Tina Baker is back with another banger of a book 👏🏻

The book follows Maria, who cleans for various different households, each with their own troublesome characters - there is Elsie with her terrible husband, Brian with his terrible boss, and Mr Balogan with his terrible neighbours. Maria takes her cleaning very seriously, and she takes it upon herself to ‘clean up’ the terrible things in each of her customers’ lives..

Tina has a wicked sense of humour, and it really shows in her books. Despite being very dark and tense, Make Me Clean is littered with hilarious moments. I loved when these funny scenes arrived as it was a nice change of pace from the tension and emotion in other scenes.

I absolutely adored Elsie’s character, and Maria’s relationship with her. Elsie is very old and is losing her memory, and Maria is very protective over her. Despite not being in her prime, Elsie is still very quick-witted at times and never misses a beat! She was honestly just an iconic character, and she brought a softer side out of Maria that I loved reading.

This book has real My Sister, The Serial Killer vibes to it, in that it’s a darkly humorous look at cleaning up murder scenes. I really enjoyed this as a concept and think it makes for a good spin on a murder mystery / thriller that I don’t think has been done very often.

Tina is excellent at writing short and pacy chapters that will leave you unable to stop after each one. I binged this book over a couple of sittings and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it!

Maria works as a cleaner, her clients include Elsie (an elderly woman who has dementia), Brian (a sweet man with a horrible boss), & the mysterious Mr Balogan (his flat is usually empty & Maria has never met him up till now). Maria likes to help people but it sometimes goes too far - as Elsie's abusive cheating husband found out when he ends up dead & buried in the garden, just like she doesn't mean to kill Brian's obnoxious boss. Times like these give cleaning up a whole new meaning!

We first meet Maria & Elsie whilst Maria is cleaning up the crime scene following the death of Elsie's husband. Elsie has treated Maria like a member of her family, & Maria wants to repay the favour by taking care of her now she's vulnerable, including abusive spouse removal. She has to go to work at her other jobs & hope that Elsie doesn't let anything slip to the day nurse, Comfort, or Elsie's nephew, Del, who stay there whilst Maria is out. She has also become involved in the lives of her other clients & the deaths keep happening.

The narrative is told from Maria's point of view both now & in the past, telling the reader the story of her first relationship with older man, Joby. The reader gets to know the past that Maria is running from & why she acts the way she does. I really liked Elsie & her four cats, Brian is ok but a bit spineless, whilst Mr Balogan should really be played by Dave Bautista in the film. It was an okay read, but for me it was missing that something that propels a book into a great read. I just didn't click with it. I am in the minority though, so if you like offbeat crime fiction, then give it a go.

My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Serpent's Tail/Viper/Profile Books, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Tina Baker is utterly brilliant, and somehow manages to create magic with each book. Make Me Clean is a story which chills you, and manages to get your guard down with Tina’s typical dark humour. Such a good read!

Cleaner, killer or both! Great read. Filled with backstory and great characters combined. This author produces a great storyline which invests you in the lead character and endears them to you despite their misdemeanours!! Look forward to more from this author in the future!

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 in this super fun tale of a cleaner with a dark secret buried in a clients garden.. you see, cleaning is not the only thing she is good at..

Being a massive fan of Tina, it is clear in each of her books that she includes her incredible personality and splashes her writing with some murder and this is no exception!

𝐀 𝐟𝐮𝐧, 𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐭, 𝐓𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞.

I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher, in return for an honest review. This review is based entirely on my own thoughts and feelings.

Overall rating : 4*
Writing skill : 5*
Pace: 3*
Characters: 5*
Thrilling: 4*

Another year, another super Tina Baker book.
Absolutely adored the character building in this one, what a whirlwind of a life Maria has had. And Elsie, she has my heart! That was a blossoming love story I needed on Valentine’s Day!
If you’ve read Tina’s other two novels you’ll know she creates the DRAMA, the build up of tension again in this is a triumph. I won’t look at my letter opener at work the same way again!
Funny, dramatic, thrilling and another domestic situation you just don’t know where it’s heading! Publication is TODAY, go buy it!

