Hench

I'll admit I'm totally burned out on superhero media. For a while, it seemed like every week a new movie or TV show came out featuring Marvel or DC comic book heroes, and a lot of them recently have been really bad (I'm still irritated Doctor Strange was so disjointed). At any rate, this book was a fun change to the standard superhero fare out there. This book is a tale of what happens to all of the innocent bystanders when superheroes go on a rampage to save someone or something, and also describes the underworld of temp agencies that support villains in jobs like data management and tech support. The main character works as a temp office worker for a minor villain, but when a trivial job "in the field" goes terribly wrong, her life is changed forever and she starts down a path working for one of the biggest and baddest super villains in the world. This book was a fun alternative take on the superhero genre and I really enjoyed it.

I’d been thinking about Supercollider the wrong way, I learned. I had been thinking about him as a person—an immensely destructive person, but a human being nonetheless. But he had more in common with a hurricane than a person, and once I adjusted my thinking, I realized there was a whole system devised to describe such forces, and what they cost. The currency was years of human life. 

• The complex, barely identifiable relationship between Anna and Leviathan. Their dynamic is just splendid. Every scene they had together sent varying quantities of shivers down my spine.
• The slow, painful, realistic deterioration of Anna's relationship with one of her friends; the exploration of the impact someone's trauma can have on both them and the people around them, how at the end of the time, self-preservation comes first for most (in all the different shapes it can take), and it's so understandable, and you can't fault anyone for dealing the way they feel is the most effective for them, and it also doesn't stop hurting.
• The equally realistic, nauseous depiction of PTSD flashbacks that made me feel near uncomfortably seen, for all the obvious difference between my baggage and Anna's.
• All the ways the plot is all about narratives, and what they're built on.
• As an extension of the previous point: the close-knit, near-found-family-like relationships in the henchmen team, how obviously important they become to each other as they work together—and how there's that one moment, the one that really hit hard: "You know why they can't get to our loved ones? Because we don't have any." But that's all part of the narrative, isn't it?
• As a sort of extension of the extension: the way parts of it reminded me of some tabletop campaigns I've been a part one, that one short-lived Murders & Acquisitions one, and, at some early points, the #iHunt one. There's always something cool about reading books that remind me of campaigns I've been in. They feel like coming home. Hey, I never said home is a comfortable place to be in.
• The echo of "Do you hate them now?" You'll know it when you read it.
• The mirroring rescue operations.
• The ending that begs for a sequel, but also feels complete. 

Hot damn I loved this book. LOVED. THIS. BOOK.

Ms. Walschots's style is punchy and direct. There's no fat on this book. Ms. Walschots opts to skip the parts of a story that might be mundane and delivers a story with the crisp, action-packed editing of a fight in a Rocky film and the casual obscenity of a Kevin Smith diatribe.

Not to take anything away from Ms. Walschots, but any fan of Mr. Smith's work will be right at home here. Yes, it's a superhero tale, but the protagonist isn't a hero, and isn't super. She focuses on the aspects of superhero-dom that resonate with the same blue-collar vibe as Smith's "what about the independent contractors on the Death Star" speech in Clerks.

There's plenty of space for a sequel here, and I hope to see one in the future... along with a TV show or movie. Because this book ROCKED.

You remember in the Marvel movies when Tony Stark gets confronted about all the collateral damage that the Avengers do when they are fighting? He decides that they need to be accountable for this and Captain America has a meltdown because he is a whiny little baby who considers himself above the law and this sets up the Civil War movie. I seriously can not understand the point of view that Captain America is espousing in the movie. It makes me angry just to think about how entitled the whole argument is. Team IronMan forever!

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Because I feel that strongly about this, I adored this book. It is pretty much the same argument. Anna is invited to a press conference by her new villain boss because she has been doing a good job. The biggest superhero crashes it and casually tosses her aside. She is severely injured. Her recovery is long and painful. She gets obsessed with figuring out how much damage superheroes are doing to people like her. One of the biggest villains sees what she is doing on her blog and invites her to join his organization. How can she use her mastery of data and information to help take down superheroes?







I loved this look at how supervillain organizations would work on a day to day basis. Where do you get the guys that get beat up in every fight? Where do you find secretaries? How do you make sure you don't set off the booby traps in your office? What emergency procedures are activated if your boss is captured? Is there a retirement plan?



This book makes the characters confront their notions of what is evil and what is good. Is it good to save one person if you hurt many more during the rescue?



Anyone who loves superhero movies and books would likely love this story.
This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story