3/5

A cool thriller book from a new to me author. I liked the cover and premise of the novel. I’ll definitely continue reading more from this author.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest reviews.

Death needs a vacation. Badly. But there's a catch: There are people who cheat the system, always falling through the cracks and not dying like they're supposed to. Who's going to take care of them while Death's sipping on sangria?

The answer is simple: Death needs an intern, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that one prospect, Buck Palasinksia-a bankrupt hitman with a roleplaying addiction-might have what it takes. While scoping out his next target, Buck gets drilled in the forehead by a bullet and falls right into Death's lap.

If they shove him back into his body, he'll have a few weeks to prove that he has what it takes to be Death's right-hand.

All he has to do is take out Public Enemy No. 1, John Dillinger, and quit smoking.

This book was genius!!! From the concept to the characters it was just a fast paced, fun, freaking awesome ride.

Alcala manages to merge the perfect amount of humour with suspense, action, emotion and tension to create a great story with memorable characters that just keeps on giving. I didn’t know who I loved more, the kick ass anti-hero, the reckless villains, nonchalant Death or his nerdy side-kick. There were just too many great characters to choose from.

Perfect for fans of Terry Pratchett and anyone who doesn’t take themselves or their literature too seriously. I just hope it wasn’t a one of and Alcala turns this into a series.

#bookreviewsbymrsc #adeadendjob #justinalcala #bookstagram #instabooks #bookreviews #fantasybookreviews #fantasybookstagram

What is this about?

Death needs a vacation, and has to choose someone to fill in for him. The chosen one? A hitman called Buck. Now all Buck has to do is prove himself as capable of filling in for Death, because the alternative will be, well, hell.

What else is this about?

With some brilliant worldbuilding, and epic snark, this is a great start to a new series.

Blurb.

Fans of Terry Pratchett and Shane Kuhn’s THE INTERN’S HANDBOOK will love this noir supernatural thriller.

Death needs a vacation. Badly. But there’s a catch: There are people who cheat the system, always falling through the cracks and not dying like they’re supposed to. Who’s going to take care of them while Death’s sipping on sangria?

The answer is simple: Death needs an intern, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that one prospect, Buck Palasinksia-a bankrupt hitman with a roleplaying addiction-might have what it takes. While scoping out his next target, Buck gets drilled in the forehead by a bullet and falls right into Death’s lap.

If they shove him back into his body, he’ll have a few weeks to prove that he has what it takes to be Death’s right-hand.

All he has to do is take out Public Enemy No. 1, John Dillinger, and quit smoking.
Here’s the thing: not even Death is exempt from a computer taking over his job. So begins A Dead-End Job — Death is burned out, andperhaps slightly bored because much of this work is done by a computer now. So when his friend Jumbo suggests a vacation he agrees..

The only catch is he needs to find someone to cover for him — enter Buck. And who is Buck? A hitman who has just been assassinated, and in order to avoid Hell, he agrees to consider covering for Death, because first he has to get through the test to th get the internship.

Yup, you gotta take a test to cover for Death, and after Buck proves himself as more than capable — and no, I’m not going to spoil exactly what hapens there — Death heads off, and Buck starts his job.

One of Buck’s important responsibilities will be to track down those souls that don’t want to die.

At this point, the worldbuilding expands, and readers and Buck begin to understand there is a complex web of groups of undead within this world, and things aren’t as simple as he riginally thought. This is what excited me about the potential in this world, and this series — there are so many possibilities, and I am definitely along for the ride to see where it goes.

The book is filled with snark, and sharply funny dialogue that left me in stiches. The banter between Death, Jumbo and Buck is on point, and this is one of those supernatural noir novels that just grabs you, and drags you into this world and I can’t wait to go back!

2 / 5 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2021/12/14/a-dead-end-job-by-justin-alcala-review/

A somewhat novel take on the Grim Reaper trope—where Death is replaced by a mortal for whatever reason—A Dead-End Job isn’t exactly generic, but it’s certainly not new either. I’d call it unique, if only because I’ve never read anything quite like it. It does try a lot of things, but.. well, you'll see.

Death is hurting—he needs a vacation. Badly. Thanks to automation, the job pretty much takes care of itself nowadays. People die, the souls turn over, and march their own way through to the afterlife. But Death’s job isn’t so simple as it used to be. Because where there is a system in place with rules and regulations, there will always people trying to cheat the system. It’s those that cause Death most of his headaches, and take up most of his time.

So in order to go on holiday, Death must find someone to take up his mantle for just a little while. So he hires a hitman to do it.

And not just any hitman—the best there is. Okay, well, maybe not her. Instead he picks Buck Palasinksia, the most recent hitman to take a bullet through the skull. Buck wasn’t a bad shot in his day, and feels reasonably certain he can do the job. Plus, he’s dead, which makes him perfect for the job.

Now all he has to do is take out Public Enemy #1, John Dillinger, and all the other would-be cheaters while Death is off sipping Coronas on the beach.

When the author first started writing A Dead-End Job in 2019, it was nothing more than the idea of a hard-boiled hitman working for a comical Grim Reaper. What came out the other side was a former vet, working as a hitman to support the kid he picked up off the street, throwing humor around to help him make it through the day. Now, in practice I honestly think this sounds like a decent book. In reality however… it just didn’t work for me. Now there’s a lot to love about this book—really, there is—I just didn’t love it.

