Thank you SO much to Netgalley and Harper Collins for the opportunity to read and review this book!
4.5! I really really enjoyed this book, I have never received an arc that i've enjoyed so much. It was so fun to read. It was funny. gripping and at times shocking. I have never read a book like this before.
You definitely suspect the main 5 people in this book for obvious and individual reasons and it definitely isn't a HUGE shock once it's revealed but it was still so creative and fun to read.
I found myself rooting for Dave even though he's what i'd call .. a wrongen.
The reason I knocked off .5 is because I found some parts dragged along and it took about 60% to get to the main plot.
BUT I REALLY ENJOYED THIS READ THANK YOU AGAIN TO HARPER COLLINS AND NETGALLEY!

I was looking forward to reading this, as I have found it difficult to track down books which make me laugh, and this one came with the added bonus of a comedy prize winning author!
I liked the premise of the syory and parts of it made me smile but mainly I felt disappointed. I enjoy a quirky plot: devils, angels, odd goings on, but this just felt laboured and towards the end there was a lot of unecessary explaining. It might work as a one off TV show or short story but, for me, Im sorry to say, it didnt work as a novel.
Thank you to netgalley and Harper Collins for an advance copy of this book.

Was a good twist on a classic but wasn’t for me. I found the premise and writing style didn’t work and I couldn’t engage in the story. I skipped to the end. There was a few laughs but this isn’t anything special.

The Purgatory Poisoning by Rebecca Rogers is a great debut mystery full of laughs, fun and mystical goings on.

As the title says, a poisoning is committed leaving our hapless protagonist ‘Dave’ both confused and more to the point - Dead and stranded in Purgatory.

Tasked by an Angel to find out the who, why and wherefore of his unfortunate visit to Purgatory, Dave tries to pick apart this Cosy Agatha Christie type mystery.

Written in an inviting and easy to read style, it’s a book that will appeal to many, as it’s fresh and funny, whilst keeping enough seriousness about Death and what becomes of us.

Full of quirky characters, it’s paced nicely and whilst there are no explosive moments it probably fits the story well that it all kind of happens how you might expect it to - suspect wise that is - and it all comes
To a very pleasing ending.

Great stuff!

This is somewhat of a difficult book to review as I find it hard to respond without sounding negative. I didn’t dislike it, it was humorous and a clever idea, but I was never really that engaged. I would also say that I am English so I did get the references, but this is very British humour and probably won’t travel well.

When Dave dies, he finds himself in purgatory, which resembles, in every detail, the youth hostel in St Ives he visited in 1992 with his parents and younger brother, Andrew. At the time he was ten and Andrew eight and, as the book progresses we discover why this was such a pivotal moment in Dave’s life. Purgatory is, well, boring. Plenty of time to consider your actions and repent for them. However, twenty-seven years after his childhood holiday, Dave is dead at a fairly young age. The last thing he recalls is feeling ill after eating a prawn curry at a dinner party in North London. What caused his life to end so young?

We follow Dave’s sojourn in purgatory, while visited by an angel who resembles Michael Palin, trying to come to terms with what happened and discover the reason for his death. This is a pleasant enough, if rather bizarre, journey, but rather a literary snack than a main meal. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

Unfortunately this was not the book for me, I could not get into the writing style or relate to the characters. I felt that their speech, personality and the comedy annoying and almost childish and it was too slow, with most of the book being filler and not going towards the plot.

Unfortunately I didn't fnpinish this book (I reached 40%). Although Rebecca's writing is so funny and i don't know how she came up with all of these ideas, the book just moved way too slowly for me. The structure of the book is really cool, Rebecca wrote in the side stories really well and the book flows well. Although this book just wasn't for me, other people will absolutely love it!

It’s always hardest to review books that were “OK”, a sort of damning with faint praise.
I kind of enjoyed this, although I really wouldn’t describe it as a comedy. There wasn’t much of a mystery either. It was an easy, light read. A bit disappointing as there was a lot of room for more, but I didn’t hate it.

An entertaining romp through the after-death and life of David and his friends and family. Very original, very funny, and very well written. I loved it! Look forward to reading more by Rebecca Rogers.

