Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - How to murder your Boss – McMasters Handbuch zum Morden

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Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

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

35 reviews

falberrybots's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous funny informative tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

katylizg's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark funny tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

dkamada's review against another edition

5.0

funny informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

justagremlin's review against another edition

3.25

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Nice book if you’re in the mood for some dark academia shenanigans. The chapter sizes are small, which makes it a fairly quick read. I always like books that have “journal entry” formats. I did feel like even though this is a multi-POV book, they didn’t spend much time on the two female MCs. It got a bit better as the book progressed, but while they were at the school, we didn’t see any of them learning

; actually, on that note, they barely spend any time at the school. I would’ve loved to have read more about the murder curriculum, but it feels like barely any time is spent on that :( And towards the end, the segments with Cliff are hard to follow.

But overall its not a bad read and I had a fun time with it.

3.25/5

Recommended For: Fans of darkly humorous dark academia set in the past

Content Warnings

angorarabbit's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

TLDR: Very good Golden Age Style Mystery with a few twists.

I was pleasantly surprised by this mystery novel. The blurb promises entertainment which is delivered mostly in puns in the first half of the book. Then Mr Holmes gets to work with an intricately plotted how-they done-it novel.

The forward is a bit tiresome, but necessary to understanding the setting. The rest of the narrative is an omnipresent narrator and a mix of journal entries from the main character to his patron, reports, and letters. The later being indicated by chapter headings. The style is down to earth with enough description to fill in the blanks but not be flowery. The action is pretty easy to follow and main characters are easy to differentiate.

The characterisation was okay, the minor characters suffered in particular. Main characters were somewhat stereotyped though they acted consistent with their characters throughout the novel. The first part of the novel was rather under peopled though filling a school like it should be is always tricky for both the writer and the reader.

In true Golden Age fashion all the would be deletees were nasty humans. I thought two of them deserved an Orient Express experience to tell the truth. I anticipate there were after the funeral parties. The setting is 1950’s America so at least the author didn’t have to worry about the modern banes of deleters existence DNA and mobile phones. Though one deletion method was old fashioned, the other two were quite novel.

The postscript does make me wonder if the punishment will fit the crime.

Content Warnings

elenilkd's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A great mix of dark humor, thriller, and a little Hogwarts-esque fantasy! A little slow and predictable sometimes, but I can appreciate the base idea here, especially as a fan of horror and thriller comedies.

Kind of wish the end was a little more flushed out though. I’m glad to see the three characters reunite, but was almost too happy and predictable of an ending for what’s overall such a dark comedy. Was the love interest really necessary if it wasn’t going to be fully addressed or developed? Could the Dean really not see his own death coming? How many students are offered to come back as faculty like that?

Content Warnings

bookcornerbyjisu's review against another edition

4.0

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

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

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

Content Warnings

flower_mail's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Content Warnings

bzliz's review against another edition

4.75

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This is everything I love in a campy mystery- it’s quirky, laugh out loud funny, and perfectly convoluted. And after finishing it I’ve learned that the author is the same Rupert Holmes who is a 2 time Tony winner and wrote the Piña Colada song. If I believed in such things I’d say it’s proof that god really does have favorites because this man is supremely talented.

The manner is which the story is told could be confusing for anyone not in the right headspace. Primarily it is a manuscript written by the Dean of a university for would-be murderers (aka deletists)- telling the story of three students of the school, all angling to kill their employers, and we learn that one of them will not be successful. Cliff Iverson’s story is told primarily through journal entries as he must document his studies for his sponsor, whereas Gemma Lindley’s and Doria Maye’s (aka Dulcie Mown) stories are told primarily through a third person omniscient narrator. It is implied that these omniscient sections are retellings of their events from undercover agents and former graduates of McMasters. Additionally, the book is split in two clear parts. The first takes place at the school where our student heroes are learning all the skills they need to become well-rounded deletists; the second is their return to the real world where they must complete their thesis (murder) in order to graduate and failure will result in their own deletion.

The only reason I cannot give this a full five stars is the tendency to use underlines to ensure a pun, double entendre, joke, etc lands correctly. It was distracting for me. I will still readily recommend this to anyone looking for a mystery book that takes an unconventional approach to the subject.

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Murder, Sexual harassment

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, Transphobia, Alcohol

Death, murder:

I hope if these trigger you that you haven’t picked this book up. Multiple people will be murdered in this book, with specific details as to how it was done included.

Sexual harassment:

Doria’s target Leonid Kosta exploits women looking to break into the film industry to lure them to his home. He also uses refusal of his advances against her, thus resulting in her desire to kill him. Gemma’s target Adele Underton essentially pimps her out (using blackmail) to a big wig coming to the hospital to secure them more funding. Gemma does not go through with it.

Sexual assault:

Cliff’s target Merrill Fiedler regularly uses his station to entice women to his bed (or office). He also drugs them so they’re unaware as he takes photos of them in a compromised state that he can later use as blackmail when he wants them to go away so he can victimize someone else, but also as a threat to keep them under his thumb.

Injury:

Gemma is nearly strangled at the school. Later she is hit with cinder blocks from 3-4 stories off the ground. Other injuries occur including a few poisonings, plus the murders themselves.

Alcohol:

They drink occasionally. Alcohol is mainly used as a method of concealing poison.

Homophobia:

There is clearly shame given to same sex partners that would be period appropriate. They are minor mentions.

Racism:

Gemma notes that it’s acceptable that her white father married a woman of color but that it would not have been so if their races had been reversed. Some microaggressions about her mixed race in her real life.

Suicide:

Cliff’s crush Cora overdosed on pills due to his murder target’s blackmail.

Transphobia:

Police make some comments about the “evidence” left at one of the crime scenes showing how the murderer must be a man masquerading as a woman. They toe the line between homophobia and transphobia depending on if they believe the target knew about the guise, which is all manufactured evidence anyway.

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