The Book Report #117

Episode #116

The Book Club Edition #8

I joined a book club, and this was the book chosen in May 2026.

Starter Villain By John Scalzi

The Book

The story was published by Tor Books (in North America) and Tor UK on 19th September 2023. Tor Books is the primary imprint of the Tor Publishing Group. While Tor UK is a division of Pan Macmillan.

The copy I used was a digital copy.

What Did I Think?

Charlie Fitzer feels like a loser. His wife left him, his dad died, and he lost his job as a journalist. He isn’t making enough money as a substitute teacher to cover his bills. His remaining siblings want him out of his dad’s house so they can sell it and split the money between them. Charlie doesn’t care about what they want and is refusing to leave his only home.

He has a dream to own the local pub, but he doesn’t have the money to buy it or the allowance to get a loan.

Charlie finds out about his uncle dying. He met him once when he was a kid, but apart from that, he knows nothing about him. He is asked by an associate to help run his funeral and from here finds out that all is not what it seems, as the people attending the funeral aren’t friends but are there to find out if he is actually dead.

And to thank him for that help, he gets his home blown up.

Cats

Charlie has a cat: Hera. He finds out that he didn’t adopt the cat; it is the reverse. The cat was sent by his uncle Jake to keep an eye on him as he promised his brother to stay away. And over time Hera liked Charlie. Because he was kind.

This all leads to an island where it turns out his uncle is not just an owner of a series of parking lots but also a villain.

A group of villains want him to join them so they can rule the world through subscription. How it works is his uncle brings some of the greatest minds on the planet to his island. Helps them build whatever they envision and then sells it to the governments of the world, where they pay them to keep them maintained.

Some of these items are deadly, and while the governments refuse to use them, they still have them, and they need to be serviced.

And then we find out about the dolphins. The dolphins want to form a union.

Comedy?

I went into this book expecting a comedy, and fair enough, I did recognise a couple of places that made me think that this was funny, but I think it took itself a tiny bit too seriously whilst trying to be funny. Or it could be me who finds it hard to find things funny.

After my initial fight with myself to try and relax and enjoy the story instead of focusing on why this wasn’t funny. The concept of the story wasn’t bad at all. The ideas that came out of the narrative were brilliant. I want someone to create a cat that is in this book.

The only shame of the story is that Charlie gets a slap in the face when dealing with his inheritance.

Would I Recommend?

This is a story that might be a required taste if you are into spy thrillers. But I would say give it a go anyway. The ideas in it are brilliant, even though there are a few cliches. It is a good all-round story. So yes, I would recommend it.

Please give this a go.

Would you like to purchase your very own copy?

You could try these online stores: Amazon UK/USA and Waterstones. AbeBooks UK/USA, Barnes & Noble, or eBay UK/USA.

Alternatively, you could try your local bookshop or even your local library.