Hugo Award-winning author Charles Stross presents the next case in The Laundry Files, βa weirdly alluring blend of super-spy thriller, deadpan comic fantasy, and Lovecraftian horrorβ (Kirkus Reviews).
Dominique OβBrienβher friends call her Moβlives a curious double life with her husband, Bob Howard. To the average civilian, theyβre boring middle-aged civil servants. But within the labyrinthian secret circles of Her Majestyβs government, theyβre operatives working for the nationβs occult security service known as the Laundry, charged with defending Britain against dark supernatural forces threatening humanity.
Moβs latest assignment is assisting the police in containing an unusual outbreak: ordinary citizens suddenly imbued with extraordinary abilities of the super-powered kind. Unfortunately these people prefer playing super-pranks instead of super-heroics. The Mayor of London being levitated by a dumpy man in Trafalgar Square would normally be a source of shared amusement for Mo and Bob, but theyβre currently separated because somethingβs come between themβsomething evil.
An antique violin, an Erich Zann original, made of human white bone, was designed to produce music capable of slaughtering demons. Mo is the custodian of this unholy instrument. It invades her dreams and yearns for the blood of her colleaguesβand her husband. And despite Moβs proficiency as a world class violinist, it cannot be controlledβ¦
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