Maria seems to be the kind of person who finds herself in lots of situations that ends in murder, but being a cleaner, she is able to clean up the mess without a trace. With chapters switching between her life with her once beloved Joby and father, and now with her various clients including one for whom she becomes an unofficial carer, this is a great read. I found it funny, touching and at times had to cover up pages to prevent me from reading ahead. Highly recommended.

Make Me Clean

I have loved Tina Baker's previous books and Make Me Clean is no exception. It begins with our protagonist, Maria, cleaning a murder scene and burying a dead body and from there it doesn't really let up. It's fast paced and intense and I was hooked from the get go.

As the blurb says, Maria "may" have killed a few people, but nevertheless I couldn't help but warm to her character. Her relationship with Elsie, a lady with dementia, for whom she is an informal carer, is absolutely beautiful and the images of them singing, dancing and telling stories together add some lighter, humorous moments to what is a very dark story. Maria has clearly been through some trauma and I was interested to know more about this and learn how she became the person we see in the novel. We see this through flashback scenes,which are often difficult to read, but incredibly vivid and emotional. The issues that Tina Baker explores in these scenes are hard hitting, but they are really well researched and they feel completely authentic. I must admit that I know very little about the travelling community and it was interesting to see a small part of life from their viewpoint.

I look forward to seeing what this author does next!

Another dark, thrilling read from Baker, who seems to be carvings her own niche within what is an overpopulated genre. Many writers have tried to link humour with murder, few pull it off with such aplomb. Maria and Elsie’s relationship is beautifully crafted.

I struggled with this one. I liked Maria’s story and respected her & her decisions, but I was also left feeling unsatisfied at the same time. I thought this was much darker than Tina’s previous two novels, and while there are some spots of brilliantly well written dark humour (Brian’s boss’s comeuppance springs to mind), it’s a lot. I admired Maria - existing, struggling with life & wanting to do better so that she can take care of Elsie, and her relationship with Elsie was a delight. While I was not expecting the ending, I’m glad it went the way it did. While this book fell a bit flat for me, I still can’t wait to see what she does next.

I'm not sure what to make of what I just read.
Maria is such a relatable character. The reason she shaves her head resonated with me.
It's so nice how she cares for Elsie. And it's sad about her friendship with Brian.
I wish we had seen a bit of her 'new job'.
All in all, this was a fascinating book that I couldn't put down.
I received a copy via Netflix and all opinions are my own.

My Review:

This is my first book by Tina Baker and I can confidentally say that I will now move her first two books Nasty Little Cuts and Call Me Mummy up my huge TBR pile.

I do love a good old twisty psychological thriller especially one with a female killer and a dry sense of humour and that is exactly what you get with Make Me Clean.

Meet Maria, a full-time cleaner with a variety of clients and part-time carer for a lovely old lady with dementia called Elsie. Maria is a true perfectionist, she is thorough, professional and takes immense pride in her work. She has a knack for removing all kinds of stains and has a particular skill when it comes to blood, brain matter and body parts.

When we first meet Maria she is with Elsie, carefully putting her back to bed, ensuring she is safe and comfortable and then gets on with the minor task of dragging Elsie’s dead husband Nick down to the end of the garden and burying him under the rose bushes. Although I’m pretty sure that isn’t on her list of jobs to do, the book slowly takes the reader back to why and how Nasty Nick ended up smelling the roses 6 feet under.

It’s fairly obvious that Maria isn’t your usual “cleaner” and is running from something or someone in her past. She’s a fascinating character with a sad and violent past who just wants to be happy and fit in. With a really dark and vicious temper, Maria works hard to keep in control, she’s loyal to her clients and friends and isn’t not entirely her fault when she accidentally kills a few people along the way.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The humour was fabulous, the relationship between Elsie and Maria was both tender and beautiful, despite the blood and I was routing for Maria throughout.

I am so happy that I already have Tina’s previous books on my kindle and look forward to reading both very soon.

5 sparkling stars from me.

Tina's books are just fabulous. Her characters have so much depth to them and you can tell that they are written from the heart and drawn from experiences in real life as they are so believable.

Maria is an exceptional cleaner and has several clients she cleans for. She has grown very fond of one in particular, Elsie who has dementia and an awful husband, so Maria would do anything to keep her safe in her own home, even murder!

As the story slowly unfolds, we learn about Maria's tragic past, which explains why she is like she is. Chapters fluctuate between the past and present perfectly to reveal just a bit more of both timelines.

I don't want to spoil too much about the plot as you really do need to read it yourself, but just know, there are more clients and more murders!

This is a dark story with humour. I think I might have laughed way too much at the relationship with Elsie and her singing!

Tina has a brilliant way of writing dark humour. This is the third book of hers I have read and enjoyed.

This is a journey and discovery of a woman who has lost her way, been forced to make bad decisions and who struggles to trust. Absolutely loved it and read it in one day as I was totally immersed and invested in the whole story. Maria was a wonderful character and Elsie was just hilarious.

Many thanks to netgalley, Viper books and of course Tina Baker for an ARC.

This book didn't really wow me. I struggled to feel anything towards Maria and found myself skimming through it.

I thought this book was okay, it was quite different to other books ,and I liked that. However I didn't connect with the main character to the extent that I was fully invested in what happened. Not bad but not really for me.

Make Me Clean by Tina Baker
I give this book 4.5 stars

Maria is a good cleaner. She cleans for Elsie,with the terrible husband. She cleans for Brian, with the terrible boss. She cleans for the mysterious Mr Balogan, with the terrible neighbours.
Her clients have hired her to clean up their lives, and she takes her job seriously - not to mention how much happier they all are now. The trouble is, how much can you sweep under the carpet, and pray no one looks too closely?!

