does something to piss them off. The thought that it would impact a good person’s mental health to the point that they had to draw the line was interesting and had so much potential for a story. That’s the story I was hoping for. Most of this story was about Elijah and while I do think he was worthy of a story of his own it wasn’t the story I picked up. And honestly with how it ends it was kind of pointless and sort of showed that you can’t change circumstances or help. The writing was good and there was a spark of an idea in the character of John Milton so I will read the next book if I come across it.

FREE ARC FROM NETGALLEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was okay but not up tp [par with "Scorpion". Written with a "brit-bent" which is to be expected it just seemed formulaic in its approach and the ending was just that, an ending. Maybe the next one.

A great start to this series. John Milton is a government agent who is ready to give up his job. The story follows him through the darkest parts of London as he finds himself seeking atonement. The author masterfully weaves a tale of poverty and manipulation. It is an insightful look at what can happen when people lose hope. One of the to watch series of the future.

The Cleaner was a non stop action book from the moment John Milton finished his last job until he rode off into the sunset. In between he tried to help JuJu and his mother deal with their horrible neighborhood. I live near Baltimore, MD and this part of London sounds just like some of our news reports. I really wanted Milton to fix JuJus neighborhood. Unfortunately it takes more than one man. Sometimes I could not understand the slang but I got the gist! Overall, very enjoyable. Just sad that some of the characters had to die.

Disappointing tale about a government assassin, burned out and intent upon retiring in a career that doesn’t tolerate retirement. Now, that should be the basis for a good solid thriller but sadly this tale gets lost. Our protagonist seeks to improve the life of a 15 year old boy, the son of a woman he rescues. And the plot wanders all over the place. This should have been a different book, or, perhaps two books. But it’s a challenge to read. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

The Cleaner by Mark Dawson is a crime action adventure novel and the first book in the John Milton series. The author brought a strong sense of place, people, and events to life in the book.

John Milton has been working for Group Fifteen, a covert government agency for six years. He is called when the government needs a problem to vanish. But when his latest mission isn’t clean and John wants to retire, he is suspended. John meets Sharon and her son Elijah who live in an area that is full of gang members. What follows is a look at how John tries to atone for his past deeds and what the agency decides to do.

This novel takes a hard look at gangs, drugs, alcoholism, poverty, working three jobs and still not being able to pay all of the bills, atonement, helping others, jealousy, corruption, theft, riots, murder, revenge, and much more.

While the novel starts off with strong action, it moves on to Milton looking for how he can atone for his past. Then, it is quickly sidetracked with a focus on Elijah. The pace of the middle 60 percent of the book was somewhat slow. The pace and action pick up in the last 25 percent of the novel, but the ending was not satisfactory to me.

Overall, this was a dramatic novel for me, but not the full action thriller I was expecting. However, I did like it and want to read the next book in the series to see where the author takes Milton’s character.

Welbeck Publishing and Mark Dawson provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. This is my honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date is currently set for May 4, 2021.

I received this book through "NetGalley" ReadNow program.

This is the 1st book in the series. John Milton is an agent who deals in assassinations. This one bother him and he told his boss during his briefing that he was done.

John tries to make amends for actions that he has done by helping a single mother and her son. It begins with him saving her when she attempted suicide and follows his continuation of helping her as needed. Her son happened to be involved in a gang and John tried to get him to see a different side. John also was a recovering alcoholic and at an AA meeting, he met Rutherford who was also an alcoholic. Rutherford had established a gym where he was teaching boxing, and John got JaJa, the women's son, in it.

As time went on, JaJa was getting involved with an unsavory group and also John's boss had him be investigated. The effort that John was working on eventually led to attacks on people working with John.

To discover who the individual was that was following John, who JaJa was working with and which individuals were attacked for helping John, then you must read this book.

Eh.
Got through it, but not a great read for me. I found the writing cumbersome, plot somewhat boring and hard to follow at times.
The plot and characters have potential that goes unrealized.
Thankful for the ARC.

John Milton is the number one Cleaner. He deals with the government’s problems, but now he himself needs cleaning up.

I just want to say I am very disappointed in this book. It was nothing like I thought it would be. It started so strong. We have the action I was looking for. We have him on an assignment, and he kills the people he is supposed to and a person who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But then he doesn’t kill the young boy who witnessed it all. This was a very big mistake that causes his superiors to start to question Milton’s “mental health.” This isn’t a jab at the book because I thought it worked fine but just with the characters themselves. Are you crazy? You think he is mental because he doesn’t want to kill?

