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Hench
576 pages
A razor-sharp, darkly hilarious revenge fantasy that proves a perfectly executed spreadsheet can be the most terrifying superpower of all.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like a shot of pure, caffeinated vindication. It moves with a propulsive, angry energy, blending the soul-crushing mundanity of gig-economy office work with the explosive stakes of a superhero universe. The atmosphere is darkly comedic and deeply cynical, soaking the reader in a gritty world where heroes are just PR-managed wrecking balls and villains are the only ones offering health insurance. The prose is razor-sharp and deadpan, grounding fantastical violence in the language of HR disputes and data analytics. It is a wildly cathartic ride for anyone who has ever felt like a disposable cog in a broken machine, offering a deliciously dark fantasy where female rage and meticulous spreadsheets become the ultimate weapons of mass destruction.
- Mood
- cathartic
- gritty
- vindictive
- corporate-dystopian
- Tone
- wry
- cynical
- darkly comedic
- deadpan
- angry
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- late-stage capitalism · the banality of evil · collateral damage · weaponized data · female rage
- The writing
- Sharp, pragmatic, and laced with biting, deadpan humor that grounds the fantastical in mundane corporate reality.
- The arc
- The protagonist transforms from a cynical, powerless gig-worker into a terrifyingly competent architect of vengeance.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave dark workplace satire, anti-heroes, and stories where righteous anger is channeled into meticulous, devastating competence.
Content notes
- body horror
- graphic violence
- physical trauma and disability
- medical trauma
- workplace exploitation
About the book
“This book is fast, furious, compelling, and angry as hell."" -- Seanan McGuire, author
The Boys meets My Year of Rest and Relaxation in this smart, imaginative, and evocative novel of love, betrayal, revenge, and redemption, told with razor-sharp wit and affection, in which a young woman discovers the greatest superpower—for good or ill—is a properly executed spreadsheet.
Anna does boring things for terrible people because even criminals need office help and she needs a job. Working for a monster lurking beneath the surface of the world isn’t glamorous. But is it really worse than working for an oil conglomerate or an insurance company? In this economy?
As a temp, she’s just a cog in the machine. But when she finally gets a promising assignment, everything goes very wrong, and an encounter with the so-called “hero” leaves her badly injured. And, to her horror, compared to the other bodies strewn about, she’s the lucky one.
So, of course, then she gets laid off.
With no money and no mobility, with only her anger and internet research acumen, she discovers her suffering at the hands of a hero is far from unique. When people start listening to the story that her data tells, she realizes she might not be as powerless as she thinks.
Because the key to everything is data: knowing how to collate it, how to manipulate it, and how to weaponize it. By tallying up the human cost these caped forces of nature wreak upon the world, she discovers that the line between good and evil is mostly marketing. And with social media and viral videos, she can control that appearance.
It’s not too long before she’s employed once more, this time by one of the worst villains on earth. As she becomes an increasingly valuable lieutenant, she might just save the world.
A sharp, witty, modern debut, Hench explores the individual cost of justice through a fascinating mix of Millennial office politics, heroism measured through data science, body horror, and a profound misunderstanding of quantum mechanics.
Description from Open Library.
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