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a_reader_obsessed's review against another edition
4.0
4 Stars
It’s not easy being a henchman these days. It’s a dog eat dog world out there, but one has to make a living right?
Admittedly, things started off a bit slow, but this story picks up the pace as all sorts of craziness ensue. Life as a paid mercenary can get one shot at, caught in many explosions, risk losing various body parts, not to mention government betrayals, infuriating secret agent adversaries, diabolical bad guys going diabolical, and ultimately, incarceration. You know, just to name a few potential challenges...
These men have it rough, but the bond they share through their love of reading on and off the job surprisingly, and ingeniously, becomes their one ace in the hole. Apparently, there’s a certain honor and due respect regarding these henchmen. They’re not really the bad guys. They just happen to work for them.
Cheeky fun, a bit horrifying and gruesome, there’s an abundance of over the top, holy shit shenanigans to this, peppered with a good sense of humor and a winking nod to just how insane working for adishonest dollar can be. Shockingly, this is the most fun I’ve had in a long while when not reading romance, and that’s saying a lot. Trust me - this was a rare nonMM wild ride!
It’s not easy being a henchman these days. It’s a dog eat dog world out there, but one has to make a living right?
Admittedly, things started off a bit slow, but this story picks up the pace as all sorts of craziness ensue. Life as a paid mercenary can get one shot at, caught in many explosions, risk losing various body parts, not to mention government betrayals, infuriating secret agent adversaries, diabolical bad guys going diabolical, and ultimately, incarceration. You know, just to name a few potential challenges...
These men have it rough, but the bond they share through their love of reading on and off the job surprisingly, and ingeniously, becomes their one ace in the hole. Apparently, there’s a certain honor and due respect regarding these henchmen. They’re not really the bad guys. They just happen to work for them.
Cheeky fun, a bit horrifying and gruesome, there’s an abundance of over the top, holy shit shenanigans to this, peppered with a good sense of humor and a winking nod to just how insane working for a
knitswithbeer's review
5.0
This was an amusing, original and interesting read. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
The idea that a reading group can take over the world is my kind of plot.
The idea that a reading group can take over the world is my kind of plot.
joo13's review
5.0
I loved this book. It was subtly funny and action-packed and with a book club too. What's not to like.
dee_reading's review against another edition
2.0
The concept was really interesting and I enjoyed the story, but it was largely let down by the fact that it read like an early draft. Needs a really good edit and proofread, not only are there spelling mistakes, but a heap of grammatical errors, and whole paragraphs I would have completely rewritten to flow better.
The author needs to learn the art of 'show, don't tell'.
The author needs to learn the art of 'show, don't tell'.
energyrae's review
5.0
This normally isn't my preferred genre, but a few friends recommended it, so I snagged it. The Henchmen's Book Club is skillfully thought out, from beginning to end. Told from our main character, Mr. Jones' point of view, he works for The Agency, and when they finish a job successfully, the pay is good. But if they don't, they don't get paid. So it's all about making sure you finish the missions you are given. But these men have a lot of down time in between jobs, and so a book club is formed, which grows bigger than Mark Jones ever envisioned. This book was thoughtful and funny, a great read.
see_sadie_read's review
5.0
Ok, that was some funny shit right there. This was the first Danny King book I'd ever read, but I'm 100% sure it won't be the last. I think I laughed the whole way through. It even improved my mood after having a spat with my other half. It takes a lot to do that, but The Henchmen's Book Club was up to the task.
Mark Jones is an Affiliate, a henchman for hire, and a good one at that. He's managed to survive far longer than many in an undeniably deadly job. It seems every Goldfinger wannabe has a few piranha tanks or hungry alligators about. He's also a man after my own heart, a dedicated bibliophile. He likes to read and, surprisingly, finds a number of other henchmen do too. Thus is born The Book Club. They read good books. I had to look more than one of the titles up in order to get the reference. I did occasionally wonder where all the books came from, but really didn't find that a point worth too much worry.
The American and British special agents are pure amusement. Though I am just a tad ashamed to come from the same homeland as Rip Dunbar. What a tool! I love that their personalities are so very different, but still falling within the same character archetype.
