Making Deals with a Devil... (Review of Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World)

The job market is TOUGH.

So what’s a recent college grad to do, armed with a shiny degree in whatever, saddled with a mountain of debt... and finding few—if any—job prospects?

 

Go to work for a secretive multinational corporation dealing in “problem-solving”... essentially, a “fixer” for issues no one dares talk about, outside of hushed boardrooms? 

 

You bet.

 

And then one day, make a deal with what may be an actual agent of Hell... all for the sake of a promotion?

 

I mean, sure.

 

Of course, such deals never come without a few strings... as one young man quickly discovers in Mark Waddell’s darkly-satirical take on climbing the corporate ladder, Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World.

 

 

After several years of feeling like the lowest man on the totem pole in Dark Enterprises’ Human Resources department, earnest, cardigan-clad Colin receives the dreaded notice: he has one week to fix his latest screw-up, or he’ll be terminated.

Problem is, at Dark Enterprises, “termination” means complete-and-utter, never-to-be-seen-again, finality.  

 

(And honestly, he should know; his department is often responsible for, enacting terminations.)

Colin very, very much doesn’t want to be terminated... but sadly, doesn’t have a clue how to change the unhappy fate awaiting him.

 

Until, that is, a shadowy stranger approaches him one night.

 

The hooded visage—only inky, swirling darkness where its face should be—says he’ll grant Colin’s greatest wish... in return for one very small favor (to be determined at a later date). 

 

With nothing to lose, Colin agrees.

 

His ask? A big promotion at work... one that’ll earn him genuine power, real respect, and a better paycheck.

 

The next day, his wish is granted(ish). Colin becomes assistant to one of Dark Enterprises’ top executives—the formidable Ms. Crenshaw—moving out of his lowly spot in the Human Resources cubicle farm and into a posh office space on the corporation’s prestigious 13^th floor.

 

Granted, his new position might not be quite as fancy as he’d envisioned—given that his main tasks entail getting his boss’ Starbucks orders and managing her calendar—but whatever. It’s still a major step up. 

 

(Plus, there’s the whole avoiding-permanent-termination aspect... no small potatoes, that.)

 

OF COURSE, things soon go sideways. (Deals with the devil? Always do.)

 

What Colin really succeeded in doing was freeing a creature of untold evil that had been bound for centuries... and letting it loose on Manhattan. 

 

And this entity? It’s HUNGRY... 

 

As hundreds—and then thousands—of people start disappearing all over the city, Colin realizes it’s up to him to somehow fix the epic mess he’s unwittingly created.

 

And if he just so happens to ascend to the highest echelons of Dark Enterprises, after, oh, just SAVING THE WORLD, well... so be it.

 

 

First off, Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World is a delightfully off-kilter romp. 

 

In the best Urban Fantasy form, it gives us a flawed-but-likable hero in Colin... an ordinary (frankly, nerdy) young man, who’s tired of being on the receiving end of mockery and being taken advantage of at work. 

 

(When you learn why one of his colleagues in Human Resources is so horrid to him, ouch... it hurts.)

 

He’s also blessed with a small band of merry (well, and not-so-merry) helpers on his eventual quest of world-saving—another key ingredient in UF stories. 

 

There’s his best friend (and flatmate) Amira, a tiny dynamo who’s brilliant at maths and physics. 

 

Eric, the ridiculously-hunky, sweet guy from Amira’s yoga class, who—shockingly(!)—seems well on the way to becoming Colin’s boyfriend. 

 

And then there’s Lex, a gender-neutral librarian in Dark Enterprises’ vast archives, who has little patience for Colin’s problems... yet they always wind up helping him, anyways.

 

Colin Gets Promoted... also features cunning worldbuilding (another important element in any fantastical story). In this case, though, the lion’s share of worldbuilding takes place within the walls of an office building—which makes for a fun change of pace.

 

And finally, the baddie is truly bad... but in another clever twist, so are ninety percent of the characters! (Dark Enterprises is, unequivocally, not a nice place.)  Once you get over that realization, and just go with it, the story is a charmer.

 

Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World may not be for everyone... but if quirky, smart, funny, poignant, and thoroughly-modern Urban Fantasy sounds like it might be a hoot? You’ll add this one to your TBR list, like RIGHT NOW.

~GlamKitty

[Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are, as always, entirely my own.]