Maria is a good cleaner, very good at.clearing up unwanted messes. Cast out as a traveller’s wife she finds her place with the elderly and vulnerable but can’t stop cleaning up

A darkly funny, compulsive and an invigorating domestic thriller!

Thanks Netgalley and Serpent’s Tail/ Viper/ Profile books for the ARC!

Synopsis –

In her heart, Maria is a good person. Her life as a cleaner revolves around the good old Elsie, who is stuck with a prick of a husband, the kind Brian who is troubled by an unruly boss and the tall & handsome man Balogan, who has menacing neighbours. The only problem with Maria is that, she can’t help but get blood on her hands, as she dabbles with a bit of killing, both in her present & previous life.

Review -

Right from the first page, Tina’s writing jumped out at me, drawing me to Maria’s unique personality. As I’ve heard from the author herself, I loved how she ingeniously created this character inspired by her own personal life experience.

The best part is undoubtedly the dark humour, generously employed, accompanying even the most serious of circumstances.

Maria’s story plays out in two timelines – the present and the past. I found myself being more invested in her past, as we get to know her right from her teenage years, her family background, whirlwind of a romance and later her married life with her husband Joby, who hails from a travelers clan - which proved to be very interesting!

I really admired Maria’s sincerity, righteousness and conscience, despite her violent tendencies. She truly cared about the people she cleans for and although she tries her best to keep her head down and mind her own business, the situation gets the better of her and that’s when she resorts to the ultimate punishment. Mind you, she only does it to do right by her employers.

Constantly haunted by guilt, secrets and nightmares, it only gets worse for Maria, as things escalate quickly with all her clients – Elsie, Brian and Balogan, thanks to her “certain” involvement. Soon explosive events play out in both the timelines and that’s when we discover the reasons behind her severe inner torments.

Towards the end, the plot becomes greatly engrossing as Tina ensures to keep those pages turning, as we wait with bated breath to find out Maria’s fate. Although, the finale felt a teeny bit all to convenient and neatly tied, I really enjoyed it with the wicked satisfaction at the turn of events for Maria’s sake.

A wildly entertaining ride for the fans of the genre! A brilliant addition to the “maid” stream of thrillers!

If there’s one thing you can expect from Tina Baker, it’s to expect the unexpected! For Make Me Clean is so much more than the blurb and cover would lead you to believe, with Tina putting her own quirky twist on the traditional serial killer thriller.

The book opens with protagonist, Maria, cleaning up what appears to be a bloody murder scene, then burying a man’s body in the garden. We’re given no clue as to what has happened or why, but instead follow Maria as she goes about her other cleaning jobs and takes care of elderly employer Elsie.

Oh, and quietly bumps off a few more victims!

This was a very slow burn initially, but the intrigue surrounding Maria is utterly compelling. As Tina tantalisingly drip feeds snippets from Maria’s past, it becomes clear that she is a very complex and damaged character. Terrible things have happened to bring her to this place in her life, where she lives in a dingy bedsit and struggles to make ends meet. Despite these woes, however, she’s kind and caring, loyal to her clients and meticulous about her work.

I really liked that Maria’s story had so many unexpected layers to it. Tina’s trademark dark humour is present throughout, and I loved how she explored the idea of found family in the relationship between Maria and Elsie.

While the actual plot felt very opaque at times — I honestly had no idea what direction it was headed in — it was my investment in Maria (and Elsie) that kept me hooked until the end. And here again, Tina presents us with the unexpected by eschewing the anticipated mind-blowing twist and delivering instead an ending that is sneakily, quietly satisfying.

Another cracker of a story from this author. Certainly not a cosy read as there are too many bodies for that but not a gorefest either & not as psychologically twisted as previous books.

Maria is a cleaner & is excellent at her job; she’s also a killer & is very good at that too. The story is told from her POV & as it unfolds you grow to understand why she is like she is. Despite her actions, she has a good heart especially for Elsie, who is struggling with dementia.
The who Maria kills & why kept me turning the pages as I needed to know more.

A surprisingly relatable tale with plenty of dark humour which lifted the narrative when needed. Next please.

