This review is written with thanks to the publisher for my copy of Make Me Clean via Netgalley.

Blurb:

She will leave your surfaces sparkling.
But she may well leave you dead…

Maria is a good woman and a good cleaner. She cleans for Elsie, the funny old bird who’s losing her marbles, with the terrible husband. She cleans for Brian, the sweet man with the terrible boss. She cleans for the mysterious Mr Balogan, with the terrible neighbours.

If you’re thinking of hiring her, you should probably know that Maria might have killed the terrible husband, the terrible boss and the terrible neighbours. She may also have murdered the man she loved.

She didn’t set out to kill anyone, of course, but 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, murder can’t be washed out. You can only sweep it under the carpet, and pray no one looks too closely…

Darkly funny and completely gripping from the first page to the last, Make Me Clean is one thriller you won’t be able to scrub from your mind. Perfect for fans of Harriet Tyce, Fiona Cummins and My Sister the Serial Killer.

Review:

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! 

Make Me Clean is available from Amazon.