BOOK STATS
Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Title: The Temps
Author: Andrew DeYoung
Genre: Dystopian/Sci-Fi/Satire
Audience: Adult
Format: ARC
Length: 260 pages
Publisher: Keylight Books
Release Date: March 29, 2022
Source: Publisher
Recommended for fans of: apocalyptic & satirical fiction
Content Warnings: death, graphic violence, gun violence, genocide, sexual assault
SYNOPSIS
They’re underemployed. Underpaid. And trying to survive the end of the world while trapped inside an office complex. Who knew temp work could be this dangerous?
Jacob Elliot doesn’t want a temporary job in the mailroom at Delphi Enterprises, but after two post-college years of unpaid internships and living in his parents’ basement, he needs the work. Then, on his first day, the unthinkable happens: toxic gas descends on a meeting in Delphi’s outdoor amphitheater, killing all the regular employees and leaving Jacob stranded inside the vast office complex.
Wandering through Delphi headquarters, Jacob finds other survivors: Lauren, the disillusioned classics major who’s now writing online personality quizzes; Swati, the fitness instructor trying to escape a toxic relationship; and Dominic, the business school student who will do almost anything to get ahead. Stranded in the wreckage of the company that employed them, the temps band together to create a miniature world that’s part spring break, part office culture—until a shocking discovery disrupts the survivors’ self-made paradise and drives them to uncover the truth about the mysterious corporation that employed them and the apocalypse that brought their world to an end.
A surprising, profound tribute to the absurdities and paranoia of modern life, The Temps is an epic exploration of survival and human connection in the digital age.
MY THOUGHTS
This apocalyptic sci-fi offers a darkly satirical view of pretty much every buzzword to describe 21st-century society: capitalism, consumerism, corporate culture, the concentration of wealth, technology, and millennial ennui (to name a few). The horror in this book is initially violent and graphic, but becomes more psychological as the story progresses.
After a toxic gas is released during an outdoor all-company meeting, the temps of Delphi Enterprises are the only survivors, trapped inside. After learning that similar chemical attacks took place all over the globe, the temps band together, scavenge the building for resources, and create a new status quo. The apocalypse is just as enigmatic as Delphi Enterprises itself, a secretive corporation with a charismatic founder and interests in varied sectors of industries…
The plot is suspenseful and unpredictable. The conspiracies in this book are chilling, sinister, and unsettlingly plausible. The story makes you question what is human nature at the core? It is said that the more things change, the more they stay the same. The Temps shows that even when everything changes, some things never change.
Thank you to the publisher for the advance review copy.
Carolibrary 