The Annihilation Score, Charles Stross
The Annihilation Score, Charles Stross
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The Annihilation Score

Author: Charles Stross

Narrator: Elle Newlands

Unabridged: 16 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 10/02/2015


Synopsis

Hugo Award-winning author Charles Stross presents the next case in The Laundry Files, "a weirdly alluring blend of super-spy thriller, deadpan comic fantasy, and Lovecraftian horror" (Kirkus Reviews). Dominique O'Brien-her friends call her Mo-lives a curious double life with her husband, Bob Howard. To the average civilian, they're boring middle-aged civil servants. But within the labyrinthian secret circles of Her Majesty's government, they're operatives working for the nation's occult security service known as the Laundry, charged with defending Britain against dark supernatural forces threatening humanity. Mo's 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 they're currently separated because something's come between them-something 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 colleagues-and her husband. And despite Mo's proficiency as a world class violinist, it cannot be controlled.

About Charles Stross

CHARLES STROSS (he/him) is a full-time science fiction writer and resident of Edinburgh, Scotland. He has won three Hugo Awards for Best Novella, including for the Laundry Files tale “Equoid.” His work has been translated into over twelve languages. His novels include the bestselling Merchant Princes series, the Laundry series (including Locus Award finalist The Dilirium Brief), and several stand-alones including Glasshouse, Accelerando, and Saturn's Children. Like many writers, Stross has had a variety of careers, occupations, and job-shaped catastrophes, from pharmacist (he quit after the second police stakeout) to first code monkey on the team of a successful dot-com startup (with brilliant timing, he tried to change employers just as the bubble burst) to technical writer and prolific journalist covering the IT industry. Along the way he collected degrees in pharmacy and computer science, making him the world’s first officially qualified cyberpunk writer.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Bradley

Re-read 6/4/18: Suffice to say, the dynamics between Bob and Mo are rather divisive. I guess I will always find a place to forgive Mo in my heart. She's been through so much. She's been carrying around the One Ring for Too Many Years. Add that to all the other crap that went on, I'm surprised she did......more

Goodreads review by Robin

So, seriously, do you think he let someone ghostwrite this one? The book has the advantage of being easier to read than the other entries in the series, but the voice of Mo has no charm whatever. She reveals herself to be a very unpleasant person, and frankly I do not care whether things turn out we......more

Goodreads review by Trish

Look at you, Mo! Up on your moral high ground, criticizing Bob for all kinds of things, most of which haven't even really happened (and you know it), while you (view spoiler)[cheat on him by kissing Officer Friendly and putting his hand on your knee (yes, that IS cheating) because you want to have fun (your own wo (hide spoiler)]......more