I wish I liked this book more, it had such a fun premise. I had such a hard time getting behind the main character. Colin is a queer man who has spent his whole life being bullied and looked down on by others. When a shadowy figure basically offers him a wish, Colin takes it. From there things go haywire. You would think a man who has been working for a corporation called Dark Enterprises, that literally utilizes demons, other dimensions, murders employees, and conducts evil deals would know better. But nope. Colin lets his ambition blind him, makes a deal, and then spends the rest of the book trying to fix it.

This book was fun and did have some campy moments, but overall, I really didn't like the main character. He does nothing to truly better himself or his situation. The side characters were so much more interesting. I would read a whole book about Eric or Amira. Colin just seemed like a character that the plot was happening too. He had so many opportunities to learn or grow, but he was selfish and didn't really acknowledge the help he has along the way. I also thought the romance subplot between Eric and Colin was a little shoehorned in. It felt way to fast and wooden; we don't see enough of their interactions on page to warrant a love story. The moment Eric is introduced it's easy to see where his story is going and I felt like it could have been better fleshed out.

The arcane elements of the book were the most interesting parts. I liked the dimensions, rituals, history, and folklore that was woven into the story. The small amount of time Colin spends researching could have been expanded and I would have been happy. But alas Colin is looking for too much of a quick fix for us as the reader to get to know the world more.

If you like Nighvale I could see this being a book you'd enjoy, it just wasn't for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ace publishing for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

This was a fun read! The company that Colin works at is the perfect setting for a dark-humor story like this, and parallels a lot of real world corporate issues in a satirical way. The tone is very glib, especially in reference to events that are gorey or violent, which some readers may not like but I enjoyed the writing style. The reason I'm knocking it down a few stars is because Colin was hard to relate to as a character. I enjoy a good morally grey or even evil protagonist, but Colin flip flops between wanting endless power and caring for his friends in a way that confuses what his motivations are. This also makes the relationships he has with others feel flat, even though there's a rather interesting cast of side characters. Despite not being very invested in Colin himself, the plot and world building was engaging enough to keep me reading. Towards the end, it starts to drag a little bit, but overall it was a quickly-paced read that I enjoyed!

Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World
by Mark Waddell
Oh my Gosh! This is so hilarious all the way through! Non-stop crazy! I giggled and laughed out loud so many times! This is a must-read!
This poor guy is tired of dating and tired of getting bullied. Job issues and dating issues, what could be worse?
Suddenly he gets a great job and a great-looking guy is paying attention to him. Wow! Things are looking up. Until he finds out who he works for. That quitting isn't a healthy option. He needs to find a way out. He needs a secret weapon. Oh boy, does he find one! Now the world is doomed. Now he has to stop it!
If Lucy, from I Love Lucy, were a spy, and the world depended on her...
This might have been the way things would go down!
I have got to say, I haven't laughed at a book so much in a very long time. I am giggling while I am writing this just thinking of some scenes. I am very thankful to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this hilarious book.

The job market is TOUGH.

So what’s a recent college grad to do, armed with a shiny degree in whatever, saddled with a mountain of debt... and finding few—if any—job prospects?

Go to work for a secretive multinational corporation dealing in “problem-solving”... essentially, a “fixer” for issues no one dares talk about, outside of hushed boardrooms?

You bet.

And then one day, make a deal with what may be an actual agent of Hell... all for the sake of a promotion?

I mean, sure.

Of course, such deals never come without a few strings... as one young man quickly discovers in Mark Waddell’s darkly-satirical take on climbing the corporate ladder, Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World.
__________

After several years of feeling like the lowest man on the totem pole in Dark Enterprises’ Human Resources department, earnest, cardigan-clad Colin receives the dreaded notice: he has one week to fix his latest screw-up, or he’ll be terminated.

Problem is, at Dark Enterprises, “termination” means complete-and-utter, never-to-be-seen-again, finality.

