Saturday, June 9, 2012

The Apocalypse Codex-Charles Stross

The Apocalypse Codex


Charles Stross

Ace, Jul 4 2012, $25.95

ISBN 9781937007461



Due to his incredible field performance in spite of himself (see The Fuller Memorandum), the Laundry top brass considers Bob Howard as a strong managerial candidate. To mentor him, they assign reluctant Bob to the opaque Externalities Department, which outsources to private contractors much of its work.



His superior Gerald Lockhart assigns Bob as handler to paranormally-skilled field agents Persephone Hazard and Johnny McTavish as they investigate American miraculous healing evangelist Ray Schiller who has become a close friend of the Prime Minister. Over the objection of the American agencies, Hazard goes undercover inside of Schiller’s Golden Promise Ministry while Bob as her handler must make sure this female bull (don’t call her a cow) in a china shop does not cause a cross Atlantic embarrassment. However, the mission changes with the attack of parasites from another dimension and a bible with additional sections.



The fourth Laundry Files is a fabulous out of control paranormal espionage horror thriller. The protagonist is a geek who prefers his wife Mo and computers to Bond put in the tundra missions. He makes the twisting storyline work as he ends up in the middle of another clusterf*** fiasco. Aptly surnamed Persephone is a hazard to his health and that of others as once again squeamish Bob is tested by Lockhart, zombies, parasites, religious fanatics, espionage agencies and his direct reports team.



Harriet Klausner

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