The Temps

A Tor Nightfire Most Exciting Horror Book of 2022

“This boiling-pot of a novel is a vivid experiment in millennial disillusionment . . . Simultaneously a dark dystopic and a hilarious tale of bureaucratic absurdity, The Temps is bizarre—and unexpectedly fun.” —Booklist (starred review)

“A smart critique of modern life.” —Publishers Weekly 

“The Temps is a dystopian page-turner, but also a statement on our digital world, corporate culture, and the politics of capitalism.” —Laurie Hertzel, Star Tribune

“The Temps is an allegorical yarn about the modern workplace, with a dash of The Walking Dead and Don DeLillo's White Noise tossed in. It fits well on the ever-growing shelf of novels that similarly critique corporate conformity, like Ling Ma's Severance and Dave Eggers' The Circle.” —Mark Athitakis, Star Tribune

“Equal parts satire, mystery, and apocalyptic thriller, The Temps lulls readers with breezy prose and absurdist humor before yanking the rug out with a series of shocking twists. Vividly sketched characters and a kaleidoscopic third-person narrative add depth and warmth, resulting in an enthralling story that tempers cynicism with hope.” —Mystery Scene

“DeYoung has taken a familiar end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it theme and made it something uniquely his own. Readers won't soon forget it.” —New York Journal of Books

“Andrew DeYoung's The Temps is a comic adventure for our uncertain times, a mashup of Then We Came to the End and World War Z. The result is a surprisingly funny and heartfelt satire of modern employment that should please fans of literary and speculative fiction alike.” —Adam O’Fallon Price, author of The Hotel Neversink

“The Temps is a unique take on both the corporate conspiracy plot and the zombie-apocalypse thriller. It's fast-paced, darkly funny, and full of unexpected turns. It also holds incisive and illuminating social commentary, providing windows of insight amidst the heart-pounding action.” —Elvia Wilk, author of Oval

“The Temps is equal parts dark satire, probing character study, and fast-paced thriller. DeYoung’s mesmerizing writing is by turns wry, muscular, and probing. This is an apocalyptic page-turner that asks profound questions about human nature, about who we are and who we have the potential to become. DeYoung’s vision is both vibrant and prophetic; I couldn’t put this novel down.” —Kaethe Schwehn, author of The Rending and the Nest

“Andrew DeYoung is a sage storyteller with the incredibly rare gift of being able to write with both poignancy and wit. The Temps is both terrifying and hilarious–it absolutely deserves a high-paying full-time job with excellent benefits.” —John Jodzio, Author of Knockout and If You Lived Here You'd Already Be Home

“Part Great American Office Novel and part apocalyptic thriller, The Temps taps into the search for meaning post-college and combines it with the sharp urgency of the best dystopian fiction. With wry observations about corporate life and careful attention to the delicate intricacies of human relationships, DeYoung reminds us that the only thing worse than a meaningless temp job is a meaningless temp job during the end of the world.” —Bryan Bliss, National Book Award Longlisted author of We’ll Fly Away

“What TheTemps profoundly illustrates is that the most gripping science fiction doesn't emerge from the unknown, but from what we know all too well and choose to look away from. That we choose to look away at our own peril is what makes TheTemps impossible to put down.” —Ben Tanzer, author of Orphans, UPSTATE, and Lost in Space