The Hating Game

Description

After their publishing companies merge, cheerful Lucy and intimidating Josh become executive assistants to the same leadership team—and dedicated opponents across a shared office. Their days revolve around petty psychological contests, close observation, and the satisfaction of provoking each other. When both pursue the same promotion, they agree that the loser must quit, raising an already obsessive rivalry into a threat to each person’s career. Yet the attention required to hate someone so thoroughly begins to expose mutual attraction, and private confidences complicate every familiar game. Each suspects the other may be using desire as another tactic. The romantic comedy builds its central tension from the narrow distance between competition and intimacy, asking whether Lucy and Josh can recognize sincerity after training themselves to interpret everything as strategy.

Themes