Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes #bookreview

Thank you BookClubFavorites & Avid Reader Press #partner, for the finished copy of Murder Your Employer in exchange for my honest review. 

Publisher: Avider Reader Press

Published: February 21, 2023

 

Summary:

From the diabolical imagination of Edgar Award–winning novelist, playwright, and story-songwriter Rupert Holmes comes a devilish thriller with a killer concept: The McMasters Conservatory for the Applied Arts, a luxurious, clandestine college dedicated to the fine art of murder where earnest students study how best to “delete” their most deserving victim.

Who hasn’t wondered for a split second what the world would be like if a person who is the object of your affliction ceased to exist? But then you’ve probably never heard of The McMasters Conservatory, dedicated to the consummate execution of the homicidal arts. To gain admission, a student must have an ethical reason for erasing someone who deeply deserves a fate no worse (nor better) than death. The campus of this “Poison Ivy League” college—its location unknown to even those who study there—is where you might find yourself the practice target of a classmate…and where one’s mandatory graduation thesis is getting away with the perfect murder of someone whose death will make the world a much better place to live.

Prepare for an education you’ll never forget. A delightful mix of witty wordplay, breathtaking twists and genuine intrigue, Murder Your Employer will gain you admission into a wholly original world, cocooned within the most entertaining book about well-intentioned would-be murderers you’ll ever read.

 

My thoughts:

I fully admit this book grabbed me because of the title…I mean how could it not? A story about how to get rid of people? That totally sounds right up my alley!!! And while the story is about killing people, it’s told with a dark humor that really isn’t my style and I think that is why the book didn’t quite work for me.

Don’t get me wrong, this book is totally unique and creative and for that reason along, I liked it. I was just expecting a darker, more disturbing read and this was definitely not that. It also felt long…it dragged at times and never seemed to go anywhere. We follow three students and I think I just never connected to any of them. Had it just been the first student we meet, Cliff, I might have felt a little differently, as I had started to warm up to him but the addition of the other two students just seemed disjointed to me.

Again, I loved the concept of this book and I know plenty of other people loved this one, so don’t take my opinion to heart. I think it was just my expectations going into the book were totally off and that set me up for disappointment. It happens.