Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

When a collateral-damage injury from a famous superhero leaves temp worker Anna disabled, broke, and fired, she channels her recovery into the only weapon she has left: spreadsheet analytics.

Anna does boring administrative work for supervillains because, even in the shadow of caped crusaders, criminals need temp staff and rent is due. But when an assignment goes horribly wrong and a lauded "hero" crushingly injures her during a rescue, she is cast aside as uncompensated collateral damage. Confined to her couch, Anna begins cataloging the staggering human, financial, and physical destruction wrought by the world's savior figures, discovering that the line between good and evil is mostly public relations. Armed with viral media strategies and cold, hard data, she takes a high-level analytics position for one of the most dangerous villains on earth, turning spreadsheets into a tool of systemic retribution. A sharp entry in transgressive literary fiction and feminist horror and satire, Natalie Zina Walschots’s Henchdelivers a darkly funny workplace revenge story about gig-economy exploitation, corporate villainy, and the hidden cost of heroic destruction.

Why You’ll Love This Book

Walschots transforms mundane administrative data entry into an exhilarating, high-stakes weapon of resistance against institutional power. The story balances millennial workplace observational humor with a realistic, grounded portrayal of chronic pain and recovery. It delivers a subversive dark comedy experience for anyone who enjoys clever villains, anti-hero perspectives, and workplace satires.