(And honestly, he should know; his department is often responsible for, enacting terminations.)
Colin very, very much doesn’t want to be terminated... but sadly, doesn’t have a clue how to change the unhappy fate awaiting him.

Until, that is, a shadowy stranger approaches him one night.

The hooded visage—only inky, swirling darkness where its face should be—says he’ll grant Colin’s greatest wish... in return for one very small favor (to be determined at a later date).

With nothing to lose, Colin agrees.

His ask? A big promotion at work... one that’ll earn him genuine power, real respect, and a better paycheck.

The next day, his wish is granted(ish). Colin becomes assistant to one of Dark Enterprises’ top executives—the formidable Ms. Crenshaw—moving out of his lowly spot in the Human Resources cubicle farm and into a posh office space on the corporation’s prestigious 13th floor.

Granted, his new position might not be quite as fancy as he’d envisioned—given that his main tasks entail getting his boss’ Starbucks orders and managing her calendar—but whatever. It’s still a major step up.

(Plus, there’s the whole avoiding-permanent-termination aspect... no small potatoes, that.)

OF COURSE, things soon go sideways. (Deals with the devil? Always do.)

What Colin really succeeded in doing was freeing a creature of untold evil that had been bound for centuries... and letting it loose on Manhattan.

And this entity? It’s HUNGRY...

As hundreds—and then thousands—of people start disappearing all over the city, Colin realizes it’s up to him to somehow fix the epic mess he’s unwittingly created.

And if he just so happens to ascend to the highest echelons of Dark Enterprises, after, oh, just SAVING THE WORLD, well... so be it.
__________

First off, Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World is a delightfully off-kilter romp.

In the best Urban Fantasy form, it gives us a flawed-but-likable hero in Colin... an ordinary (frankly, nerdy) young man, who’s tired of being on the receiving end of mockery and being taken advantage of at work.

(When you learn why one of his colleagues in Human Resources is so horrid to him, ouch... it hurts.)

He’s also blessed with a small band of merry (well, and not-so-merry) helpers on his eventual quest of world-saving—another key ingredient in UF stories.

There’s his best friend (and flatmate) Amira, a tiny dynamo who’s brilliant at maths and physics.

Eric, the ridiculously-hunky, sweet guy from Amira’s yoga class, who—shockingly(!)—seems well on the way to becoming Colin’s boyfriend.

And then there’s Lex, a gender-neutral librarian in Dark Enterprises’ vast archives, who has little patience for Colin’s problems... yet they always wind up helping him, anyways.

Colin Gets Promoted... also features cunning worldbuilding (another important element in any fantastical story). In this case, though, the lion’s share of worldbuilding takes place within the walls of an office building—which makes for a fun change of pace.

And finally, the baddie is truly bad... but in another clever twist, so are ninety percent of the characters! (Dark Enterprises is, unequivocally, not a nice place.) Once you get over that realization, and just go with it, the story is a charmer.

Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World may not be for everyone... but if quirky, smart, funny, poignant, and thoroughly-modern Urban Fantasy sounds like it might be a hoot? You’ll add this one to your TBR list, like NOW.
~GlamKitty


[Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are, as always, entirely my own.]

Have you seen the movie Cabin in the Woods? This is kind of like that but without any of the cabin parts of the movie (just the scientist parts) and way more corporate.

Waddell’s writing is like Scalzi or Weir, stronger than Pargin or Dinniman. It tries a little too hard to be sardonic/sarcastic, but it’s overall enjoyable and super readable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ace!

Colin has only ever wanted one thing out of life: power. Which is how he ended up working for Dark Enterprises, a company committed to “solving the world’s problems in deeply questionable ways.”

But when a shot at climbing the corporate ladder accidentally unleashes an ancient evil, his promotion suddenly doesn’t seem so grand. Now, if Colin wants to hold onto everything he’s ever wanted, he’ll have to use all of the evil resources m to either save the world—or die trying.

