A unique story that had me thinking of Locke and Key and The Umbrella Academy, even though it didn't have a paranormal or supernatural element to it.

The adventure and intrigue of the concept was really cool and was my favorite part of the story. The actual storyline though just progressed way too slow for me. My interest waxed and waned throughout the story. Again, there were some really interesting parts, and I really wanted to enjoy the story, but it couldn't hold my attention throughout.

If you've got the time and the patience, definitely check this out.

🎉 FUN FACT: this author, Rupert Holmes, also wrote and sang Escape: The Pina Colada Song. I love that song! What a talented individual!

This is the best ARC I have received from Netgalley so far (thank you Netgalley)! Dark Academia, Dark Humor, and carefully crafted murder schemes worthy of Agatha Christie made this SUCH a fun cozy read! I especially liked the way this was formatted as a “guide” with narration from the school’s headmaster.

The first half of the book follows three students studying at McMasters School for Homicide. The second half follows the same characters a year later as they employ their education to “delete” their targets. I appreciated this balance between dark academia and thriller.

4.5/5- would highly recommend!

Maybe it's because I'm taking a screenwriting course this semester, but this book is PERFECT for the screen! I know I say that a lot, but I can see the sets, the actors, the soundtrack-brb making a vision board.

I listen and read the hardcopy (If you have Scribd, go listen to this one because Neil Patrick Harris is AMAZING) and safe to say that I was immersed in the world of McM. You know that feeling that you get when you finish a great book- yeah this one did that for me.

I was desperate to finish it, but at the same time I did not want it to end! Usually, I'm okay with a book ending because I read mainly thrillers and mysteries and they tale feels right where it needs to end. This one is definitely an exception.

This isn't a thriller, in fact it reads almost like a textbook, (it is a guide after all) but it blends seamlessly with journal entries, the plot and illustrations. The writing is superb-there were several instances where I not only chuckled, but laughed out loud. This is the epitome of dark and dry humor.

While clever and cunning, it's not an easy read. Not really content wise (the story is easy to follow along with), but (this is going to sound so elitist...) grammatically and sentence structure wise. So if you're looking for a light and easy read, this one is not it.

With this story, everything is not what it seems so when you get used to that formula, the plot can be pretty predictable. And of course, I learned a lot! So while I like my employer, other problematic people may crop up and you better believe that I will be referring back to this book.

Mashups: Horrible Bosses, Hogwarts, Escape (the piña colada song- the author wrote that song also!), dark academia and dark humor.

This was definitely a different approach to a murder mystery. The first half takes place at the McMaster Conservatory for the Applied Arts, an exclusive and secret school for the chosen few plotting to delete those who truly deserve it. The education of the three main characters is more of a slow burn, but Rupert Holmes ratchets up the tension when the characters return home and begin to put their plans into action. It’s definitely worth sticking around for the satisfying conclusion.

Murder Your Employer was SO MUCH FUN! It took me a long time to finish only because I was crazy busy with school. The characters were so well created and the murders were so meticulously planned and executed (pun intended) that I had nothing but a grand ol time.

McMasters is something like a Hogwarts for 'justified' killing. The way Holmes described the campus and classes made me so desperate to go there! My only complaint is that we didn't spend a lot of time there. I could've done with an entire book set at McMasters with a second book going into the murders.

In any event, I hope this is only the first book in a series because I could easliy spend another few books at McMastres with all different students. I think anyone who likes elaborate murder or heist movies/books will love this.

I loved the premise of this book but found the execution lacking. Too many characters, too confusing and I found it to be terribly slow. I simply could not sink into this book or feel invested in it at all.

I couldn’t get into this book. It felt slow to start and the way the individual stories are told just didn’t keep me interested in the plot. Admittedly, I felt odd just reading a book with a title like this and thought it would be fun, but unfortunately for me it felt more like work.

Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide by Rupert Holmes is a thriller with a very unique concept: a school where the students are taught to kill and get away with murder. Not just anyone is accepted to this school though, the students need to have a good reason for wanting to "delete" or "erase" their victim. I enjoyed the idea of this book, but it felt a little slow at times. I would recommend this book, though, for those who enjoy murder mysteries just because it has such a fun and unique premise. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this, on the whole.
It has an arch, knowing tone which is generally quite appealing, though I appreciate it could easily grate with some readers.
There's a couple of bloopers in one character's story, set in Yorkshire: an Asian-only guesthouse is unlikely where that part of the story is set, particularly at the time-period the novel is supposedly written in; and, the River Strid doesn't exist - it's the River Wharfe, which flows through the Strid (a set of dangerous rapids, and a popular tourist attraction).
Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I must admit that this book was a little out there for me, especially in the format in which the story was told, in the end I enjoyed it but the story dwelled a lot on the 'school' and the various ways of killing someone and getting away with it were taught. Cliff Iverson is going to kill his employer who had altered plans for an airplane that Cliff had originally designed, the alterations will make the plane unsafe and likely end up crashing and killing numerous people. Cliff is not successful in his attempt and he is 'arrested' and taken to McMasters, a school that teaches one how to kill your employer and get away with it. If you do not successfully complete the course, you are 'deleted'. Cliff at first tries to escape then decides to embrace the instruction and learn how to refine his skills to succeed. About half of the book is about the time that Cliff spends at the school and the others that are also trying to kill their employer. There are three main points of view, Cliff and two others, Gemma and Doria who are also at the school. I did enjoy the book in particular the end, but I really felt it dragged at times, but I would still recommend. Thanks to #Netgalley and #Simon and Schuster for the ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this book!

This book has a fascinating premise that the author strictly adhered to throughout the “manual”. The build-up to “graduation” took a bit too long for me and I struggled to get into the book when it felt like the plot wasn’t really going anywhere.

The ending was quite satisfying and the ultimate reveals of how each “student” completed their “thesis” was pretty well tied together, but some of the details were difficult to follow/hard to believe possible.

All in all, a dramatic murder mystery where you know who’s going to die, who is the murderer, why they’re being “deleted”, but not the how or when.

n MURDER YOUR EMPLOYER, the reader learns The McMaster’s Way to properly murder your employer or anyone for that matter. Holmes brilliantly composed a how-to manual of sorts without making it rigid or too instructional by infusing it with stories of three characters on their path to the deletion of their bosses.

What is so entertaining about this book is that there are equal parts action, genuine emotion, and humor. The author managed to explore a world built with fascinating characters, a secret school with just as much mystery in its walls as scholarly knowledge, and compellingly dark reasons to want to commit murder. Holmes succeeded in making the study of deletion (aka murder) interesting and at times, amusing.

Reading about Cliff, Gemma, and Dulcie made this reader realize why a school like McMasters could exist. Their journey to discovering not only how to murder effectively but who they wanted to be past the actions they felt compelled to take was captivating. I was addicted from page one…though I am not sure what that says about me.

All in all, from the way the narrative was told to the glimpses into our three would-be master deletionists perspectives to how McMasters prepares their students for their thesis, this was one unique and well-crafted book.

Cliff Iverson’s boss must die.
The man has changed engineer Cliff’s designs to a new airplane such that the craft is likely to crash and kill innocent people. When no one listens to Cliff’s warnings, he decides the only way to fix the situation and save thousands of lives is to end a single one. When his first attempt to kill his boss goes horribly wrong, Cliff finds himself whisked away to the McMasters Conservatory for the Applied Arts, where students are taught the fine art of “deleting” someone without being caught.
Set in an unspecified year in the 1950s (and an unspecified place, as McMasters’ location is unknown even to the students on campus), the novel is written as a guide for non-students using Cliff and classmates Gemma Lindley and Dulcie Mown as case studies. Readers follow each of the three students as they advance in their coursework and prepare for their thesis: the deletion of their irredeemable employers. The catch? A failed thesis means expulsion not only from McMasters but from life itself. And Dean Harbinger Harrow lets readers know early on that one of the protagonists will not succeed.
This newest offering from Holmes is dark humor at its absolute best. The mystery of who will fail their thesis will keep readers turning pages, and the wordplay will keep them snorting with laughter. The three protagonists are eminently relatable, especially to anyone who’s ever had a horrible boss. With terrific twists and surprises and a surprisingly heartwarming ending (followed by an unexpected laugh-out-loud epilogue), this irreverent piece of dark academia reminds everyone why Holmes is a multi-award-winner. Highly recommended.

