The Temps
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
*Named a Best SFF Book of 2022 by Book Riot*
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
DeYoung's diverting apocalyptic adult debut (after the YA novel The Exo Project) delivers a smart critique of modern life. Mail room temp Jacob Elliot gets lost on his first day at Delphi Enterprises. He has no idea what the company does, and overhears cryptic conversations from higher-ups ("We've got a scope-creep issue on the variable data extraction project and I need to force a decision," one says). There's a big meeting with Delphi's founder, but temps aren't allowed. During the meeting, a strange yellow gas suffuses the room and turns people into "rage monsters," who all kill each other or themselves. The only survivors are Delphi's 350 temps, all of whom are trapped inside the sealed building. Among them are Swati Sidana, who lumps Jacob in with her ex-boyfriend from college as "angry white boys" but gives Jacob points for "seem gentler, less sure of himself"; and Morgan, a young woman who beta-tested video games for Delphi and offers clues as to what the company is up to. But by the time the group finds answers in the company's computers, it might be too late to save themselves. DeYoung cleverly deconstructs academia, video game culture, and capitalism from the perspectives of the temps. The author has a lot to say, and has crafted a fine vehicle for doing so. Correction: An earlier version of this review misidentified the name of one character and the race of another character, and has been updated for clarity.