I highly recommend picking this one up. There are a few missing words here and there. King even acknowledges that in the afterward. I didn't find it particularly distracting though. Definitely not enough to change my opinion of the book.
Mark Jones is an Affiliate, a henchman for hire, and a good one at that. He's managed to survive far longer than many in an undeniably deadly job. It seems every Goldfinger wannabe has a few piranha tanks or hungry alligators about. He's also a man after my own heart, a dedicated bibliophile. He likes to read and, surprisingly, finds a number of other henchmen do too. Thus is born The Book Club. They read good books. I had to look more than one of the titles up in order to get the reference. I did occasionally wonder where all the books came from, but really didn't find that a point worth too much worry.
The American and British special agents are pure amusement. Though I am just a tad ashamed to come from the same homeland as Rip Dunbar. What a tool! I love that their personalities are so very different, but still falling within the same character archetype.
I highly recommend picking this one up. There are a few missing words here and there. King even acknowledges that in the afterward. I didn't find it particularly distracting though. Definitely not enough to change my opinion of the book.
jrbournville's review against another edition
5.0
Simply a brilliant read. I can't remember the last time I devoured a book so readily while enjoying every word! Fuller review to follow.
nataliya_x's review against another edition
2.0
So, to borrow a phrase from one of my favorite bookish friends carol., I went a little hench-curious after a recent [b:Hench|49867430|Hench|Natalie Zina Walschots|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1594616305l/49867430._SY75_.jpg|73236179] buddy read and craved more henchdom adventures. This seemed like a natural choice — henchmen and book club. I mean, what can possibly go wrong?
Ahem, yeah. About that.
There’s a part of me that genuinely loved this book. I mean, the first rule of the henchmen book club is that you don’t talk about the henchmen book club, but hey — who wouldn’t want to discuss a few tomes in between henching for Bond-esque supervillains? Especially if your job description, in addition to being cannon fodder for Bond- and Rambo-esque heroes entails guarding vending machines in supervillains’ hideouts? You need something to spice it up, even if it ends up being [b:The Time Traveler's Wife|18619684|The Time Traveler's Wife|Audrey Niffenegger|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1380660571l/18619684._SX50_.jpg|2153746] (despite the “no chick-lit” rule of this hyper-macho establishment).
Mark Jones works for the Agency, a secret powerful outfit that provides all those supervillains with all those minions they need. The pay is supposedly good, and they will get you out and patch you up when another supervillain plot goes bust, and the truth is — they made you an offer you couldn’t refuse — so the henchmen go on from one job to another, with a few of them having secretly bonded over their love for books.
It starts as a very episodic story, almost resembling a long-running serial of sorts, but eventually acquires a plot and some cohesiveness. It’s funny, it’s full of action, and on a superficial level quite succeeded in keeping me entertained.
But. But but but. But.
But there’s another part of me very much annoyed with the blatant dudebro humor here mixed with the lack of proper editing.
# Lack of editing. Both as in proofreading (dude, commas exist for a reason; I cannot believe nobody pointed out any disregard for the basic punctuation rules to the author*) and culling the unnecessary stuff (too much is crammed into every chapter, with every move overdescribed to the point where there’s no reason to use imagination — and resulting in book bloating).
# Immature dudebro humor. It leads to quite uncomfortable results. Things are put down a few times as being “gay”, humor is extracted by specifying that something was or seemed homoerotic, etc. Same with a few locker-room-talk-like instances of sexist humor. Had this been published in the 90s, I’d given it a pass. But for something published in 2011 it’s crossing the line into uncomfortable and dated faux-pas. This should have been culled by any editor and would have made this much less awkwardly cringeworthy.
——————
That said, the characters were done quite alright. Mark was overall entertaining, and the parodies of British and American special agents were spot-on, immediately bringing to mind all the silly movie tropes that gave rise to them. Hats off to Jack Tempest and Rip Dunbar portrayals, nicely done.
Altogether I’d give it 2.5 stars — but as GR (same as henchmen book club) does not allow half-stars, I have to round — and I’m rounding down, both for juvenile humor and the criminally missing commas.