Oh wow,I loved this one!!
A cleaner who is good at her job and cares enough to go above and beyond for her special clients.Brilliantly written and compulsive to read,dark, twisted and fast paced. I loved Maria and her relationship with Elsie was the best.
This is one of those books that stands out for me and l don’t want to say too much, as you all need to read it (it’s that good)
With thanks to Netgalley,Tina Baker and Serpent's Tail / Viper / Profile Books for my chance to read and review this book

This is my first novel by author Tina Baker and I will be reading a lot more of her novels. This book really held my attention and it was such a good thrilling read with incredible characters that I enjoyed reading about.

We meet main character Maria, and I loved reading about her and founding out about her dark secret past. I would love to read more novels that have Maria in as she is very much likeable.

Maria is a cleaner, she cleans for many clients including Elsie who has dementia and Brian. She cleans their homes and is also somewhat a friend to these people.

We learn about Maria's past and I really felt for her as she has put up with so much and has vowed to no longer be bullied or hurt by others.

This for me, was a perfect dark thrilling read with Maria as a fantastic and different character to anything I have ever read before.

Thanks to Netgalley, Tina Baker and the publishers for allowing me a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Maria is a cleaner and a very good cleaner but she is also a killer. Her back story is tragic and goes some way to explain why she does what she does. Her only constant in her life is Elsie, one of her clients who has dementia. A heart breaking story but not on par with other books I have read by this author.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

Packed with dark humor and gory scenes, Make me clean is not your usual thriller.

It follows the life of Maria, a cleaner hiding from her past (which we come to discover little by little throughout the book) and dealing with all sorts of clients. She finds herself in many peculiar and somewhat extreme situations, and we are the spectators as she tries to overcome them.

This isn't a book full of tense suspense and mind-numbing twists; however, I really enjoyed it – especially the chapters dealing with Elsie, a lady with dementia with whom Maria establishes a lovely mother-daughter relationship.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book if you love dark stories with well-developed and likable, albeit questionable, characters.

Thank you NetGallery and Viper for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I shall start with the acknowledgements which are moving, funny, thankful and give a clear insight re this author, found them fascinating

Onto the book, after the authors previous book ‘Nasty Little Cuts’ I knew to expect the unexpected and knew that whatever the story was it would be uniquely written….and it was
Told from Maria, a cleaner’s viewpoint we meet her various clients and also look back at why she is in semi hiding in London and what that horrific back story has made her ( do ) today!
One of her clients, Elsie, has dementia and this is the first book I think that has explored the sometimes happy nature this shocking disease can give sufferers at times, alongside the truly awful times as well, it was more than interesting to read and be a part of Elsie’s very high and darkly low times
I found the book endearing throughout and dark when it wasn’t! and did really enjoy it, the authors way of describing feelings and emotions in a polar way is amazing Ie how something can make you feel good and bad at the same time and the attention to the human mind’s nitpickingness ( not sure a word ) refreshing
Can really only recommend reading this and seeing what you get from the book but can guarantee it will be something

Did I love this book? No. Did I enjoy it? Absolutely! Look no further if you’re in the market for a quick and easy read full of dark humour. I’m new to this author and my immediate takeaway is that her writing is great - it just flows and this book is a whole jumble of genres which I enjoyed. I guess for me the story just lacked depth which is surprising considering some of the events that took place but I just didn’t feel a connection to lead character Maria, she is one big contradiction and her actions didn’t really align with the sweet and kind character that was being portrayed.

So although I didn’t completely adore this book, it definitely had its appeal and I’d be intrigued to read more of Tina’s work!

Thanks to Netgalley and Viper for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Maria is a cleaner and a very hard working one at that. She has many clients and although she has her own small bedsitter she spends a lot of time looking after one of her clients, Elsie, who has dementia.

Maria is also a killer although one could say her crimes were accidental rather than planned and her cleaning skills certainly come in useful.

As we hear more of Maria's back story it becomes obvious that she's had a very hard life and can't help feeling sorry for her.

I enjoyed this and look forward to reading Tina's next book.

Downtrodden Maria means well and does a fabulous job as a cleaner but she just isn’t cleaning the house she is cleaning up the murders, that just happen. Her friendship with Elsie is the one solid thing in her life.
This felt a little flat for me and I’m a little sad with myself I didn’t enjoy it more but I know that plenty will love it. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Not a bad book think cos I was expecting a lot from previous books by this author ....not one of the bests but definately readable ...would have liked a lot more twists I the chapters

This book gave major The Maid vibes! I loved it, although there isn't a specific twist or mystery as in typical thrillers, the story still kept me gripped and curious to see where Maria's journey took her and how her story unfolded. I liked the way the story was told, bit by bit Maria's past was revealed, and I looked forward to those chapters too. I enjoyed the writing style and the ending was satisfying! I will read more of this author!

Make Me Clean was an absolute delight, if you can call a novel with plenty of gore and killing "delightful". Well, I can and I will. It's a wonderful, clever blend of funny, irreverent, surprising and dark. It's also extermely well written with wonderful, well-rounded characters and great pacing. Addictive.

Maria loves to clean. Not just homes but lives, too. She really cares about getting places properly clean. She really cares about some people too, and is fiercely protective of the ones she loves.

Fiercely.

This novel is a fun read but it's serious too. It addresses the privilege of conscience, of how 'easy' it is to be firm about right and wrong when you have an easy life, plenty of money and few worries about the future. So many people don't. The social contract is hanging by a fine thread, with those at the top relying on all those 'below' them to keep toiling away, for little return, no matter how many challenges they face every day.

It reminded me of the TV series Dexter, which is so good at getting you to root for the killer, even feel genuine affection for them. I defy any reader not to root for Maria and fully empathise with her. She's a great character.

My thanks to the author, Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC.