Hench · #1
Hench
A 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.
The series
In a world dominated by superheroes, the people in the shadows are finally stepping into the spotlight. The Hench series follows the lives of those who have always been overlooked, the henchpeople tasked with doing the dirty work while the heroes take the glory. Sharp, irreverent, and often darkly humorous, the series peels back the glittering facade of heroism to reveal a world of ambition, exhaustion, and the high cost of loyalty.
Read full series description
The first book, Hench, introduces a world where supervillains and superheroes alike rely on armies of faceless underlings, but one henchperson begins to see the cracks in the system and asks what it really means to be expendable. The sequel, Villain, pushes this exploration further, examining the moral compromises, betrayals, and unlikely alliances that emerge when the ones who serve start to fight back. Each installment combines tense action, witty observation, and human vulnerability, creating a universe that feels lived-in and surprisingly grounded even amid the chaos.
At the heart of the series is a keen focus on perspective. The narrative gives voice to those usually silenced, blending sharp satire with an empathetic eye on the struggles of ordinary lives caught in extraordinary circumstances. Readers are drawn into a story that is as much about the people behind the masks as it is about the heroes and villains themselves, with each chapter revealing new layers of ambition, humor, and moral complexity.
The Hench series stands out for its unique approach to the superhero genre, turning expectations upside down while maintaining a narrative that is tense, clever, and compelling. Fans of darkly humorous speculative fiction, character-driven stories, and narratives that challenge traditional power structures will find themselves immersed in a world that is both entertaining and thought-provoking, with every book expanding the scope of a universe that refuses to let anyone remain invisible.
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