Book notes: Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Get the audiobook on Audible 👇 (affiliate link)

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Synopsis:

“Inheriting your uncle’s supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who’s running the place.

Charlie’s life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.

But becoming a supervillain isn’t all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they’re coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.

It’s up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyperintelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.

In a dog-eat-dog world…be a cat.” -Audible

---

~If you enjoy my summary, please consider buying me a coffee via my Ko-Fi link (click the button below) or support this blog in one of several ways! 📖 🎓

I appreciate every donation as it goes directly to the maintenance costs of my blog and creation of new content. 😊

Opening thoughts:

I’m a huge fan of the other John Scalzi books I’ve read over the last few years, so I decided to pick this standalone book to take a break from the other fiction series I’ve been reading (Star Wars, Hell Divers, Solo Leveling, etc).

---

Key notes:

Chapter 1

• He was trying to get a loan from the bank to buy a local business using a shared family home as collateral. However, his late uncle was a billionaire, so he thought there was a chance he had been left some money, but it was a long shot 

Chapter 2

• A business looking my lady came to his place to tell him something and ask him something about his late uncle

Chapter 3

• The deal was to appear at his uncle’s funeral in town, and in return, one of his uncle’s real estate holding companies will buy the house and resell it to him for cheap, so he could officially own the home as well as a low six-figure payout

Chapter 4

• He discovered that there were a lot of people who hated his uncle and sent angry sentiments with flowers to his funeral

Chapter 5

• All the people in attendance were actually hit men sent by their respective bosses to confirm his uncle’s death

Chapter 6

• Charlie talked to the lawyer Andy, who was handling the estate stuff between him and his three siblings
• The house exploded, and the police suspected a burglar or arson. But Andy warned Charlie that the police would suspect him because of the complicated situation he was in
• Hera, his cat, led him to another home a few blocks down and then started to communicate with Charlie through typing on a computer

Chapter 7

• He learned that they were now offering him to take over his uncle’s business as a “villain.”
• The funeral home was a test to see if Charlie would stand up for him 

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

• He encountered the genetically altered and intelligent dolphins that worked for his uncle 

Chapter 10

• He watched a presentation for new hires that explained that a villain was not good nor bad, simply people who were disrupters who exploited systems to their advantage or for their clients
• Their satellite laser technology gains pure profit from subscription fees from their clients, and they are all competitors who know about each other. So essentially, their clients are blackmailing each other

Chapter 11

• One of the services they offered people was a fake death, which they were about to do to this CIA agent

Chapter 12

• Their business model was essentially offering subscription services for their potentially dangerous tech and delivering the results when needed, or rather just the threat of the results to their clients’ competitors

Chapter 13

• He had a conversation with Hera and learned that she likes him and has been looking out for him 

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

• Morrison explained to Charlie that Jake always refused the invitations to attend this Convocation because he was good at thwarting all of the other villains’ plans and saw himself as better than them

Chapter 16

• The Pitch & Pitch was a competition for people to pitch their ideas, with the potential for them to get funded by the investors there

Chapter 17

• The business people tried to bully him into giving them money, but he saw through their lie and figured out that they were broke and needed his money to bail them out

Chapter 18

• He was told that his uncle was a part of the Lombardi group at one point, but left eventually

Chapter 19

• The hotel was attacked, and Tobias, the stabber, framed Charlie as the person who was responsible

Chapter 20

• They discovered that the Lombardi configuration was responsible for his mother‘s death, and his uncle spent years driving their businesses into the ground to get back at them for what they had done because he loved his sister

Chapter 21

• They had a problem with whales potentially spying on them, but Charlie also had to deal with the dolphin strike

Chapter 22

• He was threatened again by the new head of the organization 

Chapter 23

• Charlie retaliated from the attack and called a cease-fire for 48 hours, and then they would come back and discuss some agreement

Chapter 24

• He negotiated with the convocation to come take the loot under several conditions

Chapter 25

• As soon as they open the room with all the treasure, Roberto had Tobias murder the other members of the convocation

Chapter 26

• Tobias turned out to be a double agent, and dating Morrison and Charlie ended up winning over everyone. He told Morrison that he didn’t want to be a villain anymore, and then Anton revealed himself to actually be alive

Chapter 27

• They explained to Charlie that this whole plan was created by Jake and Anton, who were secretly friends, and used the conspiracy within the organization to let it wipe itself out
• In the end, Hera vouched for Charlie and advocated that he could be her responsibility so that he wouldn’t be a liability to any of them

Chapter 28

• He found out from his lawyer, Andy, that he actually received a trust from his uncle, which included the Airbnb house he was currently staying in, the pub he wanted to buy initially in his name, and that there would be no change in staff
• He learned eventually that it was under Hera’s holding company

---

Closing thoughts:

Loved this book! Another John Scalzi masterpiece. I thought it was a very unique concept, fresh story, interesting characters, and in the John Scalzi style of humor and storytelling that I really enjoy. I also enjoyed how it kept me guessing until the very end about how it would play out. But in the end, it was a very satisfying ending. Highly recommend!

---

One Takeaway / Putting into practice:

This one doesn’t really need a takeaway, but I suppose if I had to create one:

• Have integrity and treat people with kindness and respect

I feel like this was a big factor in why Charlie was trusted with his uncle’s company, and why the people around him believed in him even though he had no experience in what he was asked to do.

---

Nutshell:

Charlie inherits his late uncle’s “villain” business, which includes all of his enemies.

---

Similar books:

• Lock In by John Scalzi
• Head On by John Scalzi
• Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
• Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi
• Redshirts by John Scalzi
• The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

---

Rating:

4/5

Join The Weekly Guru Newsletter 📧

---

Try Audible for audiobooks 📚🎧

Personal recommendation: For the last 10+ years, I’ve used Audible to listen to all of my favorite books. It’s easy to use, cost-effective, and they have the best library of audiobooks.

If you use my affiliate links below, not only will you get a special offer, but it’ll help support the costs to maintain this blog! 😊👇

Try Audible and Get Two Free Audiobooks

Audible Gift Memberships 

---