Matt McAvoy Book Review

Right off the bat, I feel I should make a couple of points clear about this book.  Firstly, I loved it!  I enjoyed every fantastic moment, and was poised very quickly and throughout to award it a well-deserved five stars.  This didn’t change for the duration – until I finished, that is.  Then I very quickly took one of the stars off – and that was a calm reaction; I considered removing more.  In fact, I was actually so annoyed that my tablet nearly went flying through my open second-floor window in the heatwave.  I am never one to spoil books in my reviews, and nor do I wish to spoil this one – suffice to say, and I think it is only fair to give fair warning, you are expected to read the upcoming sequel to “The Reaper’s Quota” for resolution.

So, that little aside over, back to the review.  As I said, the book is otherwise wonderful.  A very darkly humorous look at the life (afterlife) of a Reaper, destined to spend eternity snuffing out human lives as assigned, and for all manner of reasons.  The quota refers to the random kills demanded – young, old, deserving, undeserving, explained and unexplained – as required to control the growing population.  One Reaper though, is a little too attached to the memory of his life, and suffers daily with the remorse and self-loathing of constant murdering, as he sees it.  Still, he is behind and has to catch up.  So begins a catalogue of kills, from the heartbreaking to the plain silly.  Most are delivered with a tongue-in-cheek touch by the still too human Reaper with a sense of humour.  Yet the book is at times also extremely poignant.  Death is considered profoundly, in terms of love, loss, regrets, pain, justice and acceptance.  For dark comedy, it is surprisingly melancholy at times, and at others very sad, even bleak to read.  All in all, though, it is an absolutely wonderful book, and I couldn’t wait to see what happened (hence my irritation at its conclusion).  Disappointment aside, Sarah McKnight is a super author, her writing incredibly easy to read, and when/if the sequel is available, I highly recommend picking up a copy of both books.