Book 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 . . .
Charles Stross was born in Leeds, England, in 1964. He has worked as
a software engineer and freelance journalist but now writes science
fiction and crime thrillers full-time. He can be found on twitter at
@cstross or at his website www. antipope. org/charlie.
