Review: Death and Other Occupational Hazard.
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Death and Other Occupational Hazards is a sharp, witty, and refreshingly original take on life, death, and everything in between. From the first page, I was drawn in by Dapunt’s clever writing style—balancing humor, existential musings, and emotional depth in a way that never felt heavy-handed.

The concept alone is brilliant: approaching death not just as an inevitability, but as a kind of “career hazard.” Dapunt manages to make the subject matter approachable and even entertaining, while still allowing for moments of sincerity that hit hard.

The voice of the book really stood out to me—it’s conversational yet insightful, almost like sitting down with a friend who happens to have an encyclopedic knowledge of both philosophy and dark humor. The pacing was smooth, and each section had a rhythm that kept me turning pages.

What I especially appreciated was how it made me stop and think, but never in a way that felt draining. Instead, it gave me new perspectives while still keeping the tone light and engaging.

Final Thoughts:
This book is perfect for readers who enjoy non-fiction with a twist something that makes you laugh, reflect, and nod along all at once. If you like authors like Caitlin Doughty (Smoke Gets in Your Eyes) or Jenny Lawson (Furiously Happy), you’ll find a lot to love here.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This debut is a darkly comic and wildly inventive murder mystery that flips the script on the Grim Reaper. The book follows a personified Death—portrayed not as a cloaked skeleton, but as a young, stylish woman—who takes a much-needed sabbatical on Earth. Her vacation is cut short, however, when "unplanned" deaths start occurring, forcing her to become a detective to uncover who is disrupting the natural order. A great read that gives you a few laughs along the way

Having Death feature as a character has been done before - most notably by Sir Terry Pratchett and in the novel The Book Thief. But Death has never been quite like this before! On paper, this plot sounds 'out there' and kind of shouldn't work, but it absolutely does and with no small amount of aplomb. The writing is good - solid and genuinely funny, but it also shows sensitivity and surprising depth. The plot is engaging inventive and fresh. There are lots of laugh out loud moments but also moments that give you pause, require reflection as well as those of quite intense emotion and poignancy. I really enjoyed this.

Easily one of my favourite books of the year- so clever how it positions the Death, Life and other philosophical concepts in a corporate setting - God as the Boss? Genius! I was really rooting for Death to find self fulfilment by the end of the book, very satisfied by the conclusion but hoping it's open for sequels??

This was an interesting read. it starts out as fun story about Death needing a holiday and living in London as a young woman - and why not? It takes a bit of a dark turn and there's a good twist at the end. It was very good. Highly recommended

Death and Other Occupational Hazards is a sharp, darkly funny, and surprisingly tender exploration of what it means to be alive, when you're even really alive!

I absolutely love this book, Death as a MC will always be a great way to win me over. It is so well written and a really quick read. I enjoyed this so much that I have made it our book club book for October.

What a fun surprise!
This one took me by surprise and swept me of my feet.
Our MC - Death - is a new favorite character of mine. I loved her POV and had to laugh out loud multiple times; espescially when she had to interact with other divine beings and their modern job titles.
This will easily land on my best of 2025 list.

I am sorry but i could not read more than 50 pages of this book without officially DNFing! I think the author was trying to make Death funny with her views of the world and lack of knowledge to how the place she has existed for, forever but it didn’t work. I found her irritating and made to be dumb which I am sure Death is far from.

A well-written book with a few standout scenes.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This* was a fun diversion from my usual diet of crime thrillers. It's a very entertaining tale about the two major elements of existence, death and life, personified.

Death and Life are sisters, would you believe. Like most sisters, they bicker, sometimes hate each other, but mostly can't do without each other.

Death has been in charge of every single death over quite a few millennia and is singularly unimpressed when she learns of three 'unplanned' demises: ones she didn’t know about. Investigation is therefore essential. This entails a bright, mismatched, eccentric wardrobe, some unexpected friendships and some rather dicey situations, even for Death.

Quirky, darkly comic but wonderfully entertaining.

Just a little note to Ms Dapunt. In your very comprehensive list of acknowledgements (pet dog included), where was that nod to your readers? Whilst all your helpers are important, where would you be without readers? Food for thought.