——————
Buddy read with carol, Stephen and jade.
Ahem, yeah. About that.
There’s a part of me that genuinely loved this book. I mean, the first rule of the henchmen book club is that you don’t talk about the henchmen book club, but hey — who wouldn’t want to discuss a few tomes in between henching for Bond-esque supervillains? Especially if your job description, in addition to being cannon fodder for Bond- and Rambo-esque heroes entails guarding vending machines in supervillains’ hideouts? You need something to spice it up, even if it ends up being [b:The Time Traveler's Wife|18619684|The Time Traveler's Wife|Audrey Niffenegger|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1380660571l/18619684._SX50_.jpg|2153746] (despite the “no chick-lit” rule of this hyper-macho establishment).
“Saluting people you didn’t need to salute is just one short step away from saluting flags. And the day I started doing that was the day I stopped trying to blow up large chunks of the world. Or at least, stopped guarding the corridors and vending machines of people who sought to do that sort of thing. Not for me. No sir. I had bills to pay.”
Mark Jones works for the Agency, a secret powerful outfit that provides all those supervillains with all those minions they need. The pay is supposedly good, and they will get you out and patch you up when another supervillain plot goes bust, and the truth is — they made you an offer you couldn’t refuse — so the henchmen go on from one job to another, with a few of them having secretly bonded over their love for books.
“Our books were like windows out onto the world. Of course, they had been before we’d started book club, when they’d been read individually, but when you read books as a group, the worlds and stories that are held within their pages come to life even more because they become part of a collective consciousness. The experiences become richer and that window out onto the world opens just a little wider.”
It starts as a very episodic story, almost resembling a long-running serial of sorts, but eventually acquires a plot and some cohesiveness. It’s funny, it’s full of action, and on a superficial level quite succeeded in keeping me entertained.
“Expendable. That’s how me, Mr Smith, Savimbi and Petrofsky were seen more often than not. Mere assets, to be rolled out and used like so much toilet paper. And when we’d done what we’d been asked to do, and our chiefs had the moon on a stick, our rewards were invariably the flushing of the chain.”
But. But but but. But.
But there’s another part of me very much annoyed with the blatant dudebro humor here mixed with the lack of proper editing.
# Lack of editing. Both as in proofreading (dude, commas exist for a reason; I cannot believe nobody pointed out any disregard for the basic punctuation rules to the author*) and culling the unnecessary stuff (too much is crammed into every chapter, with every move overdescribed to the point where there’s no reason to use imagination — and resulting in book bloating).
* Commas can save lives.
# Immature dudebro humor. It leads to quite uncomfortable results. Things are put down a few times as being “gay”, humor is extracted by specifying that something was or seemed homoerotic, etc. Same with a few locker-room-talk-like instances of sexist humor. Had this been published in the 90s, I’d given it a pass. But for something published in 2011 it’s crossing the line into uncomfortable and dated faux-pas. This should have been culled by any editor and would have made this much less awkwardly cringeworthy.
——————
That said, the characters were done quite alright. Mark was overall entertaining, and the parodies of British and American special agents were spot-on, immediately bringing to mind all the silly movie tropes that gave rise to them. Hats off to Jack Tempest and Rip Dunbar portrayals, nicely done.
“We don’t say goon any more,” I told him.
“No?”
“No. It’s like calling your cleaner your skivvy or your PA your lackey. It’s kind of derogatory.”
Altogether I’d give it 2.5 stars — but as GR (same as henchmen book club) does not allow half-stars, I have to round — and I’m rounding down, both for juvenile humor and the criminally missing commas.
——————
Buddy read with carol, Stephen and jade.
anothersarah's review against another edition
0.25
I had to stop reading this book, it moved from distasteful to offensive quickly. This author depicts his African male characters as rabid, over sexed, idiots. Then suggests that an African boy is better off being striped naked and beat in the context of his story than he would naturally be in his native land.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Racism
Moderate: Homophobia and Sexism
This author is blatantly sexist from the start, then moved on to being disgustingly racist as the main character interacts with African characters. I found this extremely offensive, and would urge readers to look elsewhere for their humor.