After enjoying watching Tina Baker on TV some years ago, I was intrigued to read her first novel Call Me Mummy, which came out in 2021. It was absolutely brilliant and became the best book I read that year.
Make Me Clean is her third novel and straight away, you’re taken into the story with an exciting first chapter that leaves you wanting to know more. The lead character is Maria, who cleans for a variety of people. She lives in a tiny bedsit in London, has no family and is struggling to cope on the amount of money she earns. The story is a good example of how hard cleaners and carers work. She has no time for anything else and rarely gets enough sleep.
Maria’s favourite client is 76-year-old Elsie who has dementia and four cats. She also had an ex-husband, but not anymore. Sadly the bedside rug had to go, because Maria just couldn’t get the blood out.
Throughout the book, we learn about Maria’s past and her relationship with her husband Joby. This is important because what happened in the past still affects her now. It’s also interesting to have the story flitting between past and present, filling in the gaps in Maria’s story.
Elsie is a great character and completely believable. Her flashes of clarity amongst the memory loss are often witty and it’s easy to love her, as well as sympathise with her plight. She comes up with some hilarious comments and the relationship between Elsie and Maria is a lovely one. It’s also incredibly sad to see Elsie struggling sometimes. As Tina Baker writes – “So much of Elsie’s identity is now past tense.” My own grandmother (also Elsie) is 105 and the Elsie in the book reminded me of her in some ways.
I read 39% of the book pretty much straight off and only stopped reading because I had to go to bed. Wow, what a page turner! I completed the whole book in about a day and a half. There’s something about Tina Baker’s writing which is absolutely compelling. Her characters are quirky, flawed, yet intriguing. Although Maria couldn’t be described as a “lovely” person in some respects, we still root for her and hope she will have a good outcome in the story.
Call Me Mummy was very sweary, which I know put some people off (My mum really wasn’t keen!) but Make Me Clean is much less so. It still has incredible punch and impact though. Tina Baker has this wonderful writing style which is so real, so visual – her books would make brilliant films or TV series.
They also make you think. While reading this, I was thinking all sorts of questions – Is it ever right to kill? If you kill a bad person, does that make you a bad person too – or a good person doing a bad thing? Does anyone ever deserve to die? And if they do, does their killer deserve to be punished, or allowed to remain free?
This book is absolutely brilliant and I’d definitely recommend it. Now to bump up her second novel to the top of my To Be Read pile…

Another excellent read by this author. Make me clean is a thrilling and unputdownable domestic noir thriller which I loved.

Having read both of Tina's other novels, I knew what to expect. It wouldn't be ordinary, the humour would be dark and the story wouldn't pull any punches. And I wasn't wrong.

Our main protagonist is Maria - a cleaner. But she's no ordinary cleaner. She's very good at getting blood out of the carpet and bodies out of the house. She could make a career out of it, if she didn't feel so guilty.

First there might have been her traveller husband Joby, the love of her life, but initially there are only vague references to what may have happened.

Then there is Nick, the on-off husband of the old dear she cleans for. That's Elsie, and Maria is fiercely protective of her. Because Elsie has dementia. Sometimes she's as happy as Larry, singing and dancing and swearing like a trooper. At other times she thinks Maria is her dead sister Violet.

Elsie has four cats and she loves them all, though Sweetie is her favourite. Nephew Del wants her to go into a care home (he's after the house). Nick is getting off with the bird from the betting shop (but he also wants the house). Maria will do anything to help Elsie stay in her own home - it's about the cats mainly, but also because Nick is currently pushing up the daisies - well the roses actually, so all he's going to get is black spot and powdery mildew.

Maria also cleans for Brian, who hates his horrible boss, and for the mysterious Balogan, who is seriously scary. But Maria is also scary, but only if you cross her. So don't make her angry - she won't turn green and tear her clothes. But she might just kill you.

At this point I must say that the way Tina writes about dementia is both sympathetic and insightful. It will bring tears to your eyes. It's also so full of pain, that at times it seems personal.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author, and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read. And to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“Is she a woman who cares deeply for a vulnerable old woman? Someone reliable, a hard worker? A good friend who’d do anything for someone? A good person? Or is she selfish and untrustworthy? A cold-hearted murderer?”

