The breathtaking, unputdownable insider account of Britain's most hidden profession
What happens after the police tape comes down?
Ben Giles has spent thirty years cleaning what most people can't bear to imagine. Dead bodies decomposing for weeks. Kitchen floors painted with blood. Hoarders' homes where the filth tells stories of unimaginable loneliness. A whale carcass lodged on a cargo ship. This is the Britain you never see - until someone needs to make it disappear.
Starting with nothing but a bucket of Dettol and a can-do attitude, Giles built the UK's leading biohazard cleaning network. From industrial spillages to animal remains, he's faced horrors that would break most people - and taught hundreds of people to do the same, in full hazmat gear. Yet threaded through the gore and dark humour is something unexpected: profound compassion for the lives interrupted, the families destroyed, and the deaths that society prefers to forget.
The Specialist takes you behind the scenes of suicides, murders, and tragic accidents - revealing not just which chemicals remove bloodstains, and how, but what violence, neglect, and loss actually look like when the rest of us can only look away. It's unflinching, occasionally hilarious, and utterly unforgettable.
| ISBN: | 9780008819866 |
| Publication date: | 21st May 2026 |
| Author: | Ben Giles |
| Publisher: | HarperNorth an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 256 pages |
| Genres: |
Memoirs Forensic science Caretakers, janitors, housekeepers, cleaners and related skills True crime True stories: general |
The breathtaking, unputdownable insider account of Britain's most hidden profession
What happens after the police tape comes down?
Ben Giles has spent thirty years cleaning what most people can't bear to imagine. Dead bodies decomposing for weeks. Kitchen floors painted with blood. Hoarders' homes where the filth tells stories of unimaginable loneliness. A whale carcass lodged on a cargo ship. This is the Britain you never see - until someone needs to make it disappear.
Starting with nothing but a bucket of Dettol and a can-do attitude, Giles built the UK's leading biohazard cleaning network. From industrial spillages to animal remains, he's faced horrors that would break most people - and taught hundreds of people to do the same, in full hazmat gear. Yet threaded through the gore and dark humour is something unexpected: profound compassion for the lives interrupted, the families destroyed, and the deaths that society prefers to forget.
The Specialist takes you behind the scenes of suicides, murders, and tragic accidents - revealing not just which chemicals remove bloodstains, and how, but what violence, neglect, and loss actually look like when the rest of us can only look away. It's unflinching, occasionally hilarious, and utterly unforgettable.
The Specialist features in the following genres: Memoirs, Forensic science, Caretakers, janitors, housekeepers, cleaners and related skills, True crime, True stories: general
The Specialist is available in Paperback, Hardback
The Specialist was written by Ben Giles and published by HarperNorth an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
The Specialist has 256 pages
£17.09