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Top reviews from the United States

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Mister
5.0 out of 5 stars A Winner!
Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2009
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Imagine a character so completely depraved, degenerated and perverted that he makes Hannibal Lecter seem like a Sunday school teacher. Now imagine that character fueled by a mountain of cocaine and an ocean of vodka. Now take away any sensitivity he may have learned for others of a different race, gender, physical capability, social class, postal code or sexual preference. Make him believe that there is nothing so important as the pursuit of money, put him in a nice suit, give him an expense account and turn him loose on the world without a modicum of care about the consequences of his actions to himself or others.

Now if I told you that you were going to read a novel centered on such a character, you might expect it to be a horror novel, or a thriller, maybe a mystery or police procedural. You would probably not expect that it would be the funniest thing you've read in years.

I will caution you here: if you don't think humor can possibly mix with buckets of blood, vomit, urine, feces and semen, or if you couldn't possibly laugh where there is blatant bigotry, or if wretched excess offends you to the point where you lose your sense of humor, this might not be the book for you.

If, however, you're possessed of a strong stomach and aren't easily offended, you're in for a treat.
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Howard D. White
5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious dark English humor ;NOT for those easily offended !!!
Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2011
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I first read about this novel in an imported ,English music magazine and was immediately intrigued as I had spent 22 years in retail music at the "middle managers " level here in the US .Author Niven worked for a time as an A&R manager for a UK based label , so he knows first hand about what was being snorted in the UK music industry in the 1990's. His scenarios are blunt ,and descriptive whether describing his co-workers , their drug habits or his own characters sexual debauchery ; no holds barred! Highly recommended for those are not afraid to admit that wretched excess exists, if not in our own lives, then in excellently wrought characters in novels.
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Wade
5.0 out of 5 stars Horrifically Entertaining
Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2019
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Pure evil lurks in this book, while disgusting and cruel it is extremely hard to put down as closure is desired while the shocking events unfold.
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JMV
4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful novel, definitely worth reading
Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2012
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'Kill Your Friends' is a scathing satire of the music industry, based on Niven's brief career as an A&R working for a variety of record companies, including London Records and Independiente, during which he passed up the chance to sign Colplay and Muse. It is a wonderful novel with much deserved acclaim, as are his two other novels.

As a side note, 'Kill Your Friends' is currently slated to become a film, and is in pre-production at present with a slated 2014 release.
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Michael Gamble
4.0 out of 5 stars satire or real (with a few enhancements)?
Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2014
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Reminded me of "Out", by Natsuo Kirino with dark, off-hand violence and perverseness, laugh out loud dead-pan gruesome. One roots for Steven Stelfox, a totally amoral, intensely non-PC, psychopath who is totally unlikable, who lacks any censors to his thoughts and ultimate deeds. As in "Who's afraid iof Virginia Wolf" there's a delight in seeing a character(s) cruelly, wickedly, slice and dice other people, reveal thoughts we generally suppress. A good read with, one assumes, more than a little truth to the characterizations of the business.
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erin
2.0 out of 5 stars Read Welsh Instead
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2017
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I ordered this book thinking it would be a fun read where I would get to see some references to my favorite bands. In that aspect, this book did not disappoint. I even appreciated the cameos of my absolute faves- Brett Anderson and James Bradfield. That's why I gave this book 2 stars. Otherwise, this book was a complete rip off of Irvine Welsh. Only, Welsh is a much better read. I almost stopped reading; however, when I begin a book, I just can't leave it unread.
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Professional Sociopath does subtraction in math
Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2013
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Black comedy… must read!!!
Taking a look into the life of what has been recently coined a Professional Sociopath; the protagonist of this book is the most extreme of this phenomenon. With a – shall we say – different sense of right and wrong, this book takes the reader on the professional progression of a music marketing agent.

However be aware, if black comedy offends or is not your cup-of-tea, this book will not appeal. So then do what my partner did and read it like a thriller. John Niven taps brilliantly into mind of a sociopath and with his understanding of the music industry this book leaves you worrying about going into the office on Monday.
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Johnny applebottoms
5.0 out of 5 stars If you love the bible and wholehearted family fiction, your gonna love....
Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2017
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...Burning this book! American Psycho meets Fear and Loathing during my college days and spawns a baby with fetal alcohol syndrome flush with the scars of a failed, coke-fueled back-alley-coat hanger-abortion. This baby is called Kill Your Friends: A novel.
This is a compliment by the way.
I loved this book
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Top reviews from other countries

