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The Delirium Brief: A Laundry Files Novel Hardcover – 13 Jul 2017

by Charles Stross (Author)

81 customer reviews

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE LOCUS AWARD 2018

Bob Howard's career in the Laundry, the secret British government agency dedicated to protecting the world from the supernatural, has involved brilliant hacking, ancient magic and combat with creatures of pure evil.

Now the Laundry's existence has become public, and Bob is being trotted out on TV to answer pointed questions about elven asylum seekers. What neither Bob nor his managers have foreseen is that their organisation has earned the attention of a horror far more terrifying than any demon: a government looking for public services to privatise. There are things in the Laundry's assets that big business would simply love to get its hands on . . .

Inch by inch, Bob Howard and his managers are forced to consider the truly unthinkable: a coup against the British government itself.

'Brilliantly disturbing and funny at the same time' Ben Aaronovitch

Previous titles in this series:
THE ATROCITY ARCHIVES
THE JENNIFER MORGUE
THE FULLER MEMORANDUM
THE APOCALYPSE CODEX
THE RHESUS CHART
THE ANNIHILATION SCORE
THE NIGHTMARE STACKS

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Product details

Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: Orbit (13 July 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0356508285
ISBN-13: 978-0356508283
Product Dimensions: 13.9 x 4.7 x 22.2 cm
Average Customer Review: 81 customer reviews
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 285,048 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #16673 in Books > Fiction > Science Fiction
- #43317 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy

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Review

Brilliantly disturbing and funny at the same time (Ben Aaronovitch, author of RIVERS OF LONDON)

Ferociously enjoyable (SFX)

Charles Stross owns this field, and his vast, cool intellect has launched yet another mad, sly entertainment that will strangle the hell out of anything else on offer right now (Warren Ellis, author of Transmetropolitan)

Alternately chilling and hilarious (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY)

Stross at the top of his game - which is to say, few do it better (KIRKUS)

Book Description

James Bond meets H. P. Lovecraft in the eighth Laundry Files novel from Hugo Award-winner Charles Stross, in a series where British spies take on the supernatural

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P J

The Howard Continuity

17 July 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I hugely enjoyed the "The Nightmare Stacks" but by the end of it I did think that with all the devastation caused and the Elves from Hell riding in ,that there were going to be some pretty major ramifications and changes in store for the next in the series.
But really Mr Stross-Wow. Game changer and a half.
I'll admit to being a little sad as I read through the first third of it, very dark and unpredictable times indeed,and what occurs feels like a proper loss to the series. After a slowish reintroduction of many older characters and threads from virtually all the previous novels you do worry and wonder where its all actually heading , but as Bob says "When the day suddenly turned all to sh...." it really picked up rapidly to make for a very riveting and unexpectedly diverting story, so much so I never would have ever anticipated it would end up going where it did (unlike the Senior Auditor).And against an old enemy that by the very prick ,prick, pricking of my thumbs, something evil (and nasty) this way comes!!
I'd also like to give absolutely full marks to Charles for probably putting off a fair percentage of his female readership (and the blokes!!!! ) from having sex for at least a month ,with a few brief but horribly well described scenes. I really could have done without THAT before I tried to get to sleep (just joking ,I did laugh, in a fairly uncomfortable fashion).
For the rest of it I'd say Mr Stross has done an excellent piece of work by making it very relevant to the times , by showing just how a media ruled government often reacts to a crisis by making dreadfull knee jerk reactions and taking decisions based almost solely on self serving interests and poorly informed public outrage .But by combining this with many of the older storylines he continues to upgrade and refresh the series , making this one a more modern kind of spy thriller, with a strong "Mission Impossible" theme to it.
Really really enjoyed it and now I can kind of see where its all going ,though it does leave a few strong possiblities open (I did note the "equipment failure" with some trepidation) and I do suspect it will all end( with some tears) in the not to distant future.

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Paul Taylor

Darkest of the series so far, new readers definitely shouldn't start here!

