This was the first of the Laundry Files books that I actually didn't like. It seemed to confirm to me something I had suspected for a long time: Mo isn't good enough for Bob. She was just such an unlikable character, doing things like blaming Bob for becoming the EoS as though it was something he wanted and chose. She also regularly belittles him and his work. A separate, and perhaps unintentional, issue is that her characterization as an agent with PTSD is hugely forced. An example: at a party, Mo is relaxed until she consciously realizes that she's standing by a window and could be shot by someone on the street. That isn't how PTSD works. Her movements avoiding the window would be unconscious, even unnoticed, if she were really struggling with the emotional trauma she claims to have. I also, of course, just missed Bob's narration, which was what made me initially fall in love with the series. I hope we get back to him soon but unfortunately the blurb for the next book makes it seem like it's from Alex's POV.

This was enjoyable, but not to the same standard as some of the previous books in the series. It focused on Mo, rather than Bob, and took a somewhat unexpected superhero tangent. Hey ho, it was still fun but I hope the next one is better.

So great to finally hear from Mo. Loved the audiobook narrator on this one. While there are a couple of tired gender tropes in here, overall Stross does a solid job of finally giving us a story focused on one of the best characters in the Laundry Files. Is she a perfect person? No. Is she interesting? Yes. It might be that I'm a woman of a similar age to Mo in this story (also married for a long time to a computer geek), but the parts about Mo's middle aged woman superpower of invisibility really resonated.

The only bit of the story that was actually jarring was when Mo finishes giving a presentation and checks her make up with a compact in the middle of a busy conference environment. I've been to a lot of work coherences, I've known a lot of professional women, and I can't imagine this ever happening in a million years. Women don't do this. I think there was supposed to be a plot point here, but TBH I momentarily lost my ability to follow the plot because this really pissed me off.

Still giving this book 5 stars because of the stellar audiobook narrator and for Stross overall doing a great job highlighting a favorite character of mine. More Mo-focused books please!

Disappointing change of direction

The Laundry Files take place in an alternative UK where dark Lovecraftian forces intersect with government bureaucracy. The Laundry is the government agency tasked with dealing with and suppressing these dark forces. As any longtime reader of the series knows, the previous books were told from the perspective of Bob Howard, computational demonologist. We learned about this mysterious world as Bob learned about it. Much remained shrouded in mystery and half the fun was figuring out what exactly was going on and how Bob was going to program his way out of it without running afoul of the government bureaucracy that ultimately runs the Laundry.

Unfortunately, the author chose to focus this book on Bob’s wife, Dominique “Mo” O’Brien. While this could have provided an exciting new direction to the series, the author chose to focus less on Mo’s career as an superspy (she’s basically an occult 007) and instead made her a mid-level bureaucrat starting up a paranormal police force. Emphasis on bureaucrat. While the government bureaucracy was always present in the previous entries in the series, it was background noise, sort of a running joke. Monsters are attacking, plots are afoot, must save the world, oh but don't forget to fill out the proper forms afterwards and whatever you do don't refer to the undead as zombies or HR will need to send you to sensitivity training.

Here the book is all about the bureaucracy. In the first few pages Mo’s cover as Agent CANDID is blown and she's relegated to a desk job. CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN has resulted in normal people acquiring magical abilities, which the common folk believe are mutant superpowers. The British Government has decided to co-opt the superhero trope and create a police force of super-powered do-gooders. But this being the Laundry Files, there must be org charts and meetings and PowerPoint presentations and all the rest of the red tape necessary to run a government agency. Mo is tasked with creating said red tape so we get about 300 pages worth of planning sessions, meetings, job interviews, conferences, and government committee meetings. With PowerPoint. Yay. It's like reading the diary of a workaholic middle manager who’s more concerned with budget projections and org charts than magic and fighting bad guys.

Thrown into the mix is an office romance that feels tacked on and out of place. Mo pines over a coworker who quite obviously is nowhere near as good as he seems but she has turned into a 16-year-old high school sophomore with a crush on the varsity QB. Thankfully these interludes are brief enough early on although they accelerate and become central to the finale.

It is very disappointing that the author switched to the perspective of a strong, brilliant female lead and turned her into a horny office mom undergoing a midlife crisis. What could have been an interesting exploration of an aging female’s place in society and how that society sidelines and relegates women into stereotypical subordinate roles is largely left by the wayside. The self doubt that follows Mo’s self-perceived loss of physical appeal (as Mo’s feelings of invisibility become quite literal) could have been used as a jumping off point for some interesting exploration of these issues but it's mentioned then dropped before being reintroduced at the end. Mo literally turns invisible during an encounter then goes home and never mentions it or explores the implications. But this power then becomes central to the final boss battle, which is somewhat jarring.

The book plods along for over 350 pages this way. There are two brief action sequences, an interesting encounter with a potential super-villain who comes for a job interview then is all too easily captured when he next pops up and a final confrontation that has been telegraphed from early on. When the villain and the main plot are revealed, you won't be at all surprised.

For die-hard Laundry completists only.

Unpleasant people do nothing (slight exaggeration - they do go to a lot of meetings) and are endlessly smug about it. Easily the worst Laundry novel yet.

Possibly the best Laundry book yet. Told from Mo' perspective for a refreshing change, this book continues where #5 left off. Bob is largely absent, off cleaning up after book #5's dramatic conclusion. Case Nightmare Green is looming, and magic is leaking into the general population.

I really liked the change of tone in this book. Not that I didn't like Bob's sarcastic nerd-core narrative. But this is more personal. More intimate. And that really helped drive home the overarching theme of betrayal in times of crisis.

I loved this. It was very refreshing seeing things from Mo's point of view rather than Bob's; her voice is different from his but no less compelling. She's less jaded, even though she's older and more senior. She's got a vibrancy, and her humour is similar to but not the same as Bob's. She's also authentically a woman; the stuff she worries about is stuff I worry about. The impostor syndrome, the becoming invisible, the dress codes (yes, those who know me, I know I don't look like I worry about those things, but I do. ocietal programming is strong).

I loved Mhari seen through Mo's eyes, rather than Bob's. She's become quite an interesting character. And Ramona remains awesomesauce on legs; well wheels now.

The plot is, as usual for a Stross novel, creative, interesting, and had enough twists in to wrongfoot me a couple of times, which is always enjoyable. I'm not going to go into plot spoilers because I don't like it when other people do, but I was very happy with it.

I'm still waiting for that Chekov's Gun of a cat to pay off, mind, which mind be sort of a negative spoiler - it hasn't happened yet.

And a final note: the people who are complaining in their reviews that Mo is a "bitch" because she's not totally subservient to Bob and sacrificing her life for him? Clearly didn't read or understand The Jennifer Morgue, which was four books ago in the series. The point Bob realises that Mo is more powerful, more scary, smarter and sassier than him is the point Bob asks Mo to marry him. He doesn't WANT someone who will sacrifice herself on the altar of his manly manness. The point where things start to go wrong in their marriage is the point where he comes into his powers, because it upsets the dynamic of their entire relationship. Seriously, people, stop it with the sexist assumption what woman must submit to man she's married to. Please?

this was much darker, and much more bureaucracy-focused than previous installments, bureaucratic and depressing to the point where i found myself not wanting to pick it up. there are some great passages, and i liked the larger plot developments, but didn't care for some of the character developments.

This book is told from Mo's viewpoint and I really enjoyed the change.