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The Nightmare Stacks

A Laundry Files Novel

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The Nightmare Stacks

By: Charles Stross
Narrated by: Jack Hawkins
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Summary

Alex Schwartz had a great job and a promising future - until he caught an unfortunate bout of vampirism and agreed (on pain of death) to join the Laundry, Britain's only counter-occult secret intelligence agency. His first assignment is in Leeds - his old hometown. But the thought of telling his parents he's lost his job, let alone their discovering his 'condition', is causing Alex almost as much anxiety as his new lifestyle of supernatural espionage. His only saving grace is Cassie Brewer, a student from the local Goth Festival who flirts with him despite his fear of sunlight (and girls). But Cassie has secrets of her own - secrets that make Alex's nightlife seem positively normal.

©2016 Charles Stross (P)2017 Little Brown Book Group Espionage Science Fiction Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense Fiction Scary Fantasy Paranormal
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Just works from start to finish, well narrated and well written, with some decent insights

Great story

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Best series of books that I have ever listened to. Witty and creative plot, love the whole "life as a civil service magic specialist" thing.

Wonderful

Absolutely wonderful stuff

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Well, this is a huge improvement on the last book, even if Jack Hawkins also has some issues with various accents, and Cassie has a rather flat personality.
I like the fact that the storyline starts off with scientific analysis bleeding into Magic, instead of just announcing that superheroes are a thing and assembling the Justice League.
Being honest though, I am missing the first person irony of Bob, hopefully the next one brings him back and we get to hear about all those adventures that are being mentioned in the background.

Some thrilling action and some slightly flat characters

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OK, so it's not fair. This is a book that's about Leeds, where I've lived for most of my adult life, and also mentions the town I grew up in. So it's got a big advantage on that front. However I don't think I've enjoyed another book this year. Also, I'm not sure there's a better Laundry Files book. This seems like what all the others have been building to, so far, and I don't think Delirium Brief quite matches it.

Without spoiling things, at least for those who haven't been near the books: This is the first book that directly includes a Case Nightmare Rainbow scenario. Seeing how the Laundry deals with that is exciting, filled with tension, full of bureaucratic mishaps and brave efforts against the darkness.

My favourite book this year

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Nothing more to add. Got all the series so far and will probably get the rest.

Good story, good narrator.

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