Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

How to murder your Boss – McMasters Handbuch zum Morden by Rupert Holmes

7 reviews

cranshrooms's review against another edition

4.25

funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

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This book was a lot of fun! The style is innovative and engaging, it eas easy to invest in the characters and their stories, and the end was very satisfying. The afterword, however, felt rather on the nose and undeserved.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Murder, Sexual harassment

Minor: Chronic illness, Drug use, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Transphobia, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy

peachmoni's review against another edition

3.5

dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Violence, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol

Minor: Drug use, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail

collsin05's review against another edition

1.25

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Good idea but terrible execution. Doria and Gemma were after thoughts and Cliff used up too much thought. The whole thing was a convoluted mess with long sentences, clunky paragraphs, and unnecessary chapters slowing now the pacing at intense plot points. I mean

Gemma was possibly killed and there were about 4 chapters between her getting crushed by cinderblocks and us checking in on her at the hospital to see if she even was alive

Gemma was never meant to succeed. She was never meant to be anything other than an object for Cliff to fond over. We were only introduced to her “backstory” after Cliff had been dreaming of her and acting like he knew her. The misunderstanding keeping them apart was her relationship with Jud, but that was just because she had to “platonically seduce?” Her target so she needed practice. Like I said that was all just made up for the purpose of making Cliff jealous. And she was set up to fail, with her flimsy little plan all the teachers said would fail, but they graduated her anyone despite them all agreeing that she wasn’t ready… because Cliff was ready. And if Cliff wasn’t going to be at school to play water polo and work in the kitchen, then why would the narrative bother taking place at the school? For female characters to exist outside the male gaze of the real and only protagonist? No she she had to go

and she had to fail because how else could she return to the school and be reunited with her beloved whom she had never spoken to. How else could she have a happy ending?

it was a general convoluted mess with deep sea diving, secret trash can drop offs, cross dressing, stealing cars, something about the Dali lama and there was this one Latvian delivery boy? It was impossibly to follow. There were no real plot twists and between Cora, Gemma, and doria there was an unsettling demonization of female sexuality as if their sexuality was owned by some polygamous man or another with true female promiscuity being severely punished and virginal purity being rewarded. Even if the narrator did call out this double standard and did punish the worst male offenders.

But it was clear in the end that the pure girl would be rewarded by winning Cliff, and the independent woman who don’t need no man would be turned into a pig one way or another, and that Cliff is the only true protagonist

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Medical content, Sexual harassment

The audio book has great narrators and the physical copy has nice illustrations But overall I would not recommend it. Reviews from 1 star to 3 stars all agree that understanding was severely hampered by how convoluted and unnecessarily long it was

asimpson7's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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This was a good read. Very strange and I often was very confused. Even at the end I was confused. But I liked the progression of their plans and that we had a progression of the stories of each person. I also liked that each of their stories intertwined and that not all of their deletions worked. But the one that didn’t work felt right. I would like to know what happened to the Dean at the end. But other than that it was an entertaining book and one unlike any I’ve ever read before.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail

callidoralblack's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous lighthearted mysterious

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder

Minor: Chronic illness, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail

jessiereads98's review against another edition

4.25

dark funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Murder Your Employer is unique and so much fun. I’ve never read anything quite like it. Rupert Holmes utilizes humour masterfully to create a comedic murder mystery where you’re along for the murder. I love how he turned common phrases on their head along with utilizing tropes in unique ways. The description of settings also makes you feel like you’re right there in it without overdoing it on exposition. The use of Dean Harbringer Harrow as a narrator and interlocutor was genius and created a compelling flow through the unique tone the storytelling took.

This doesn’t quite make 5 stars for me as I felt the stories of Doria Maye and Gemma Lindley weren’t as well done as that of Cliff Iverson. At times those stories felt like they didn’t quite fit in with the rest or were rushed, creating an overall impression of a lack of focus. I wish the characters had interacted more than we got to see. I also didn’t particularly care for the ending to Doria’s story. The ending of Cliff and Gemma’s stories were predictable although not unsatisfactory. I just didn’t find the writing of the endings as compelling as the rest of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder

Moderate: Suicide, Sexual harassment

Minor: Drug use, Gun violence, Death of parent, Alcohol

mrscav's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This book isn’t as dark and menacing as I thought it would be! It actually turned out to be quite an insightful, sometimes comical and sometimes sad, commentary on humans and our institutions. Yes, the apparent commentary is provided through a darker narrative, but I ended up having so many philosophical and moral conversations as I moved through each characters’ stories. I think the use of a darker and over-the-top narrative worked so perfectly! In no way does this book justify such violence (nor should it), but I do think it starts great conversations and it was a fun read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism