The Intern’s Handbook by Shane Kuhn - Book Review

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The Intern’s Handbook (also known as Kill Your Boss) by Shane Kuhn
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (April 8, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1476733805
ISBN-13: 978-1476733807

The Intern’s Handbook reads very much like an action movie. A popcorn flick you can watch over and over with your friends while cheering at every flying bullet and geyser of blood. Also known as Kill Your Boss, The Intern’s Handbook is an unofficial guide for new employees of Human Resources Inc., a shadowy corporation that specialises at placing interns into high profile businesses. Why interns? Because as the main character John Lago’s boss says ‘interns are invisible’ and invisible people make great assassins.

John’s boss also thinks it’s high time John retired, he’s getting too old to be a believable intern, and John is a little worried about his bosses interpretation of the word ‘retire’.

Scraped out of the gutter when he was twelve, John is approaching compulsory retirement age at twenty five and wants to pass on some of his hard earned wisdom to the company’s new hires. He also details the particulars of his last job and the complications that arise when he runs in to a woman named Alice and the ways she complicates his life.

How much you enjoy The Intern’s Handbook is going to depend on how much your disbelief can be suspended. John Lago is almost ridiculously lethal, and there are moments that are straight out of an 80′s style super assassin movie, particularly towards the end of the book. It might also depend on how much you believe a sociopath can change. John’s funny, but he’s not a good guy and if he had been cast as the antagonist he would have been very easy to hate. John objectifies every woman he sees, and how well that fits the story depends on whether or not you see that side of him as a deliberate attempt to show John’s many psychological problems, or the author’s point of view creeping into the story.

With that said, Kuhn nails the voice of John so well that it’s easy to let the book’s faults slide. John is very funny in a deadpan way, and the whole tone of the book is reminiscent of Christopher Moore or Chuck Wendig in its
mix of humour and violence. It’s especially good in the advice sections of the book where John reminisces about past hits and doles out real world, non-theoretical violence tips. The advice itself is mostly very logical and fits the predatory world view that John credits himself with. Some of the hits are very creatively done and the book easy draws the reader into each mini story.

The wider arc is more problematic, especially when the book reaches its epilogue. If you’re prepared to cast off any expectations of realism (and occasionally, logic) then it’s still a very fun and fast read, but some of the action sequences go so far out there that it’s laughter inducing and the final plot reveal left me scratching my head.

Kuhn could also have spent some more time making Alice a more rounded character. As it is she comes across as more of an idealised fantasy than an actual person, although since the book is from John’s point of view, that may well be the point in that readers are only seeing his perception of Alice instead of reality.

The Intern’s Handbook wears its tropes proudly though, dancing over the odd plot hole without too much trouble and having a blast along the way. John’s inevitable redemption arc can be found in any number of hitman stories, but Kuhn handles it well enough that it’s a lot of fun to read. The book doesn’t really lend itself to a sequel but it would be interesting to see other stories from the same universe.

Ultimately for all its flaws The Intern’s Handbook is a very good time if you can leave your doubts at the door. While some more rounded characters and more realism would have been good it’s hard to fault a book that will leave you grinning after the last page.

Human Resources Inc. - Intern Required Materials