COLIN GETS PROMOTED AND DOOMS THE WORLD
by Mark Waddell
When Colin Harris—a self-loathing low-level employee at Dark Enterprises—meets a shadowy figure at work, he strikes a deal to fulfill his heart’s desire (a promotion) and accidentally kick-starts the end of the world.
Located deep in the heart of New York City, Dark Enterprises is unique when it comes to multinational corporations. To start, there’s a people-eating monster living in the stairwell, and human tears and screams are harvested for all kinds of questionable uses. It’s hell—literally—but the people who work there love it. After years of toiling away trying to make a name for himself while sustaining emotional abuse from his co-workers, Colin is positive that his head is, quite literally, on the chopping block. When he meets a strange shadowy figure in the halls of Dark Enterprises who promises to fulfill his heart’s desire in exchange for a few drops of blood and a simple, unspecified favor, he asks for the one thing he knows will save his skin: a promotion. “The Thing studied me—that was what it looked like, anyhow—while my knees shook. You will have what you desire, it finally said. And once you do, I will return to claim my part of our bargain.” As promised by the terrifying, faceless entity, Colin’s dreams come true in the blink of an eye (and a drop of blood). He’s almost immediately promoted, and while everything seems to go smoothly at first, his life swiftly begins to fall apart when New Yorkers start to go missing en masse. Worse still, Colin’s best friend, Amira, is determined to set him up with a guy in her yoga class, and while Eric is undeniably handsome, he asks a lot of questions. The humor throughout this novel is delightfully witty in a way that fans of dry satire will greatly enjoy. Filled with top-notch worldbuilding, entertaining antagonists, and tongue-in-cheek charm that’s reminiscent of Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, and TJ Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea (2020), this novel is not to be missed for fans of urban fantasy that gently toes the horror line.
A charming corporate horror novel with a whole lot of heart.