The Assistants

February 8, 2016
If the characters from HBO’s Girls were capable of larceny and blackmail, they could be the main characters of Perri’s sharp first novel. At age 30, Tina Fontana is the executive assistant to media titan Robert Barlow (think Rupert Murdoch, but with a Texas accent) in New York City. A clerical error on her expense account results in a $20,000 check for Tina, enough to pay off her student loan, which she impulsively decides to do. When a colleague, Emily Johnson, stumbles onto Tina’s once-only scam, she talks Tina into performing the same financial prestidigitation for her. Emily also ends up becoming Tina’s roommate. In no time, they become the victims of numerous blackmail attempts as other assistants want to have their college loans paid off courtesy of an unknowing Barlow. Things escalate beyond Tina’s control, ultimately threatening her relationship with her new boyfriend, Kevin, a hunky lawyer who is also in Barlow’s employ. How Tina extricates herself from the situation forms the moral crux of this entertaining slice of millennial life. Perri has a gift for the glib one-liner, and reserved Tina and glamorous Emily make for a great pairing, resulting in smart and fresh novel.

March 1, 2016
Attention readers fed up with your jobs: call in sick tomorrow and dive into this debut crackling with the energy of handfuls of underpaid, underappreciated, tired-as-heck assistants hungry for what's owed them. Tina Fontana is a 30-year-old NYU graduate and executive assistant to billionaire Robert Barlow, CEO of major media company Titan Corporation. She knows the most intimate details of Robert's life, saving the day for him constantly, and yet she's stuck living paycheck to paycheck. What's happened to her? How does she work so hard and never rise above being an assistant while the men around her make fortunes? The answer to Tina's problems shows up in the form of an expense report. When she's mistakenly reimbursed for a significantly large sum, she struggles with whether to report the error. For her, this could mean starting over debt free: "I could have savings....All at once I would become less anxious and more generous." For Titan Corporation, the sum is measly. One major theme of Perri's debut is this: "There is so much money." Mostly in the hands of those who don't deserve it. When Tina decides to keep the money and pay off her student loans, she doesn't get off scot-free. Emily Johnson, the not-so-nice accounting assistant behind all the signatures, catches her. Now she has to figure out how to pay off Emily's loans too (oh, and become her best friend), or Tina is as good as ruined. It doesn't take long for rumors to spread and for Tina to become a hero, the Voice of the Assistant: "I could see how beneath all the lacquer these girls were hungry," she realizes as her mission becomes greater than herself. Perri's writing is quippy and the pace breezy; despite all the hurdles Tina has to leap over, things go pretty smoothly. Oh, and the hot, sensitive guy in the office? On her quest to take over Titan, Tina gets him too. Don't think too hard about this one--just enjoy the sweetness of plotting revenge over cocktails (expensed, of course). You'll feel better after reading, promise.

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Starred review from March 1, 2016
When Tina took a job as the executive assistant to the CEO of a major media corporation, she assumed it would be a path to bigger and more exciting things. Several years later, she is still coordinating every mundane aspect of Robert Barlow's life, from making drinks to scheduling meetings. When a reimbursement snafu provides Tina with a sudden windfall, she realizes that Barlow's pocket change would erase her student-loan debt. When Emily, an eagle-eyed assistant from the company's Travel and Expenses Department, notices the double payment, she blackmails Tina into paying off her student loans as well, and soon the two are playing Robin Hood with company finances. Perri's debut is reminiscent of the golden era of early-aughts chick-lita workplace comedy featuring an average woman caught up in extraordinary situations. Tina is self-deprecating enough to be relatable, but she can hold her own with a high-powered boss in a cutthroat environment. Emily starts out as a stock mean-girl type, but she is nimble and clever and much smarter than she appears. The characters' millennial concernsoverwhelming student-loan debt, underemployment, loneliness in a world of hyperconnectivityring true, making this a winner for readers who long for the return of light, clever novels with young, professional women at their center.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

April 1, 2016

An assistant to a multibillionaire corporate media mogul, Tina Fontana scrapes by on a meager salary. By day she expertly anticipates the endless and exorbitantly expensive needs of one of the most powerful men in media; by night she stares in mournful fascination at an ever-growing imminent disaster in the plaster of her ceiling she has dubbed "the rain bubble." In a freak accident brought about in large part by her boss's capriciousness, Tina is in sudden possession of an extra $19,000 of company money--exactly the amount she needs to pay the balance of her student loans. Nearly before the words "paid in full" materialize, the assistant who processes reimbursements confronts Tina--she wants in. As other assistants, also saddled with debt, begin to catch wind of the underground shenanigans, Tina's initial foray into corporate thievery starts to seem trivial. VERDICT Reminders of the 1990s movie Office Space are present, with a millennial, feminist reboot. Focusing on student loans and the increasing wage gap, Perri's debut will appeal to a large audience looking for a fun, modern twist on a Robin Hood story. [See Prepub Alert, 11/19/15.]--Julie Kane, Washingrton & Lee Lib., Lexington, VA

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2015

Executive assistant to the CEO of a multinational media conglomerate for six years, Tina Fontana still has college loans to pay off. An error in her boss's travel and expense report would wipe out the entire debt. Books editor at large for Cosmopolitan, Perri was once a reference librarian.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.