I love reading satire, and it’s been a while since I had a good laugh—so I was excited to dive into this one.

And it is genuinely funny. For anyone working in corporate America, the parallels between Colin’s daily grind at a company that is literally hell and our own workplaces are spot on. The opening scene in HR (my own field) had me giggling with every page.

My biggest struggle, though, was caring about Colin. I usually love morally gray characters, but that’s because there’s often a reason they’ve become that way. With Colin, we never get more than his greed and ambition, which left him feeling petulant, shallow, and hard to root for. His only redeeming quality is his love for his friends.

Overall, Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World is a dark, laugh-out-loud satire that pokes fun at corporate culture in the most outrageous ways. Had I been able to connect with Colin more, this could’ve been a standout read for me—but instead, it was just okay.

In Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World, Mark Waddell introduces us to Colin, a bit-player in the sprawling, nightmarish corporate machinery of Dark Enterprises. Bullied and overlooked in his cubicle, Colin’s desperation to rise through the ranks leads him to accept a Faustian bargain—sealed on a blood-signed business card—from a shadowy benefactor. His wish for a promotion is granted, but at a terrible cost: he inadvertently unleashes an ancient evil, setting in motion a wave of disappearances across New York and drawing unwanted attention from his superiors. Waddell masterfully entwines dark humor, horror, and biting corporate satire to shine a light on ambition’s perils—and the absurd lengths one might go to feel seen.
What truly elevates the novel is Waddell’s razor-sharp wit and his portrayal of morally ambiguous characters. Colin is anything but a traditional hero—more of a tragicomic antihero whose yearning for validation propels him toward chaos. Secondary characters, like the enigmatic Lex and office denizens such as Sunil and Ms. Kettering, are drawn with vivid, often darkly hilarious detail—each contributing to the twistedly charming ambiance of the story. The setting of Dark Enterprises itself becomes an extension of the narrative, a corporate hellscape where ambition, remorse, and self-preservation collide.
The action largely confines itself to the office setting and New York, which—while building a claustrophobic corporate apocalypse vibe—sometimes limits the broader scope hinted at by the unleashed evil. Still, the dark humor remains consistently sharp, weaving together horror and satire in a narrative that’s both a cheeky revenge fantasy and a witty critique of corporate culture.

Thank you #NetGalley for the opportunity to review this title. #Colingetspromoted

It’s the end of the world! And the fate of everything lies in the hands of a slightly insecure, occasionally self depreciating, cardigan-wearing corporate assistant. What could go wrong?
If you like dark humor, this one might be for you.

Colin is undervalued and mistreated employee of Dark Enterprises.
His coworkers are sabatgoing him, and he’s facing termination by the head of HR.
Things seem to look up once Colin makes a deal with a mysteious being- who offers him whatever he wants in life.
Now, he’s climbing the cooproate latter and living his best life. But, his wish came with a price, and it’s time to pay up.
It turns out that the cost is much greater than he expected.

This was both darker and funnier than I’d expected it to be.

There is also a very obvious connection to some real-world issues in this.
Sure, there are no monsters running about and devouring people in real life. But, there is corporate greed, crazy work expectations and undervalued workers.
I can see the point the author is trying to make here (I think), and I thought this made it a lot more fun to read.

I thought the characters here were pretty great. They were developed pretty well and were quite likable.
I do think the side characters could have used just a little more personality, but I didn’t find that to be a huge deal.
Bonus: We also get a little MM romance between Colin and another character, Eric. While it isn’t the primary focus here, I wanted to shout it out for the romance lovers!

I think my only critique is that it felt kind of long. Around the 80% mark i thought it started to drag out a little bit, making it tad more difficult to read.
It did pick up again at the end though.

I also have to say I adored the self discovery in this!
Colin’s new found confidence, self-worth and ability to stand up for himself?! That was a treat. Power to him.

Really fun story overall!
Good writing, interesting plot and well-developed characters!
This checked a lot of boxes for me.

