Death's holiday is interrupted by a series of murders that were not part of the plan, forcing her into solving the mystery all while dealing with being very much human.

A very funny and irreverent read, I found myself in stitches on more than one occasion. From the big man in the sky been the world's most hand's off CEO (think world's worst lean sigma six black belt holder) to the takes on some other fairly significant biblical characters it was a delight to read. The characters are eclectic from the get go, there is the complications of family, the love of found family and just enough of a slow burn romance. The humor can only be described as slightly unhinged but in the best possible way. It is obviously dark.

Its quick paced, at times daft (but never in a forced way, more just a nod to the fact that the world is indeed daft) insightful and in many ways forgiving of what it means to be human. Very much enjoyed.

I was intrigued by the synopsis of this book, so when I saw it on my shelf I was looking forward to getting into it.
The spin the author put on the character of Death is one I’ve not seen before but found it was brilliantly executed.
On the surface this is a fun, quirky story, but the more you read, you realise it’s far more complex than first appears.
The characters are flawed, complex, relatable and have excellent depth and development.
Loved this one, I’ll definitely be recommending.

One of the most refreshing aspects of this novel is its unique take on Death—portrayed not as a grim, ominous figure but as a flawed, relatable woman simply trying to do her job. This clever twist on the reaper trope is both engaging and thought-provoking. Death’s dynamic with her sister, Life, is a real highlight, offering a fascinating blend of tension, humour, and sibling rivalry. Their interactions bring depth to the story and create an intriguing exploration of the balance between life and death.
The novel’s murder mystery element adds an extra layer of intrigue, with some well-placed twists and suspenseful moments. While the pacing isn’t always even, the concept is strong, and there’s plenty to enjoy along the way. The romantic subplot with the parasitologist injects some charm and lightness into the story, though it occasionally takes a backseat to the mystery.
Dapunt’s writing style is witty and filled with sharp humour, making this a thoroughly entertaining read. The snarky dialogue and vivid descriptions give the book a distinctive voice that keeps the tone lively and engaging.
Overall, Death and Other Occupational Hazards is a fun, inventive, and darkly humorous read. While it balances comedy and mystery in its own unique way, it’s a great choice for readers looking for something fresh, quirky, and full of personality. Even as someone new to the fantasy genre, I found it an enjoyable escape!

This book is a rollercoaster. It's funny, its heavy, there's romance, the family drama, there's workplace rivalry. It's all in there!

The idea of this book really intrigued and excited me, and though it wasn't quite the quirky light-hearted mystery I was expecting throughout the entire story I did get sections like this.

It explored some really heavy material that I just didn't expect, and honestly it did throw me and send me into a slight philosophical spiral, but we got over that! There were still some really nice and fun moments and I did enjoy the romance.

I think the modern day "Corporate" setting of Life, death, the devil, Jesus and God was a stroke of genius. I actually think that Jesus might be my favourite character and actually wish we had seen some more of him. I loved Garm and I was really happy with her eventual fate - although it did get a bit ropey there for a while. I wish we could've found out more about what became of Marco.

Overall a good if heavy read. It totally gives you something to think about, and really consider which is what a good book should do.

Death is fed up! She’s tired of ferrying the souls of the dead to the next stage of the afterlife and she needs a break. After a conversation she has with one of the souls on the ferryboat, she petitions The Boss (otherwise known as God) to let her take a sabbatical here on old planet earth. More specifically London.

Set up in a flat and obtaining a job (all coordinated by Death’s opposite and sister Life), she sets about enjoying her life as a human on the plane of existence known as Earth. However, she soon stumbles on a number of deaths that were not in THE PLAN, set up by him upstairs and this leads her to investigate why this is happening.

She soon finds that the deaths lead her into organised crime which in turn leads her to see that forces from down below (i.e. The Devil) are rampant on earth and are playing some kind of game with the fabric of existence.