17 July 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I've enjoyed all the Laundry books (and the novellas and short stories) so far. With this one, I would highly recommend that you go back to the beginning and start with The Atrocity Archives, or at the very least divert back to The Rhesus Chart before even attempting this one. At this point the Laundry universe is a very rich and dense thing, and if you try to jump in at book 8... well... you deserve the confusion you will likely encounter! Fans of the series will probably love it, readers unfamiliar won't know what on earth it's about...
This one continues down the slope toward darkness and is the grimmest book so far in the series. Some of its subject matter is probably nightmare material (in common with bits of earlier books) but is dealt with in a surprisingly matter-of-fact manner... surprisingly, that is, until you realise that the book is set within the early stages of what may turn out to be the end of humanity as we know it, when godlike and completely alien beings from outside our universe become able to break in and discover that we're all crunchy and good with ketchup. In such situations the ends begin to justify the means, leading to the point where one starts to lose track of just who the bad guys actually are; not helped by Governmental conspiracies all but digging the shifting sands out from under the protagonists while they desperately try to save the world.
I read it in two sittings on successive days - would have been one, but I needed to get some sleep at 2am! - which is the first time I've done that in about a year: since the preceding book in the series was published, in fact.

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JA Fairhurst

Pretty Near Perfect

28 July 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Although earlier books in the Laundry series that I've read have had Our Hero playing the spy in a variety of forms, he's now so senior that none of the fictional models work and Stross gives Bob Howard his chance to do it his way. Despite the great power Bob wields, he's not comfortable with some of the consequences of that power, especially when his inner Beast breaks free... And with a rocky government under attack by transdimensional Higher Beings, its probably not the best time to be having the sorts of marital problems that mean your spouse has to draw wards of power on the bedroom door to ensure she's not consumed in the middle of the night (at least she's lost her murderous violin who'd attempted to chow down on Bob!).

Most of the Laundry books up to this point have had a moderately humorous air fairy near the surface but given the serious nature of the attacks in this book, it's much darker, though the humour is still there, if more gallows humour than usual.

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James Kemp

Bob is back and The Laundry Files just levelled up a couple of notches!

25 July 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Bob is back, and the whole Laundry series just levelled up a couple of notches. I'm a major fan of Charlie Stross and have read his entire output. The Laundry is right up my street (being a civil servant with more than a passing interest in IT). This novel even more so, because it gets into other areas that I've got a professional interest in too.

In terms of broad storyline, the Delirium Brief brings back some old characters and uncovers secrets that were compartmented away from Bob in the earlier stories. It also shows more of the inner workings and rationale for the Laundry that Bob wouldn't have either known about or cared much about if he had known.

The Delirium Brief of the title is a file passed to the Laundry by the US Postal inspectorate. They've got an occult watching brief and have been taken out by internal rivals just as the story starts. The file is shared because the Laundry might be about to share the same fate.

In parallel Mo and Bob are trying to work on their marriage. We see more of how they are becoming powerful in their own ways, and how they try to deal with it and support each other. It's an interesting meta story laying across several of the recent novels.

There's an end of days feel to the entire book. Even the ending isn't quite a we saved the world again. It's more of a case of survival and wondering if that can work again.

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Most recent customer reviews

Nik

Wow.

IIRC, in one of the earlier Stross books, there's a wry novella at the back which discusses James Bond, Blofeld and the 'World of the Lesser Evil'. This is such, writ larger.Read more

Published 12 days ago

lippy

Buy the book

Get this if you have the others, if not get this and then get the others - a really great twist on occult and espionage mixed up with a great sense of very dry humour

Published 21 days ago

Razerbug

One of the best in the series!

One of my favourite in the series, if you like Urban Fantasy as a genre The Laundry Files are a must.

Published 28 days ago

Mark Shackelford

Another great book from Mr. Stross

I have a friend called Nick who is my IT guru and the "Bob Howard" in these terrific books always brings him to mind.Read more

Published 1 month ago

Fizzog

I've got the set.

Most enjoyable.

Published 1 month ago

AmazonMonster

Inter-Dimensional Nightmares Gathering Pace

This was a sublime read - I found myself re-reading sections because I'd found them so enjoyable. Absolutely cannot wait for the next volume.

Published 1 month ago

Craig

Stop preaching at the audience.

If you have gotten this far its a bit pointless me telling you how good a book this is ow how good the series is as they are both great.Read more

Published 3 months ago

T.E. Hodden

This is one of my favourite of the Laundry books

This is one of my favourite of the Laundry books, a great title that more than meets the high standards of the series.

Published 3 months ago

BRB

Brilliant

Excellent

Published 4 months ago

Unsettled

enochian Fun

Its moved a bit away from the Civil Service take on the Occult which amused me no end and further into occult horror.Read more

Published 4 months ago

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The Delirium Brief: A Laundry Files Novel Hardcover – 13 Jul 2017

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