Thank you to Netgalley, Berkley Publishing Group | Ace and author Mark Waddell for providing me with the eARC of “Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World” in exchange for my honest review!
Publication date: October 07, 2025
Reviewed on Goodreads: September 04, 2025

This story was hellish fun from the start right until the end!

Colin is an interesting main character, lovable and almost earnest while still being almost comically selfish in his ambitions - and honestly he found himself the right job! While at times his 'poor me' internal monologue annoyed me, I can't even fault him about it, what with the end of his life literally hanging over his head from page 1.

This was a fun, satirical book that gives new meaning to the idea of a cutthroat corporate environment.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

I’m not quite sure how to rate this book. I enjoyed reading it quite a bit, finding the story to be well paced. But the main character is truly a bad person, and I’m not sure I agreed with the take away one might have at the end. I can’t say more without spoiling the ending, so will leave it there. This will be a fun read no matter what, but might leave you thinking about your place within capitalist systems and what that may or may not say about your character.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Doomsday has never been so fun!

I think we can all agree that it isn't a great idea to make a bargain with a dark entity, especially one asking for a favor to be named later.

Colin mostly enjoys his work at Dark Enterprises, a company where the rich and powerful comes for...favors.  Really,  the tortured screams flowing down the hallways and a little blood spatter on your clothes, isn't too bad.  Every job has some inconveniences, right?  The coffee's good.  While Colin wants to someday make his way up to the thirteenth floor with the executives, he knows that his job in Human Resources is important too.  His biggest problem right now has the name, it's Sunil. Sunil is the Assistant to his boss, Ms. Kettering, and after Colin turned down Sunil and his sexual harassment, Sunil has been sabotaging Colin's work. Now Ms. Kettering has given Colin to the end of the week to clean up his act or he will be terminated...and by terminated, Dark Enterprises means they  will be sending out the firing squad to make sure you stick by your NDA clause permanently. Colin is trying to get around Sunil's sabotage with little luck and the clock is ticking.

When Colin in asked to escort a visitor up from transportation (i.e. the interdimensional gateway on the 7th floor), the entity within the expensive suit and face hidden in a deep cowl offers Colin its business card and an offer too good to be true, it will help give Colin his deepest desire, if Colin promises to help it at a later date. Yeah, so it does sound too good to be true, but when Colin believes the firing squad is closing in on him, he grabs that business card, cuts his finger and says a little chant, and suddenly...nothing. Okay? But at least the people stalking him have disappeared. Maybe it was false alarm.

But the next morning, Colin's life suddenly takes a turn towards the future he has dreamed over. He is brought to the thirteenth floor to work as the Assistant to the CEO herself, Ms. Crenshaw. And then his roommate Amira introduces Colin to Eric, the most beautiful, amazing man Colin has even seen. He can already imagine his new future where he and Eric and their two rescued pugs, Sunny and Cher, relax in their artfully decorated penthouse apartment.  Until the entity comes knocking for his favor.  A little more blood, a little more chanting, not so bad...except Colin has now released the binding on an Abomination who is suddenly free to feast on everyone in New York City.  That's not so bad...right?  Young/old, fat/skinny, rich/poor, everyone on the isle of Manhattan is now a yum, yum snack, except Colin who gets to be its final snack.

Every cloud has a silver lining.  I guess the silver lining here is that the entity's snacking has opened up a few positions in middle management and Ms. Crenshaw has indicated Colin could move up--as long as he can impress the Board and as as long they haven't already all been devoured. The only thing Colin can think of that might impress the Board is finding the Abomination and re-binding it.   That shouldn't be so hard, hmm?  If only he knew how to make that happen.

With the a little help from Lex down in the archives, they will try to figure out how to save the world before it is too late...and maybe still get Colin his chance at middle management.