Make Me Clean is the third novel by British journalist, broadcaster and author, Tina Baker. Meet Maria: an efficient, hard-working cleaner whose remit has just extended to removing nasty, intimidating men. Having checked that her elderly, sometimes-dementia-affected client is safe, she’s burying the woman’s estranged husband in the backyard, under the roses.

Determined to escape her dark past, Maria moved to London, where she has worked as a cleaner for ten years. The work requires interaction with a wide spectrum of people: some are snobbish, demanding, and critical, but some are appreciative and friendly, and a few that she regards as family, lacking her own.

Maria keeps a low profile; working hard barely makes ends meet. Yet she finds herself in a carer role for seventy-six-year-old Elsie, and being a supportive friend to Brian when his homophobic, bullying boss makes life difficult at work. And during one of her night cleans for enigmatic night-club owner, Balogan, she encounters a young woman who seems to be under the control of his noisy, violent next-door neighbour.

She worries about each of them: Elsie’s greedy nephew who wants to sell her house, get rid of her cats, and put her away; the way Brian’s boss erodes his self-confidence; and whether young Cass is in danger from that man. Her current anxieties, the recent flashes of violence, dredge up worse memories from a different time, that dark past that she’s tucked away in a corner of her brain, the other person she’s killed. And those for whose death she somehow feels responsible. She seems to attract violence: is she cursed, or is she the curse?

“Perhaps there’s a sense of how she might make things a little nicer in the world, one flat at a time. To clean away filth and restore some portion of order. Retribution and reparation in microscopic increments. Atonement.”

Baker gives the reader a gutsy protagonist whose intentions are essentially good even if, by the end of the story, she’s amassed quite a body count: one of those, admittedly, is a bit of an oops, but still. But in amongst all the blood and bleach, there’s also quite a bit of humour, courtesy Elsie and Brian, and some of the plot turns are darkly funny. As the daughter of a window cleaner and fairground traveller, Baker’s personal experience clearly informs the story and gives it oodles of authenticity. Original and very entertaining.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Serpent’s Tail/Viper

This was the second book I'd read of Tina's and whilst I did enjoy Nasty Little Cuts I found Make Me Clean a much more gripping storyline but it still retained Tina's dark sense of humour and love of the gore!
Make Me Clean is told using two timelines sharing the protagonist, Maria's past and present and both timelines kept me really interested. I especially enjoyed reading about Maria's past and relationships. She was such an interesting character - so original and despite what she does throughout the book you can't help but like her as you know she's doing everything for the right reasons. Sure you have to suspend belief regarding some of the things she gets up to but overall this is well worth a read.

Maria is a cleaner with a very traumatic past which is leading to a very messy future, she'll have to use her best skills to clean up the chaos around her.

A very interesting read. This is the first one I've read from Tina and I was really impressed. You ended up really caring about Maria and I was rooting for her to get a happy ending.

Make Me Clean follows Maria's story as she navigates her life in London working as a cleaner for various clients. However she is hiding the fact that she has killed to protect the people she cares about.

This is a brilliantly entertaining book.

I love the concept of the story because it is so original and like nothing I have read before. Tina Baker has added the perfect amount of dark humour that will make you laugh out loud at times.

I found myself really rooting for Maria! You might be wondering how I can say that when she is essentially a serial killer? However once I got to know her character I found Maria to be so believable and blunt in a way that is almost endearing. I really enjoyed gradually getting to know Maria's backstory throughout the book.

I'd recommend this for a unique story where you won't be able to guess where it will lead.

Thank you NetGalley and Viper for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

📱E-Book Review📱

Make Me Clean
Tina Baker

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Another absolute must read by Tina Baker and no debate over my 5* rating!

As usual, I was totally immersed in this from page 1. The writing style just grabs you and makes you want to never put it down - and even at the end, you're left wanting more!

I loved every single character in this. Bad, good, nice, naughty - they all just jump off the page and you feel as though you know them.