So Death suffers from burn out too and when they start getting sloppy the powers that be forcefully suggest a sabbatical period. Finding themselves in their human female form Death uncovers some murders that are not in the Plan, something screwy is going on and who better to investigate death than Death herself. This was a lot of fun and an inventive premise I enjoyed a lot. You can’t dig down too far into the nuts and bolts of it otherwise you will just end up with a lot of holes so it’s best just to go along for the ride as Death finds out what it’s like to be a human woman and that Life doesn’t have it as easy as she thought. I thought one character at the end got a bit brushed off but I understood the choices the made in doing it, I just felt it could have been closed off better. A heartwarming story about Death.

First of all I would like to say thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really didn’t know what to expect when I started reading this book but I was soon hooked and weirdly rooting for death to have a happily ever after. I think the character development was really good for both Death and Life however some moments made me want to rip my hair out.

I have to admit I was disappointed in the ending as I was rooting for that typical happily ever after and almost doing a little mermaid where she could become human to be with the love of her life but I do understand why the author went down the route they did and when thinking about it more it made more sense for the character.

I can’t remember if there were warnings at the start of the book but animal testing and animal death is included in this story so some may find parts distressing. There are also human deaths too but I know that if people are like me they need warnings about animals more than people!

Smart, quirky and quite charming!

Her job is to die for. Literally. Death has been personified and she is completely misunderstood. She takes her job very seriously and she just wants to provide an easy path into the afterlife. But even death needs a holiday. Except her absence has created opportunity for chaos and now people are dying who weren't on the list.

A murder mystery with a difference. I found this wonderfully creative with lots of quirky, clever references. An entertaining delight from beginning to end.

This story about Death taking a Sabbatical and coming down to Earth and finding love was interesting and humorous. The problem with it was that as a concept, it can only go so far without being repetitive. Original, yes but it strained the extent of its possibilities.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Death on sabbatical discovers food, crime and… romance?
—
When Death finds herself with a solicitous soul on her ‘boat,’ she realises that she wants humans to know her as less of a spectre in black with a scythe and more as she is. Requesting a sabbatical from the Big Man and, shockingly, getting it, Death’s sister Life gives her a body in the form of Delara Donn, maximalist fashionista and budding paralegal. When her first case leads her to a dashing Italian scientist, Death — that is, Delara — doesn’t know that she’s stumbled in to a conspiracy that involves food, crime and jealousy, as well as a little breaking and entering and, maybe, even a little love.

Taking the sub-genre of Death on holiday and weaving in agro-economics, cosy crime and romance is a tall order, but this sparkling debut rockets along without a hitch, and the relationships are what make it work. Sibling rivalry between Death and Life, and the distant father figure of their actual father figure, the Creator of the Universe, as well as other siblings too good to spoil; Delara’s new legal workmates, briefly sketched but rich all the same; and the love interest that develops organically through the course of Death’s adventures on Earth. The novel takes left and right turns without warning but through it all, Death sticks to her guns and makes it out… alive?

Four and a half stars

Death has decided to take a sabbatical and live as a human to learn more about the human experience. Her sister, Life, sets her up with a body and everything else should could need in a small flat in London. But from here, Death is on her own.

When Unplanned deaths begin happening, Death must find out who is doing it and stop them because the consequences of Unplanned deaths are unknown. Deaths have always been part of the Boss's Plan.

I couldn't actually figure out who was causing all the Unplanned deaths but when it came out at the end, I really should have guessed! I thought Death was a really good character and she was fairly well fleshed out but I felt the other characters were lacking a little. I think there should have been a little bit more about Life, the VP and the Boss in particular but I guess we're already supposed to have our assumptions about them.

It has a really good ending as well - love really does conquer death!

Thanks to NetGalley & Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

This book sounded so good and right for me, the premise is great and I really liked the voice of Death but it didn't work in terms of pacing or the world. I had little interest in the murder cases and not much in the romance, this unfortunately was a DNF at 36%

One of the most random books I've read in a while, but that's really not a bad thing...I mean, who expected a book based on the Grim Reaper to be heartwarming?? Death goes on holiday and people start dying....

Excellent read, thank you so much for the opportunity to read the ARC!

This book was a pleasant surprise, smart, fast-paced, and a bit weird in all the right ways. Death, fed up with her job, takes a break and goes to live on Earth as a human. Things quickly go wrong when she discovers an unplanned death, something that’s not supposed to happen and she ends up trying to solve a supernatural mystery while blending into normal life.
Death’s sibling rivalry with her sister, Life, adds tension and a back story without getting too soppy. There’s also a solid mix of action, dry humour, and even a bit of gore.
If you’re into dark fantasy with a twist, this is definitely worth a shot. Think ‘Good Omens’ meets ‘The Office’, with a murder to solve.