THOUGHTS:
I don't know what it is but I absolutely love anything mixing the mundane and the supernatural, like vampires getting an office job for the great dental.  Here Colin works for Dark Enterprises where the rich and powerful come in for favors and a little blood ritual, some black magic and maybe a soul or two in transfer, and they get more than they bargained for.

Colin is just a paper pusher in the HR Department, but he really likes it at Dark Enterprises.  Colin is a nice guy who has been bullied a lot, which has caused him to have a bit of dark edge.  I think that dark edge makes him even more relatable as a character, or maybe that's just me.  He dreams of getting back at his co-workers who belittle him, especially Sunil who has been trying to get Colin terminated simply for turning down his advances.

I consider myself a nice person but if I could push a couple of people out an interdimensional gateway into the abyss, where the may or may not be tortured forever in an endless void...I'm not saying I would...Okay, I absolutely would. Bye-bye.  So I get it. Colin wants to be respected and he has ambition, and he isn't against using a little black magic to get there a little faster, but the pressing need to avoid termination is a definite factor here. If he wasn't afraid for his life, would he have made the bargain in the first place? He knew it was a bad idea, and he tried to not give in, until that moment when he thought the company was coming for him.

I also enjoyed the secondary characters we meet such as Amira, Colin's roommate; Lex, in the research department; and even his boss, Ms. Crenshaw, was a scary boss but still kind of supportive in a "don't disappoint me" vibe.

I thought this story was quirky and fun with more than a touch of dark humor.

I really enjoyed the vibe of this book! Its tough for me to get into new books sometimes, but this book pulled me in right from the start. Very enjoyable.

Colin is like many corporate employees - scrambling to get to the top while being bullied by those higher up. Except Colin works for Dark Enterprises, a hell-adjacent corporation who use questionable methods to "solve" the world's problems. When he encounters a shadowy figure in the elevator promising his heart's desire for a favor, at first he resists. But when his archenemy and abusive middle manager targeting him seems about to get him fired (to death), he finally asks the being for a promotion. After the initial joy at things finally going his way, Colin notices strange things begin happening - well, stranger things - and he realizes he may have just brought about the apocalypse. With his roommate and a potential new boyfriend to protect, Colin decides to try to save the world - while still holding on to that promotion. Dark humor, fast-paced action and queer representation combine in a hilarious workplace comedy that will sure to be devoured.

5⭐
Imagine if "The Devil Wears Prada" had actual devils...

Colin is looking down the barrel of a (literal) termination from his job at Dark Enterprises. When an opportunity is presented to him to avoid his dire fate - as well as getting a hefty promotion - he unknowingly puts the entire world in peril. Now, he has to figure out if getting ahead in life is really all it's worth.

What initially attracted me to this work was the concept. I love this idea of an overly-satirical take on evil corporations and those who work there. The notion that there is a genuinely evil corporate structure was just a fantastic notion and I loved the entire premise of this work! If I had a way to describe this, it was like if you combined "The Devil Wears Prada" with "Lucifer," a dash of "Charmed" and a smattering of "Severance."

After I started, I fell in deep with this book. The characters were fun and engaging; plots were thoughtful and twisty; and the development of the whole story had me binge-reading the last few chapters just to see how it ends. Though there were some lulls with story or plot, I think the overall effect was fan-freaking-tastic!

All of that aside, what makes this book a 5-star read is that this book is not one singular thing, but a multitude. What starts as a funny, satirical, young-adult-coming-of-age turns into a love story, then turns into a horror, thriller, to an action/adventure. "Multi-faceted" is a great word to describe this book and I was so happy to get the opportunity to read this work.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and the Berkeley Publishing Group for an ARC of this work!

Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World is a delightful, horrifying romp through a (literally) hellish workplace. The writing is fast, furious, and funny, and I could not put this book down.

Thank you so much to netgalley and publishers for this ARC!

This book was silly, sweet, and a heck of a lot of fun. I loved the characters, the setting, and the way the author approached the concept. I had a blast reading this. 4.5 stars!