Ms T
1.0 out of 5 stars Oh what larks they have in the music industry.....
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 28, 2018
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Yes, because I must be a masochist, I read the whole bl**dy thing, it’s a British High Street rip off of American Psycho, and gives the music industry here the same high moral standing that that book gave American financial traders. Post modern? Ironic? Sure, but in practice more like being handcuffed to the sofa in front of The Kardashian’s show whilst being bled by two armfuls of leeches. Presumably there were “in jokes” I missed them, which was perhaps the point. Utterly bleak....spoiler....there is no redemptive ending.
Ps. Some people of a certain age will Absolutely Love It.
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Bobby NoSocks
4.0 out of 5 stars Starts derivative and trying too hard to shock, but well worth sticking with
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 21, 2017
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In the early chapters this was heading towards a 2 star review. It just read as trying far too hard to be offensive and instead was just coming across as derivative of superior works by Bret Easton Ellis or Irvine Welsh.
However, about a third of the way in I thought it began to reveal more of its own voice, perhaps when, much like with Filth, it became clearer that the protagonist maybe wasn't as smart as he liked to think.
By the end I was fully on-board as the relatively short book rattled towards the finish.
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Shopper 05
4.0 out of 5 stars Not For The Faint Hearted
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 17, 2020
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John Niven creates a character so polarising that no matter what opinion you hold of him the conclusion will satisfy.

Some writers think that by saying a bad word every paragraph and making some not so politically correct remarks that they hold all the shock and awe of a scathing commentary on whatever source material they predicate their filthy drivel. Niven is the opposite. His coarse humour shines through as the building blocks of a very real cutthroat world of business.

Steven Stelfox wields a name of almost comic book villain alliteration and villainous motives to boot. Kill Your Friends follows Stelfox and his rise through the music industry and quest for wealth to burn on drugs, sex and misogyny.
Stelfox is either loved or hated by the reader. If loved, the ending is satisfying - he wins, usurps his rivals, but if hated the reader sees a powerful force of debauchery gain more power and status than ever before. While it is plausible that Stelfox now has a bigger target on his back, many may mot appreciate this and wish Stelfox felt the pain and trauma he inflicted on others.

Ultimately Kill Your Friends is a biting and satirical powerhouse. Not for the pc or faint of heart, the primary antagonist is also the protagonist, but Stelfox's unwavering honesty (to himself), relatable motives (who doesn't want to be rich?) and pitch black humour make Niven's book a phenomenal read and something you won't want to put down.
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Mr R. E. View
4.0 out of 5 stars Wayward
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 19, 2020
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This is a naughty novel John Niven is obviously an intelligent man yet he chooses to use his prose-writing skills to write from the perspective of a thoroughly moral-less, sexist, obnoxious, shallow and drug-addled slimeball who works in the record industry in London, 1997. We are thus subjected to a no-holds-barred account of the life of A&R man Steven Stelfox. It is presumably pretty autobiographical since Niven spent ten years himself in the industry. The in-your-face prose is appalling and disgusting. It is also completely thrilling, as well as perceptive.

The plot is slow to unfold. Basically there ends up being a murder. There then follows a ‘Crime and Punishment’ type hunt for the murderer, tons of drugs and sex, more drugs, someone being framed for having explicit material on their computer, another murder, before a somewhat unbelievable ending where things turn out pretty rosy.

If you want to learn about cocaine use and the various names it goes under this book is a good place to start. Elsewhere the recurring pejoratives Niven employs, although indicative of Stelfox’s personality, don’t always seem necessary.
Really, I wouldn’t advise reading this book. But if you do you won’t be able to put it down.
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D Furnell
4.0 out of 5 stars Provocative and not without some repeated faults but an entertaining, if offensive, read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 14, 2015
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If the repeated references to taking cocaine (let alone any of the many other drugs) had been edited out of this book then it could almost have been 11 rather than 12 chapters long. For a short novel, there's a lot of repetition. Some works but, in my opinion, some doesn't (or maybe the constant snorting is an explanation for Steven, the protagonist's, completely amoral behaviour).

There's some excellent writing in the novel and some stinging satire that hits all its vacuous, image-obsessed late 90s targets -- both in the music industry and, by extension, in wider society at the time. Readers in much less glamorous jobs than record-industry A&R will be able to sympathise with the protagonist's contempt for talentless, phoney and over-promoted colleagues, although it's a weakness in the novel that Steven Stelfox doesn't demonstrate that he's any better at what he does than any of those he loathes. Similarly, it gets quite wearing for everyone in the novel's music industry world to be crap and talentless -- when a writer tries to conjure up work in another form (e.g. music, painting) it's far easier to portray it as rubbish.

No doubt it's meant to be ironic but the blatant snobbery, misogyny and racism revealed in Stelfox's inner monologue is hard to stomach. Much of it isn't clever or inventive and it's also very repetitive but it's probably 'of its time' and has dated very quickly.

I didn't particularly enjoy the graphic violence in the more brutal parts of the novel but these were nevertheless well-written.

The plot is relatively slight and is supported by the year-in-the-life structure but the narrative strands are well-handled and intertwine well as a whole, although I wasn't that convinced by the ending.
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