Even though some people found him gaining a conscience as implausible after so many years doing this type of work, I didn’t think it was unrealistic. I had no problem at all with him deciding he no longer wanted to be Number One. I actually think the author did well at showing how Milton’s mental status has made him no longer want to be an assassin. We can see how this type of work has affected him and understand why he decides this. Again, totally plausible.

The book continues and was still good as he runs away from his job, finding a dirty house to live in, and as he tries to make himself feel better for all he has done by helping the people he meets. But this is when the book turned into something, I was bored out of my mind reading. I actually found myself thinking that I could stop at any point in the book and be completely fine not knowing the ending. The rest of the book completely ruined the good beginning and the action-packed ending.

The main core of the book was nothing about him being on the “run”. This is the main reason this book was such a disappointment for me. The book really didn’t follow Milton. It was mainly about the boy Elijah who he is trying to help and the crap that Elijah gets himself into with being associated with a gang.

Most of the book was slow, except for the very beginning and the very end, and the core of the book was just a lot of the same things happening in different ways. Nothing was that significant. I was disappointed because there were only a few short chapters that had information about the guy assigned to track Milton down, which they found him right away. Which is another thing that blows my mind. They find him right away and I am sure Milton knew this, yet he stays. It also takes so long for the person tracking Milton down to do anything. They say he was just scoping him out. But why that long? There really wasn’t any reason to follow him around because they knew they wanted to get rid of him anyways and it took forever for the person to finally do a pathetic attempt to stop Milton.

All the action in the core of the book had little to do with Milton and most to do with Elijah. I do have to say there were a few big things that happened but the shock, if there were any, wore off very fast because I really wasn’t engaged with the characters. Some of the relationships had a good foundation as we saw them grow. I think the book did really well showing how Milton and Elijah’s relationship grows but there was some other relationship in the book that had no foundation and was pretty forced.

I also really didn’t like the amount of profanity in this book. I don’t like books that curse at all, but this one had it just thrown in where it made no sense.

I think if the book was presented as being about what it was truly about, it would have been better or at least more understandable, but I just mist having the plot I thought I was going into this book reading.

With tens of thousands of ratings, I can't add anything new/helpful. But Dawson is a safe bet, although this may not be his best work. He's written lots of other successful books.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

Imagine a highly efficient assassin. Has enough after having to choose between letting a child live or killing him outright along with his parents. Then imagine him trying to quit his job ( he works for the government).
After confronting his boss...he finds himself saving a young woman that is trying to commit suicide....because her son is turning into a gang member....
He deals with the gangs and then has to deal with the assassin whom has been sent to kill him because this is not a job you retire from......does it seem to you that my description has meandered? It is because that is what this book does. Many parts of this story have merit, but some could have been reduced or left out altogether...
still, an entertaining story..even if a bit shallow in its depth of plot

I have given “The Cleaner” 3 stars since I deducted one star for the plot, which was quite simplistic, and one star for being much too long of a narrative piece. My personal preference for a thriller is one that contains much more banter since I feel it gives me a better understanding of the character’s state of mind. I felt this book was not up to quality of Mark Dawson’s previous works. My overall feeling that it has been rushed to completion could be due to the fact that I was given a prepublication copy for an honest review and I do thank him for that and hope he revises it before it is published.

A fast moving action packed story that will keep you glued to your chair and turning pages at a fast pace. Definitely worth reading.

The start of a new series can always be difficult, both for writer and reader, but with this John Milton series I think that the author has done a decent job. Character wise John Milton follows quite a well trodden path, ex special forces turned government assassin, having nightmares and regrets about his previous accomplishments, he wants to retire and so sets out to make some form of atonement.
Then the story pitches headlong into inner city crime and gangs. It is written with an English viewpoint, and as such the language reflects this, particularly amongst the young gang members. It is quite an accurate portrayal of the rioting which went on at the time this book was set in. The poverty and hopelessness is well depicted. I did notice a few overworked phrases, but on the whole after about 10% it was a gripping book, so I am looking forward to reviewing the next in the series.

I didn't care for this novel when I read it several years ago. I mistakenly chose it again, but my attempt to not review it was rejected. Sorry.

I first read this book five or six years ago, and have read seventeen or eighteen more in the special series. It was great to re-visit John Milton’s roots as he attempts to leave the clutches of Control, who doesn’t want to lose his best government assassin. John, fighting demons from his past, tries to make the world better for inner-city Elijah, who has a rough home setting and is being pulled into a gang. As a result, Highly recommend this book and the entire series. Read in order to see Milton’s character developed by author Mark Dawson.