My objection to it began in the prologue (which is never good), a prologue which I nearly didn’t finish. I’ve never enjoyed the “Grim Reaper in a cubicle” depiction, and it just isn’t ever likely to work on me. Now, that’s a pretty important part of this book, but it wasn’t in the blurb so how was I to know? I felt that Dead-End Job tried a lot of things—none of which worked much better than the setting for me. Buck is a former vet turned hitman, something that was never adequately explained. The kid he picks up along the way joins the picture only after he was killed, so it had nothing to do with supporting her. The references, puns, catch-phrases, and comedic one-liners pretty much define Buck as a character. And were the only depth I ever saw from him. The hitman/thief with a heart of gold is something that I’ve seen too often, and yet another thing I’ve never bought into. This combined with the world and Buck’s brand of cheap 90’s humor pretty much ruined it for me.

Thus A Dead-End Job pretty much follows in a straightforward manner until just before the end, where it does turn an impressive twist. The trouble was that by that point I was just too far gone to care. The ending itself wasn’t bad, but after 250 pages of bad puns and one-liners, it didn’t manage to awaken any sort of enjoyment from me. Like I said before, this may be a good book; it tries a lot of different things, combines death and comedy with the weight of responsibility. I just didn’t feel like it did any of these particularly well, and wasn’t for me regardless.

TL;DR

A Dead-End Job might not be the most interesting take on a mortal replacing the Grim Reaper, nor the most humorous. It’s not the most thrilling, nor the most mysterious. But it might just be… the newest? I really don’t have a lot to say about this book, other than that it didn’t work for me. It definitely didn’t work. It tries a lot of things: combining the weight of parenting with the seriousness of mortality, joins a hard-boiled hitman with an almost comedically disarming Death, and cobbles the whole thing together with puns, catch-phrases, and references fresh out of the 90’s. While I didn’t feel like it managed any of these particularly well, it also didn’t ruin them. Not exactly. I mean, most of these things have already been ruined for me, so the whole thing was pretty much doomed from the start. Maybe you’ll like it better, though. If you’re the kinda person that enjoys any two of the above tropes, maybe give it a shot. Otherwise, maybe don’t. It’s definitely a no-go from me.

A man voted in high school as most likely to end up with a dead-end job, comes to satisfy that prophecy when he finds himself working for Death, while the boss is trying to take a much-needed vacation. Cue in all manner of paranormal and undead shenanigans.
This is a premise and genre that has been done before, many times, both aspects of it. The idea usually results in a sort of neo-noir with a loveable loser or loser-ish protagonist, fun side characters, paranormal politicking intrigue with different undead parties vying for control of the city, some slapstick comedy, oodles of action and a redemption-flavored carrot at the end of the stick for the main guy.
This novel works the formula to the tee. From the sort of glibly amusing tone to the wacky cast to the wham-bam-thank-you-m’am shoot’em’ups. It’s silly but you knew it would be, going in. Buck, a former military man turned assassin for pay, gets to redeem himself by choosing the right side and by unwittingly becoming a dad. Chicago does well as its own character, a city many greedy factions of various undead are just undying to take over.
Not all of the jokes land (some are too cheap, but some are pretty funny) and the plot at times gets much too convoluted, but overall, the novel maintains a lite mindless entertainment thing pretty decently. Buck warns you, more than one, that his life I a dime store novel, so you can adjust your expectations accordingly. Not sure I’d read more (and it seems like there'll definitely be more, probably a series), it isn’t really my genre, but it was fun while it lasted, a perfectly serviceable supernatural diversion. Reads quickly too. Thanks Netgalley.

4 stars

This book was such a wild ride.
I was expecting dark and gruesome and yes I got that but also... I laughed so hard with this book!
I loved Buck and Death and Jumbo and omg Luna!!!! The crew was amazing.
I like the side characters and the action scenes were fantastic.
Honestly a really awesome book for spooky season.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review

If you're looking a for a fun and quick urban fantasy read this is it. A Dead End Job mixes a bunch of supernatural characters that aren't exactly what you expect them to be with a nerdy veteran hitman turned intern for Death, and as a result gives you an entertaining story that sets up the possibility for many more adventures to come.

Interesting enough to finish, but it left me disappointed. I didn't find anything amusing as I was expecting. That would have been ok, a straight story would have been fine if there was more character, background and story development. I had forgotten Chicago was the setting until about the 75% mark when it was literally mentioned and a couple landmarks thrown in. It could have been set anywhere. A historical figure is a major secondary character, but nothing about him as written would make you go, 'yes, that's what so and so would be if...". Could have been named anything instead.

The story moved along well enough, but I'm not sure the whole Death thing made sense.

Could have also used more proofing, a couple of wrong words (similar to what should have been used) and at least one missing word.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

This is certainly an interesting and unusual story. Unfortunely I had trouble getting into it. I thought the Luna was cute and a great addition to the story. #ADeadEndJob #NetGalley

What's Not to Like?

A snarky plot featuring a character named “Death” aka the Grim Reaper, is planning a vacation.

He’s been busy all these years and although his job is now computerized and without the previous legwork, he’s grumpy and burned out.

However, he needs to hire someone to fill in before he leaves for a sunny beach somewhere - exact location to be decided.

Death and his sidekick Jumbo decide that a particular unlucky hitman would be the perfect candidate. They soon discover he may not be the brightest guy and wonder if maybe they overestimated his abilities. Things start going wrong from there.

I wanted to love this but despite the funny premise, my simmering laughter never fully materialized. It just didn’t hit on all cylinders for me. (Sorry, I couldn't resist the word play.)

Others may feel differently so if you like humor combined with a unique twist on killing and death, give this a try.

Thank you to The Parliament House, Justin Alcala, and NetGalley for my advance copy to read and review. It’s much appreciated!