To say that this book was totally out of my comfort zone (due to the fact that the dreaded R word – romance – made an appearance) is an understatement. Especially when my usual fodder, as you may know (and the fact that the name gives it away) revolves around either fantastical worlds or people getting ripped to pieces by scary monsters, I actually quite enjoyed this.

What I liked!

I liked this iteration of the grim reaper as a quirky thirty something woman (although my favourite iteration is Death from The Sandman, but that’s the ever present goth in me) and the fish out of water scenarios that come with death on earth and how she copes with them. I enjoyed the mystery surrounding the ‘unplanned deaths’ and how this panned out with death experiencing love.
I also loved the two doggos that are in this book, Cerberus, the little yappy dog of the love interest, with the heart of the lion, and the dog that Death and Life save from the research labs in the story who they call Garm (named after the dog / wolf who guards Hel’s gate in Norse Mythology).

What I didn’t like?

I didn’t like the corporate sounding names that were given to both the Devil and Jesus. I think they were supposed to be funny in a Pratchettesque kind of way, but I found them a) a little bit annoying and b) totally forgettable.

All in all, I really enjoyed this one. It’s not my usual cup of tea, but Veronika Dapunt made the characters likeable and someone who I enjoyed getting involved with for the time I was reading it.

***advance review copy received from NetGalley in return for an honest review***
An excellent book which is ostensibly a murder mystery but becomes so much more than that. A reminder of the wonder that is creation. If you enjoyed Terry Pratchett’s Death books, or Good Omens, you’ll find something of a similar path here, enmeshed with a murder mystery like no other you’ve read before.

I've always loved to read interpretations of Death in the modern world, and this was beautifully unique. I found the novel a little slow to start and it took me a while to get into it, but by about a third in I found myself rooting strongly for Death and her growth in love and friendships within the world. I imagine I'll be thinking about this book for a long time, and I'm going to look out for any future novels by Veronika Dapunt (this is SUCH an incredible debut!).

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the fact Death was a woman. I totally expected it to be a man - my bad! Death goes on sabbatical and everything starts to fall apart. Unexpected deaths start to happen with the help of her sister Life and Marco a parasitologist that she meets, Death needs to find out who is behind the murders.

I enjoyed this quirky book, it was very different.

Thanks to NetGalley and Transworld for the opportunity.

Most people think that when they meet Death, it’ll be a skeleton in a black potato sack. Maybe with a scythe. Truth is, she’s just a woman doing a job, and she’s very good at it.

But when Death takes a much-needed break to live on earth, things start to go terribly wrong.

Someone’s killing people not on her list (well, not yet anyway) and it's down to her to find the culprit before it’s too late. To make matters worse, her sanctimonious sister Life – whom Death hasn’t gotten along with in millennia – won’t stop blaming her. . . and there’s the slight problem of the charming (sexy) parasitologist she’s suspicious of.

But she’ll be fine, right?

I really really enjoyed this book, it was engaging from the first chapters. I would thoroughly recommend

A unique story with plenty of different concepts throughout. First and foremost, death being a woman - LOVE. No choice but to stan, in fact! I loved this, and I was pretty gagged at myself (as a female reader) when I realised death was a woman and I’d gone in assuming death would be a man.

I’ve never read a book quite like this, the premise is unique, with death being on a sabbatical from her day job whilst investigating Unplanned Deaths and simultaneously balancing a human job and life - if it sounds a bit bonkers that’s because it is, but in a very pleasant way. I did find it lost a little bit of steam midway through, but we picked back up again and things started to move once more!

The ending was possibly my favourite part of the whole book. I shed a little tear but I believe it was perfect (and I wholeheartedly believe more books would benefit from this type of ending, it seems to be quite brave in this era of dark romance/romantasy).

This books has lots to like about it: the characters are likeable, there’s pleasant humour, and the general tone is upbeat throughout. A deadly delight!

Big thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc of this book!

