Kemske, best known for his quirky takes on latter-day organization men, smoothly shifts gears to deliver a wryly engrossing historical novel. Everyone wishes for the perfect manager. An adaptive, interactive software system learns each employee's needs and weaknesses, and then effectively exploits them. Kemske's most frightening primer on management. The most intriguing computer character since HAL in 2001.
Corporate management is the use of humans as resources.
So is vampirism. When a vampire is called in to turn an ailing biotech company around, reorganization takes on a much paler cast. Due to an extreme policy of lifetime employment, the only way to get ahead at Growth Services, Inc. is murder. Kemske blends black humor with a serious treatment of the individual's plight within a closed, Kafkaesque society in his satiric first novel. Platt's fifth novel is emotionally powerful and skillfully crafted.