Hench

It turns out, evil schemes require spreadsheets. Hench's protagonist, Anna, is a temp who does data entry for actual villains. She's roped into attending a press conference for her latest boss, who is concerned about proving his staff are appropriately diverse while broadcasting a ransom video. He may have kidnapped the mayor's son, but he's no sexist.

When the press conference takes an abrupt and chaotic turn, Anna suffers considerable injury. This is more or less her origin story, and if you ask me, an unexpectedly poignant look into how disability can awaken new political consciousness. Often the people our society hurts the worst are the same people we are most eager to leave behind, treat as burdens, or blame for what happened to them.

Hench is an intriguing look into what differentiates heroes from villains. What separates two groups with immense power and reach, whose actions cause upheaval and harm? What core values might these groups share? Could it be that the villains are more honest than the heroes, with both themselves and the world about the impact of who they are and what they do?

Hench is also stupid and funny and snarky. Its characters are realistic mixes of competent and terrified, loyal and severe, intimidating and pathetic. It is about friendships beginning and ending, how emotions get wrapped up in work we are passionate about, and how being surrounded and supported by those who believe in us can make all the difference.

My main gripe with this was the audiobook narrator. I found the voices used for most of the characters unpleasant and grating. I think this would work wonderfully with a full cast, a la [b:Sleeping Giants|25733990|Sleeping Giants (Themis Files, #1)|Sylvain Neuvel|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1459785141l/25733990.SX50.jpg|42721200]. As it stands now, I recommend the print format.

I don't read much about superheroes or supervillains, as I'm not a big Marvel or DC person. So this basically reminded me of any other book I've read with heroes: [b:Dreadnought|30279514|Dreadnought (Nemesis #1)|April Daniels|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1466970667l/30279514.SY75.jpg|50755147], [b:Refrigerator Monologues|32714267|The Refrigerator Monologues|Catherynne M. Valente|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1477836652l/32714267.SY75.jpg|53293963], and [b:Vicious|40874032|Vicious (Villains, #1)|V.E. Schwab|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1532011194l/40874032.SY75.jpg|19250870]. At times it reminded me of Netflix's Jessica Jones series, and the movie Megamind (which is excellent, and you can fight me on that). It also feels similar in tone to [b:All Systems Red|32758901|All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)|Martha Wells|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1631585309l/32758901.SY75.jpg|53349516] and [b:Finna|44081573|Finna (LitenVerse #1)|Nino Cipri|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1563304090l/44081573.SY75.jpg|68548236].