I’m a fan of Charles Stross’s THE LAUNDRY series about a secret British agency who defends the planet from threats from other dimensions. Things have gone from Bad to Worse as The Labyrinth Index opens with the American President on the run from a takeover of a cabal intent on waking Cthulhu. The cabal has cast a geas that makes everyone in the U.S. forget there is a President! A team of British agents is sent to the United States to help restore sanity (and memory). It takes too many pages for Stross to set up his huge climatic ending, but there’s action and fireworks to burn in the final section of The Labyrinth Index. Good, but not great. GRADE: B
THE LAUNDRY FILES SERIES:
The Atrocity Archives (2004)
The Jennifer Morgue (2006)
Down on the Farm (2008 novelette)
Overtime (2009 novelette)
The Fuller Memorandum (2010)
The Apocalypse Codex (2012)
Equoid (2013 novelette)
The Rhesus Chart (2014)
The Annihilation Score (2015)
The Nightmare Stacks (2016)
The Delirium Brief (2017)
The Labyrinth Index (2018)
George, I don’t think I have ever read an espionage thriller laced with sf elements. This series sounds really good and I will check it out.
Prashant, I think you’ll enjoy the early thrillers in THE LAUNDRY SERIES.
The president is on the run from Cthulu? Are we talking this current president, ‘cos then I’ll take my chances with Cthulu!
Deb, sadly “The President” in THE LABYRINTH INDEX is a generic President–not the Trumpster!
Waking Cthulhu would be a great title for a movie.
Have a safe trip back to the frozen North today. Great seeing you and Diane.
Jeff, we’re home safe and sound! It was 84 degrees in Orlando! And it’s 30 degrees in Buffalo–a 54 degree difference!
Read the first one and liked it but nothing else since in the series. Didn’t like his other fantasy series and have had difficulty reading his sf. Have always planned to read others in this series but never got around to it.
Steve, I think you’d enjoy the first four or five books in THE LAUNDRY SERIES. But the later books lose focus.
Frozen north? It was 51 yesterday. Don’t care for Stross, based on a short story I read. Not a big sample, but…oh well.
Rick, right now it’s 30 degrees in Buffalo. That qualifies as “The Frozen North.” Snow is in the forecast.
Northeast and midwest are frigid, Rick.
New Orleans is not exactly temperate this week either. I’m wearing a jacket, sweater and hoodie, not to mention gloves.
Jeff, I know you and Jackie and Diane were chilly in New Orleans, but I was comfortable. But, then again, I’m made for Winter.