Genre: Upmarket Fiction / Contemporary Workplace Drama

For readers of: The Office meets Americanah with the moral complexity of Celeste Ng and the sharp social critique of Jonathan Franzen.

Hook: In a corporate world where faith, privilege, and profit collide, one manʼs quest for integrity threatens to unravel the hypocrisy binding them all.

Logline: Cody, a disillusioned employee at Candela—a direct-selling giant with a devoutly religious corporate culture—navigates a labyrinth of ethical compromises, office politics, and systemic inequality. When he allies with Anne, a fiery advocate for diversity, their fight to expose hypocrisy forces them to confront their own complicity in a system that rewards conformity over conscience.

Themes & Appeal:

• A critique of modern corporate culture, where performative progressivism and entrenched privilege collide.

• Morally complex characters who defy easy labels: a CEO who preaches family values while exploiting low-income salespeople, a progressive manager who champions diversity but fears risking his own security, and a protagonist torn between survival and integrity.

• Timely social commentary on workplace discrimination, religious influence in corporate America, and the myth of meritocracy.

• Unflinching realism with no tidy resolutions, mirroring the ambiguity of real-world change.

Comp Titles: Then We Came to the End Joshua Ferris) for its darkly comic take on office life. The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett) for its exploration of identity and systemic inequality. Severance Ling Ma) for its critique of capitalism and cultural conformity.

Why It Stands Out: Pale Privileges, Dark Roast avoids polemics, instead offering a gripping, character-driven story that challenges readers to examine their own biases and compromises. Its unvarnished portrayal of corporate hypocrisy—where diversity initiatives mask exclusion, and “culture fit” becomes code for homogeneity—resonates in an era of ESG debates and workplace reckonings.

Target Audience: Readers who crave intellectually rigorous fiction with emotional depth, fans of workplace dramas like The Devil Wears Prada or Seve