The Delirium Brief

May 15, 2017
Stross' Laundry Files series, of which this is No. 8 (The Nightmare Stacks, 2016, etc.), is a weird but effective mashup of Lovecraft-ian horror, espionage thriller, science fiction, and satire, centering around a top-secret British government agency devoted to fighting "the sort of thing you expect to meet in an episode of The X-Files."In resolving the previous book's crisis, unfortunately, the Laundry's existence becomes public knowledge, so this time out combat sorcerer Bob Howard, the Eater of Souls, must appear on TV to offer the usual blandishments. Poor Bob and his equally scary wife, the newly minted auditor, Mo O'Brien, can't live together--her demonic White Violin tried to eat him, while Bob worries that he might absentmindedly eat Mo's soul while sleepwalking. As a senior member of staff, though, Bob no longer has to worry about his expense sheets. But an evil god from another dimension is moving to take over the American government, whose about-to-be-unemployed good guys warn the Laundry that the Rev. Raymond Schiller, whose followers are deliberately parasitized and enslaved by a godlike extradimensional horror known as the Sleeper in the Pyramid, is plotting a takeover of the U.K. government. Abruptly, the Laundry's staffers learn that their agency has been privatized and they're all out of a job. To combat Schiller, Bob will need his most powerful allies, freelance witch Persephone "Seph" Hazard, otherworld elf-queen Cassie Brewer, and Senior Auditor Armstrong. Series regulars will find the usual humor here much reduced, with a narrative cluttered with infodumps on civil service bureaucracy, while the tone has turned bleaker and far darker. There's little need to point out the obvious political aspects to all this. Some readers may not relish the new direction the series is taking, while others will ponder the underlying currents and conclude that it all makes perfect sense. Stross still spins a heck of a yarn.

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July 1, 2017

The Laundry, Britain's agency for policing all things supernatural, has already had a rough year after the near-catastrophe of an elven invasion in The Nightmare Stacks. Led by a charismatic evangelical preacher named Raymond Schiller, a rogue group that has already toppled their sister agency in America decides the time is ripe to take over the Laundry as well. Laundry employees are quickly sacked, and a new contractor is scheduled to take over operations. But when your operations involve protecting the UK from vampires, elven mages, and other eldritch horrors, a pink slip is not going to suffice. Bob Howard, once a lowly computer tech and now a powerful member of the Laundry's inner circle, is at the center of the efforts to find out what Schiller has in mind and how to protect the agency's assets. There's plenty of humor, action galore, and enough fantastical sf horror to keep things delightfully weird. While this isn't the easiest entry point, Stross does a good job of catching up new readers. VERDICT Those who enjoyed the combination of bureaucracy and espionage of Daniel O'Malley's The Rook should give this series a try.--MM

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