The droll tone throughout is perfect in this blackly funny story of three individuals who come to the The McMasters Conservatory for the Applied Arts to learn to cope with a variety of adverse conditions that could occur while planning and implementing a deletion *ahem* murder.

The book opens with the Dean of the college relaying the school's premise of teaching people a variety of ways to perform a deletion and get away with it. Then, the Dean provides us with the backgrounds of three individuals and follows their stories as they learn their homicidal trade and attempt to accomplish their murders with their new skills.

The three people featured all have issues with a boss or coworker (hence the "Murder Your Employer" title). The author focuses mainly on Cliff Iverson through his journals, where he recounts his past employment and his time at the college. Cliff is an engineer whose seriously awful boss has a long history of bad behaviour, including sexual abuse, blackmail and firing without cause.

Gemma Lindley is being blackmailed by a colleague, while Doria Maye is under the thumb of an odious Hollywood producer, who is keeping her from the role she wants.

We follow the three as they learn about poisons, different physical techniques, and a variety of ways to elude detection. Then the three return to their former lives to enact their deletions.

The book starts slowly, and we get multiple perspectives (the Dean, Cliff, Gemma and Doria) as the students try to regain control over their lives by dispatching the person causing them so much pain.

The pacing was secondary to the elucidation of the school's mission, and to the characters' development, which was fun and frequently funny. I really enjoyed watching the protagonists gain an education in plotting, tools, and assassination. What's particularly funny is how much I was rooting for the three to succeed, despite murder being, well, wrong. I almost wished the McMasters Conservatory was a real place with one of its texts advising "...the most important commandment you’ll find anywhere in your Principles of Successful Termination: ‘Do in others as you would have others do in you.’ "

I would gladly read more about the McMasters Conservatory.

Thank you to Netgalley Avid Reader Press for this ARC in exchange for my review.

I want to thank netgalley,and the publisher for letting me review this.

This one took me a while to get through, I found myself putting it down a lot, and wanting to focus on other books.

I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. It felt incredibly slow, and I didn't feel a connection anywhere. I kept on going though. It was a decent story, but I didn't like that it dragged on for me. I will say the title, and the cover art are amazing. It is very catchy,and very well thought of. I do wish I would of liked it more. If there is a Volume 2. maybe I will give that one a chance.

I hope this will continue as a Series! Regardless of the title, this novel was delightfully warm-hearted and wryly humorous, a pleasant (if rather long) interlude in a field of mysteries which often seems dominated by detailed Horror or true crime. Author Rupert Holmes does a fabulous job of bringing endearing, very divergent, characters, eliciting readers' empathy, then painting the villains (out in the "real world" and even among the "good guys") as comprehensible, even when nevertheless highly unlikable. Balancing the narrative among the three protagonists worked well without distracting, and the thematic approach and setting are appealingly presented.

While this book was a little verbose, I enjoyed the read. The writing style was distant at times, so I didn’t really felt like I was EXPERIENCING the story. Instead, I felt as if I were WATCHING it from a thousand-feet above it. The concept was great, and the attention to details was outstanding. I was intrigued from the title to the end of Cliff’s journey.

Thank you, Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster and NetGalley.

More books like this, please! This was so fun and just a delight. Can I sign up for The McMaster's Conservatory just to learn some of the skills they teach? Unless you're a saint, I'm sure you can relate with some of the characters in this one. I was about 30% through this one and enjoying it so much I didn't even realize it wasn't set in modern day even though there were so many context clues - whoops! I cannot recommend this one enough!

Amazingly original concept. A very fun addition to the mystery genre and definitely a very fresh take.

So I was drawn to this book by the blurb but I'm also a true crime addict and this book has me thinking of a few TV shows that I think kinda fits this book. First one I was thinking of was YOU, this show is on Netflix and man it's good. This book gave off that show vibes and the How to get away with murder to. But anyways this is a 5 star book. Highly recommend it. Might reread it later on this year. Kept me pulled into it. Couldn't put it down. Already told some people that they need to read this book when they can because it's so good to read.