The concept for this book is like nothing I have read before. Dave is dead. He doesn't realise that fact immediately as he wakes up in a Youth Hostel in St Ives. A place where he spent a family holiday as a child. But it soon becomes apparent that he is in dead. He is in Purgatory. An inbetween place. Awaiting the decision as to whether he goes up or down. But that's not all. He also discovers that he was murdered... Dave is now tasked with solving his own murder. Not on his own though. He has a couple of assistants to help (or hinder) Gabe and Arial - angels.
This was all things entertaining and amusing. Vibrant and unique. Ok so the crime wasn't that tough but that wasn't really the be-all of the book. It was, and I know you're going to groan, a coming-of-death-asleepening for Dave. #SorryNotSorry. All of which makes it very much a marmite kinda book which also means a great BookClub book too.
It also falls nicely into my Bonkers genre which I have been campaigning for recognition for for absolutely ages. It contains some great banter and dry sense of humour, both of which I absolutely love. Almost at times a bit reminiscent of Good Omens and the humour in that.
For a debut book, it's a brave concept and the author does manage to do it justice. It's an easy read and kept my attention nicely the whole way through and left me satisfied at the end with a feeling of having been thoroughly entertained.
I wonder what is next for the author? Build on this concept and have another poor soul go through what Dave went through or deliver something completely different? Either way, I'll be looking out for her next book... My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Purgatory Poisoning is a good premise - guy stuck in purgatory given the task of identifying his murderer - and it's pretty well executed in a Good Omens-lite kind of way. It's whimsical rather than funny, interesting rather than clever, but it ticked enough of the boxes to keep me going. The ending seriously dragged, a huge case of over-explaining and tying of loose ends, but otherwise it was an enjoyable read.

Oh dear. I am all for supporting (in particular) women comic writers, as it is a particularly difficult genre to get right, and I'm sure that the author is a very funny person in real life. Unfortunately, I would be doing a disservice to other readers if I were not to give a proper review, and they need to be saved the purgatory (yes, this is both pertinent and funnier than anything you will read in this book) of reading this book.
Where to start? Well, all of the characters were either thoroughly unpleasant or idiotic, with very little development e.g. one character's mother was called Elle for short - her real name was Elvis; this was not referred to again until her passing, which had some Elvis paraphernalia added - to give atmosphere, I'm guessing? At any rate, pointless and not funny. And the main characters themselves had no interesting or redeemable features at all, despite being involved in satanism and murder.
There was also a huge dearth of logic in SO many of the characters' actions that it made a nonsense of the narrative, to mention just a few, the unlikely friendship of the two mothers, the shortcomings of the so-called angels, the failed and pathetic love triangle, the relationship between the two brothers, and most of all, the whole point of solving one's own murder when one is dead. There are other books and films where the ghost at least has the chance to change the lives of the still living by their actions in the afterlife, but this is not really the case here, so who cares who killed Dave?
I could go on, but you get the idea. The writing style was atrocious as well (I feel so bad saying that, but it is the truth). If I hadn't felt honour-bound to review this because I got it as an ARC from Netgalley, I most certainly wouldn't have gotten past the first 5 pages, and after that it was...well, purgatory. Consider my time there already paid!
Oh, and one last thing, the unkindest cut of all: this is marketed as being mildly like Good Omens. I cannot stress how untrue this is. Possibly like an unfunny, lacklustre version of Adrian Mole, with boring characters, and very little happening, but NOT in any shape or form in the same universe as even the merest scratchings of the great Terry Pratchett.
My thanks - and apologies - to Netgalley for the ARC of this book.

The Purgatory Poisoning by Rebecca Rogers is a murder mystery in the setting of the afterlife. Our protagonist, with assistance from heavenly beings has to solve his murder and make good before being able to move on to either heaven or hell; stuck in the interim as the title suggests in purgatory. It won’t be a spoiler to tell you his death was by poisoning and early on we know the where and when, what is left to unscramble is the who, how, and why. I have to say I guessed wrongly on the who - always a sign of a good read for me.