Maria, our main character had me feeling every emotion possible. I loved her, I worried about her, my heart broke for her and I doubted her. Fundamentally good, let down by society, struggled through life alone ...but the things she does!!
How can someone do such things, yet we still feel sorry for her?

I thought that Maria and Elsie were a brilliant pair. They had such great banter and a fierce loyalty to each other - and I of course loved Elsie's cats 🐾
The compassion shown here was beautiful and showed such a contrast to the way her own family treated her. Just shows that you don't have to be related to be a family.

The plot, as ever, is twisty - there's much more going on than we are initially presented with - but we are fed little snippets of back-story along the journey and everything clicks into place.

I feel like we could definitely see more of Maria in another book - what happens next is left to our imagination and sometimes this is a good thing - but I'd love to see her again.

The best thing about Tina's books for me...is that she can write a hugely tense section and finish it off with a cheeky one liner that both breaks the tension and has you laughing out loud.
I love these little inclusions of humour throughout.

Unputdownable - intriguing and twisty - brilliant plot and characters - tense and dark but in places hugely funny!

Maria works as a cleaner, she is used to hardship and always counting the pennies to make ends meet.

She is meticulous and goes the extra mile for her clients. There is Elsie, an elderly eccentric lady with Alzheimer’s, who is more like a mother to Maria, but also a friend.

There is Brian, who makes her cups of weirdly flavoured teas, and who always complains about his nasty boss.

Then, there is mysterious Mr Balogan, who always works nights and that’s when Maria cleans his swanky London flat. He has terrible neighbours, who constantly play thumping music and have loud arguments.

Whether she likes it or not, Maria gets entangled in her clients’ lives. Elsie’s estranged husband, Nick, ends up dead and buried in Elsie’s garden.

Then, Brian’s boss dies in a mysterious accident, and Maria gets dangerously close to Mr Balogan…

I loved this psychological thriller. It was tense, dark, but there were joyful moments.

My favourite character by far was Elsie – she was a naughty lady, who treated Maria like she was her family. She didn’t have an easy life, being married to Nick, who was a grumpy drunk and a womaniser. Elsie didn’t have any children, but she loved her cats (a woman of my own heart!) and wished to stay in her own home with them, however, her money grabbing nephew had different ideas.

I loved Elsie’s random outbursts and her eclectic taste of music. The friendship between her and Maria was unique and heart-warming.

I enjoyed the snippets of Maria’s past and the Gypsy community and their culture. Baker raises an important issue of control and domestic violence, something that is valid and current.

Overall, this is a great offering by Tina Baker. It’s her third book and having read them all, I can confirm that this one is her best yet.

Thank you to Viper for approving my NetGalley request to read and review this title.

From just the first few pages, Make Me Clean will certainly grab you by the scruff of the neck – until you feel the blood draining out of you.

Whilst the intro (and cover) may promise you a veritable bloodbath, it turns into more a novel of consequence and circumstance. Maybe if the main protagonist Maria hadn’t experienced such a horrifying back story (that’s your only spoiler but, er, don’t read the inner flap before you begin!) then perhaps she wouldn’t have made the decisions – albeit spur-of-the moment and defensive – she inevitably does.

Tina Baker’s third novel is a quick and easy read but that’s not to say it’s not in-depth, especially as a character study of the main and also supporting characters. There’s plenty of background to Maria’s past to garner enough sympathy from the audience (that’s us, constant readers). Delving into the culture and prejudices against the travelling community from both sides also adds an additional dimension to the narrative.

It’s also a sign of good writing when you really despise some characters and are glad when they’re ‘taken care of’. But also slightly disappointing when they’re not and you think they have been (nice, Tina, nice).

Maria is a character that seems to be running scared from the ghosts in her past but grabbing the future by the horns and shaping it how she wants. Does she hold all the cards firmly in her hand? Maybe not. And, despite the things she does in the book, is it wrong that I didn’t hate her and found myself rooting for her? Maybe.

I know we’ve just met this girl called Maria but I don’t think we’ve seen the last of her.

Sharp, dark and a tad bloody in places, Make Me Clean scrubs up nice like. I’m off to polish up on Tina’s other novels.