Name: The Annihilation Score
ISBN: 9780425281185

Charles Stross

"Mo's latest assignment is to assist the police in containing an unusual outbreak: ordinary citizens suddenly imbued with extraordinary abilities of the superpowered kind. Unfortunately these people prefer playing super-pranks instead of performing super-heroics"--

The Annihilation Score

NOBODY DOES IT BETTER . . . Dr Mo O'Brien is an intelligence agent at the top secret government agency known as 'the Laundry'. When occult powers threaten the realm, they'll be there to clean up the mess and deal with the witnesses. But the Laundry is recovering from a devastating attack and when average citizens all over the country start to develop supernatural powers, the police are called in to help. Mo is appointed as official police liaison, but in between dealing with police bureaucracy, superpowered members of the public and disgruntled politicians, Mo discovers to her horror that she can no longer rely on her marriage, nor on the weapon that has been at her side for eight years of undercover work, the possessed violin known as 'Lecter'. If this wasn't bad enough, a mysterious figure known as Dr Freudstein is committing heists and sending increasingly threatening messages to the police. Who is Freudstein and what is he planning?

Matthew Royal

I love the Laundry Files. The premise mixing Computer Science with demonology is brilliant. The narration from snarky ol' Bob is enjoyable. But honestly, I had to force myself to keep trudging through this installment of the Laundry series, fueled by the memory of how good the previous books were.

The narration is by Bob's wife Mo, but it still sounds like Bob; Mo doesn't consistently have her own voice. Most of the scenes are attending interminable meetings with none of the sharp efficiency of the previous book on vampire executives. They are obligatory, tedious, and joyless. Some books late in a series consist of nothing but monologuing dinner party scenes: this book falls into that trap. The content is ok, but needs a rewrite from telling to showing.

Sadly, this series has been demoted from the top of my "save it so you can savor it" list to my bedtime book.

Ben Nathan

This was just fun, like all of these books tend to be. I loved the change of perspective and playing with tropes. It was a good time, for sure.