The book itself is hard to define as one genre, it combines the magical with hints of JK Rowling in the early interaction between the boys as kids and their mother, the fantasy of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, by which I’m referring to their book and subsequent tv show ‘Good Omens’ and finally with its lack of grisly horror and mild humour it also ticks the currently popular ‘cosy murder mystery’ box. It’s a gentle read but does make you stop and think a little about your own mortality. I have awarded it 3 stars as whilst I enjoyed its gentleness there weren’t really any shock horror moments or major plot twists; even the identity of the true villain was understandable and so did not come out of left field once revealed.

My only issue with the writing was a continuity issue. In chapter 34 a huge fuss is made of Dave, our protagonist, removing his jumper, however in chapter 35 reference is made to the heat of the kitchen - ‘like a steam room’ and Dave being so hot that ‘he wished he wasn’t wearing a jumper’. I don’t know if that can be resolved before publishing?

I’d like to thank NetGalley UK, Harper Collins UK and Rebecca Rogers for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

If you want to read something different in the realms of crime fiction, this is the book for you. David finds himself in purgatory, which in his case resembles the hostel he stayed in as a young boy in 1992. If learning he is dead isn't enough, the angels who are looking after him, tell him he was murdered and they need him to solve his own murder! The suspects include his brother Andrew, his ex-girlfriend Rose, his long time friend Jess and Rose's possessive new boyfriend Ian. This is a hilarious story told with all the quirkiness of stories in the same vein of writers such as the late lamented Douglas Adams. It very quickly had me hooked so I literally couldn't put it down. There are lots of quirky touches, such as the angel who looks exactly like Michael Palin trying to attend David's funeral without being noticed and his sidekick angel Arial who is addicted to watching TV detective shows, all told in a distinctive and original style. I would highly recommend this book for its originality and high entertainment value.

Humorous, silly piece of nonsense and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Those of a strong Christian faith may not find Roger's idea of purgatory, heaven and angels easy to accept but it makes an entertaining story and who knows, she may have got it right. Although Dave has been murdered and is in purgatory with the angels helping him find out who killed him, it is not so much a murder mystery but more about Dave trying to get to heaven.
This is an honest review of a complementary ARC.

The plot is as deep and dark as it gets, multi-layered with 'who knew what when?' as the strands come together and the finer details get filled in. This is an absolutely compelling, gripping book full of mystery and suspense. Only a few authors can write deeply involving psychological drama of the very highest quality.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words some text written has been typed in red and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

I feel really disappointed that I didn't enjoy this book more. I loved the sound of it, and I like authors who come up with something different, and this certainly was. However for me it just didn't work, I struggled to connect with it, I am sorry to say.

Rating: 3.8/5

This debut novel from Rebecca Rogers is a thoroughly entertaining variation on the murder mystery theme. As if waking up to find that you are, in fact, dead and residing in your own personal purgatory (a youth hostel in Cornwall), Dave also has to contend with the revelation that he was murdered. With the assistance of maverick angels, Gobe and Arial, Dave has to investigate the cause of his own premature demise and find out who killed him.

Whilst I don't think the concept could be truly described as unique, there is more than enough of the content that is fresh and approached in a sufficiently original fashion for this to be far more than simply a facsimile of the various media that have influenced it. The style of the humour often betrays the author's love of Monty Python and at various times I was reminded of films such as "Ghost" and "A Matter of Life and Death", television shows such as "Good Omens" and "Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)" and the witty alternative realities created by writers such as Jasper Fforde and Jodi Taylor.

The murder mystery element itself probably won't satisfy many committed readers of that genre, as the culprit is quite obvious from an early stage - but that really doesn't matter. "The Purgatory Poisoning" isn't intended to be an out and out piece of mystery fiction, but rather an entertaining and amusing story that draws on a variety of genres as its eclectic narrative wends its way towards its conclusion. Some elements work better than others, but the overall impression is certainly a positive one and I will be looking out for more from Rebecca Rogers.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

I enjoyed this read, it was quick and easy. The story was easy to follow. Enjoyed reading about the characters.

Going into The Purgatory Poisoning, I thought it would be a locked room whodunit with a twist. However, I felt on reading it that the mystery of who murdered the main character was pretty telegraphed, and we were given the how and when at the outset.

However, I still enjoyed the book largely due to the very dry humour in it - this, mixed with the celestial aspect of it reminded me a little of Good Omens.

Overall an enjoyable read - thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.