{"product_id":"mean-people-incorporated-stephen-martorano-9798295603570","title":"Mean People Incorporated","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e Mean People Incorporated\u003c\/em\u003e is a satirical horror novel set entirely in Hampton, Pennsylvania, where cruelty festers quietly behind polite facades-and where the devil has found fertile ground for recruitment.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e The novel opens with a prologue introducing Mean People Incorporated, a shadowy but impeccably professional firm that specializes in dealing with \"mean people.\" Bullies. Abusers. Corrupt tyrants who poison everyone around them. The company promises discretion, investigation, and-when warranted-permanent solutions. At its helm is the eloquent and unsettling \u003cstrong\u003eLou S. Ciffer\u003c\/strong\u003e, a man whose charm disarms suspicion and whose contracts are always signed too quickly.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Each of the next four chapters functions as a standalone case. In every case, a different client-each pushed to desperation by a cruel individual-seeks out Mean People Incorporated. Lou listens patiently, probes gently, and agrees that the target is irredeemable. His staff, a rotating cast of disturbingly efficient employees who are never quite human enough, carry out investigations that end in grotesque, graphic acts of punishment.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e But the novel steadily reveals an uncomfortable truth: the clients are not innocent victims. Each one harbors a past marked by selfishness, moral compromise, or quiet brutality of their own. Their decision to hire someone to kill or permanently maim another person becomes the ultimate proof of their corruption. The devil doesn't trick them into damnation-they condemn themselves willingly.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e The contracts they sign, buried in elegant legal language and subliminal references to fire, descent, and eternity, demand payment upon completion of services. None of the clients question it. Relief blinds them. Vengeance feels righteous.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e In the fifth chapter, clients are summoned to Mean People Incorporated's headquarters on the same day to make their payments. The building, once mundane, becomes unmistakably infernal as Lou drops his mask. He reveals the company's true purpose: not punishment, but recruitment. The bullied and the bullies alike are simply raw material for hell. By choosing cruelty as justice, the clients have proven they belong.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e As their eternal fate is sealed, the novel underscores its central theme: hell doesn't need to corrupt humanity-it just needs to offer them permission.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBlending graphic horror with biting satire, \u003cem\u003eMean People Incorporated\u003c\/em\u003e is a darkly comic morality tale about vengeance culture, ethical shortcuts, and the seductive appeal of letting someone else do your evil for you.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Stephen Martorano\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798295603570\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Stephen Martorano\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/02\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 232\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.60lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.53d","brand":"Stephen Martorano","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48176171516159,"sku":"9798295603570","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_5375c1bb-ba1b-4e28-9d5f-ecec66806481.jpg?v=1771336830","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/mean-people-incorporated-stephen-martorano-9798295603570","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}