The Apocalypse Codex
A Laundry Files novel
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4.6 • 42 Ratings
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- £5.49
Publisher Description
Bob Howard used to fix computers for the Laundry - the branch of the British Secret Service that deals with otherworldly threats - but those days are over. He's not only been promoted to active service but actually survived missions against cultists, enemy spies and tentacled horrors from other dimensions. Willingly or not, he's on his way up in this dangerous organisation.
When a televangelist with connections to 10 Downing Street seems able to work miracles, the Laundry takes an interest. But an agency that answers to the Prime Minister can't spy on him themselves, and Bob's shadowy superiors come up with a compromise - they hire 'freelancers', with Bob in charge.
British citizens who discover the occult are either forcibly recruited by the Laundry or disposed of, and Bob's never heard of freelancers before. Officially they don't exist. Anyone who's big and bad enough to remain independent is going to be hard to handle, and Bob's not too sure that the one-week 'people management' course he was sent on in Milton Keynes is going to be enough . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The fourth novel (after 2010's The Fuller Memorandum) in Stross's series about the Laundry, a British mystical intelligence agency, continues its fun blend of Lovecraftian horror, espionage, and office satire. Everyman geek Bob Howard has been promoted to the Laundry's Externalities department, an obscure branch dealing with outside contractors. His boss, Lockhart, assigns him to manage Persephone Hazard and Johnny McTavish, two mystically talented field agents investigating suddenly powerful U.S. evangelist Ray Schiller. Complications arise ranging from conflicts with U.S. spy agencies, extradimensional parasites, a Bible with some disturbing additional chapters, and the requisite zombies. Stross augments his style, expanding the narrative voice beyond Bob's own while remaining true to earlier works in the series. Some fans might miss Bob's wife, Mo (largely offscreen after the book's first third), but the new characters and setting allow Stross additional opportunities for political and technological snark in the midst of this solid spy/horror story.
Customer Reviews
Awesome
An excellent read and a real page turner. If you've read the other three get this book now and be prepared to read through the night!
A sequel too far?
I've been a massive fan of the Laundry series since being pushed to read the "Atrocity Archives" and have loved the play between the modern world and elements of a much older one. Like the excellent "Halting State" (also by the same author) the text is clever and plays many allusions to potential futures based on the present.
However, I do think this is the weakest entry in the series so far, me tries to mix things up a t by expanding the stage on which the books are set but I'm not sure it really works, it feels like the stage is being set for something bigger and better to come, the first act of a play almost.
If you've enjoyed the previous books then you will certainly enjoy it, for my mind there was a lot to like just not as much in previous book.