This book is fine. It gets a little...out there at some points, and I did not fully follow all the action sequences. The main character is one I have mixed feelings about, because I find myself rooting for him while also understanding he is doing some bad things that are causing a lot of damage to the world.

You cannot blame someone for having ambition. You can blame someone for stepping on others and creating the end of the world, stating that the ends justify the means. Colin both aims as high as he can, as well as makes terrible decisions that turns a bad situation to worst. Just when I think he might have a good idea, he turns around and does the opposite with it. Then he pulls other people in.

Next thing you know, he somehow made all the wrong decisions but made it out okay in the end. He both ended and saved the world. Got his promotion, found out who he truly is, and squeezed some romance out of it too.

All in all, I do think this book is more on the forgettable side, and it dragged multiple times throughout the story. The premise was interesting, but I really fought with how I felt about the character - but there were also some good moments throughout. This one won't be making any of my "best of" books this year, but I am also glad I gave it a shot. I could see this having a sequel or a novella afterward too, with more shenanigans with Colin and his friends.

4.5/5

Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms The World sits firmly at the intersection between cosmic horror and insane comedy that is my personal favorite genre.

Dark Enterprises is an evil corporation, in the most literal sense of the word. Dealing with dark magic and demons of various kinds to solve the plights of the world’s elites, for a price, of course. Far down the corporate ladder is MC, Colin, who is the world’s most loveable psychopath. Originally working as a corporate drone in the human resources department (resources that can be harvested from humans, mind you), he makes a deal with a demon for the one thing he wants most in the world, power, so that he can have his vengeance on all former co workers who have wronged him. What could possibly go wrong?

Morbidly funny interspersed with the occasional heartfelt moment, this book took my expectations and exceeded them so much more than I ever thought possible. I will beg on bended knee for Mark Waddell to write more about Dark Enterprises, because I’m not ready to leave this toxic work environment.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkeley for the advance copy of this book.

Welcome to corporate hell!

Poor Colin is stuck in a dreary cubicle at Dark Enterprises while being harassed by a fellow low level employee who has been sabotaging Colin‘s meticulous reports. Thanks to the manufactured errors in his reports, he is now on thin ice with the boss, and it looks like he might get terminated. And I don’t mean the “pack up your desk and leave” kind of terminated. What’s he supposed to do when an opportunity to improve his situation in exchange for a small, unnamed favor arises? How was he to know that getting promoted would lead to the unleashing of an evil entity that begins devouring the world?

Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World is just as funny as the title suggests, and Colin proves to be an endearing antihero. I had a good time reading this one, even though it was slightly tainted by insta-love and predictability. Anyone who has ever tried unsuccessfully to climb the corporate ladder, or simply felt they were wasting away at a dead end job, is sure to appreciate the social commentary of this campy horror.

3.5 stars

I am immensely grateful to NetGalley and Ace Books for my copy. All opinions are my own.

This book was a whole lot of fun! Coming off of reading ‘How to Become the Dark Lord or Die Trying’ by Django Wexler a couple months ago, this book pairs with that like a fine wine. These books cover the alluring and often not-so-glamourous side of being ‘Evil’.

Colin works for Dark Enterprises. A mysterious corporation older than time itself, where ‘management’ is only rumored to exist in some other dimension and comprised of eldritch horrors the human mind cannot comprehend. (You DO NOT. want to get them involved.)

This book was paced quite nicely as Colin tries to fire up his dating life with a hot new guy his roomate introduces him to while the world slowly is being slowly devoured around him. It’s an oncoming apocalypse tale mixed with a haphazard hero that made me feel reminiscent of the classic Ghostbusters movie.

I really enjoyed Waddell’s concept and the lore behind Dark Enterprises and how that was all intermingled within a real-world setting. The book has plenty of laughable moments and Colin falls deeper into the rabbit hole of all things abyssal and eventually ends up the underdog of the story – but is he the hero of the villain?