An original concept and an interesting plot! I’ve never read anything like this before and it was refreshing to try something new. I would recommend this to people who love dark romance, crime and more quirky stories.

The idea of this is very good. I like that death was represented as a woman. I liked death as a character. It got a bit slow in the middle but picked up again. I very much liked the ending, that death went back to being death and didn't stay for her 'happy ever after' with Marco. I think that was a good choice.

Such a good book! Not read anything like this before. I love the personification of death. Really well written and highly enjoyable

Such an unusual and unique concept, Death's sharp voice will linger in your mind long after you've read. Don’t you just want to grab this, switch off the phone and curl up on the sofa
By far one of my favourite books I've read this month…

Read and reviewed in exchange for a free copy from Netgalley. This was an entertaining and engaging read. The story felt completely novel, and Delara was an enjoyable narrator. I was invested in her story throughout and Dapunt wrote the other characters well, although there were occasions the plot jumped around and I found it difficult to follow in parts. Emotive and funny, this is definitely worth a read.

Sorry, wasn't feeling this one. I thought the premise sounded interesting but I DNFd at around 30% because I wasn't invested in the plot.

Death is not the baggy black cloak wearing, scythe handling bloke that you think you know. Death is a slightly burned out, unappreciated woman who quite frankly needs a break. So she applies to The Boss for a sabbatical only to find herself on a busman’s holiday, trying to get the bottom of some deaths that should not have happened.

On the whole, I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the behind the scenes glimpse into Death’s world. I got a kick out of the humour in the book, especially the corporate titles given to Jesus and the Devil. I found the pace really slowed down in the middle and I couldn’t get behind the romance element or the motive for events during Death’s sabbatical. For both of these reasons, I wasn’t as immersed in the book as I wanted. Having said that, I thought the ending was spot on and I loved the character of Death.

If magical realism and dark humour are your vibes, definitely add this to your tbr pile.
Thanks to the author, publish and NetGalley for the chance to review an advanced copy to the book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld for this ARC.

Death feels burnt out and underappreciated so puts in for a sabbatical in London in the body of a young woman, Delara Donn, that her sister Life provides her with. Yes, Life and Death are women.

The problem is that in this body, Death is suddenly mortal, and just as some Unplanned deaths occur - deaths that she is not responsible for and which consequently threaten the fabric of life and try to bring about the apocalypse.

So Death tries to find out what's going on and why the Italian mafia wants to poison people with food while the Vice President for Pandemonium & Perdition or in other words the Devil is sabotaging her at every turn.

The Boss (God) isn't very interested but she gets help from the Human Communications Director (Jesus, who makes shampoo adverts and every now and then dies for three days) and a human parasitologist named Marco. Is there romance in the air? Can Death actually fall in love, and what does that mean for her job?

This is a darkly funny, uniquely absurd and madly entertaining debut novel about a contemplative Death discovering the meaning of life a la "Live, Laugh, Love" whilst trying to help her sister, solve some murders, keep the VP at bay and prevent the apocalypse.

It's nice to get a different perspective on Death. I could practically hear Louis Armstrong crooning "What a Wonderful World" in the background at some of her observations! Read if you liked Good Omens, it's the same sort of wit and humour.

4.5 stars

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this book but it was a great read.

Death takes a sabbatical on Earth, fed up with being unappreciated and she is determined to improve her PR.

That takes a back seat when unplanned deaths occur. She immediately begins investigating, outraged that someone is doing her job.

It was a mystery with a great twist and seeing Death learning to engage with humans was amusing.

I guessed some of who was behind it but it definitely keeps you guessing.

Bizarrely by the end of this book you find yourself rooting for Death!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for the ARC

Who's better to investigate murder than Death herself? Death incarnated bids on lots of fun it seems. This was a hilarious murder mystery. I loved the concept of death as a woman and the thought of someone stealing her job is too fun. Throughly enjoyed the novel and would recommend it to all mystery lovers.