Company

With the publication of Jennifer Government, a deliriously snarky detective tale set in a rapidly encroaching corporate world in which each citizen is literally branded with the barcode and surname of their employer, Max Barry’s sophomore effort showed that his satirical voice held much promise. (His debut, Syrup, is set in the world of cola manufacturing and marketing.) That promise is upheld with his third entry, Company, a biting take on … well, more corporate shenanigans. Barry apparently has his issues, but his issues are consistently laugh-out-loud entertaining. Upon arriving at the Zephyr Corp., trainee Stephen Jones soon finds himself rapidly ascending the corporate ladder until he asks the wrong questions and finds himself conscripted into the super-secret and diabolical Alpha Project. Although peopled with walking stereotypes and situations that sound like something out of a Scott Adams fever dream, Barry’s caustic take on pinstriped fascism reads with an absurdist verité that is hard to put down.