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Hench
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Alex McKenna
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
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Hench
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Summary
“This book is fast, furious, compelling, and angry as hell." (Seanan McGuire, New York Times best-selling 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.
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What listeners say about Hench
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- R. Maines
- 12-10-20
Interesting
A nice take on superhero story from the point of view of a Hench for supervillains. Anna is a great protagonist as she discovers how much the actions of superheroes lead to a high cost in damage and human lives.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sarah
- 03-11-20
a very very clever and refreshing read
I don't know what made me choose this novel it's not my usual genre but I just completed this for the 2nd time and it is an incredibly clever and fresh take on the 'superhero/villian' genre. not only is the overall arc of the story ingenious and unexpected, the characters are nuanced, unique and well conceptualised. underneath all of this excellent writing and story this is a contemporary feminist masterpiece in disguise. not like anything I have read before. I absolutely love its unexpectedness and its rawness.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Thomas
- 18-05-21
An interesting dive in the superhero genre
I was drawn to the unique premise that it was a hench instead of a main villian or hero, this is what drew me to a another book with a similar idea redshirts by John scalzi, a great book.
I quite liked the writing, the conversations and the few funny moments. I would say anyone who is a fan of the superhero genre too take a look at this book.
The only downsides come from the audio version where the narrator doesn't do the most convincing male voices...
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- purpleheather
- 07-09-23
Best book club read I've had
Not my normal book type, started off as a bit too much like chick-lit but the concept was intriguing. It evolved and I couldn't put it down.
This book is so different from other super hero/villain books as it's from the viewpoint of a villain's assistant.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Roxy
- 01-01-21
Enjoyed it enough to finish it in 2 sittings.
Thought it would be a silly distraction and instead found a real book worth recommending to others.
Would love to see a sequel.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 02-10-20
fantastic!
A great story for people who love villains!
delicious Dom/sub subtext that left me craving more!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 22-08-22
a fantastic flight
utterly brilliant story of struggling temp Anna as her life gets weirder and weirder while working for villians
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- christine1850
- 30-09-23
Couldn’t finish
I found the voices too grating to finish listening to this book which is unfortunate.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- AudiobookDevotee
- 20-11-23
Not like The Boys
The blurb compared this to The Boys while missing a key point. In The Boys the main character's girlfriend is exposed while walking down the street. In this book the main character gets wounded while trying to force a ten year old to cut off his own hand as part of a ransom video.
This crucial difference is important because at no point did I sympathise with the MC. She calculates how many man-hours are waisted by villains being wounded or killed but ignores that had they been unmolested those man-hours wouldn't have been useful or productive for the community.
It just goes on and on. The only reasonable person is her flatmate who quickly stops featuring. At every occasion where the criticise heroes for spewing lava on villains or something it's because they were there robbing a bank with death rays or something. It got very tedious.
If the MC is meant to have no understanding of morals or the consequences of her actions then fair enough but I just didn't click with this story.
The narrator can't do male voices. That was a struggle too.
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