Books: The Annihilation Score by Charles Stross (2015)

 

“The Laundry is recovering from a devastating attack (as seen in the last book, The Rhesus Chart, which also left Bob’s boss dead) and when average citizens all over the country start to develop supernatural powers, the police are called in to help. With Bob the new Eater of Worlds, he’s off doing his thing, which leaves his wife, Dr. Dominique “Mo” O'Brien –an extrodinary agent in her own way- tapped to lead a new position within the Laundry, but more for UK intelligence world. When occult powers threaten the realm, they'll be there to clean up the mess - and deal with the witnesses. So Mo appointed as official police liaison, but in between dealing with police bureaucracy, superpowered members of the public and disgruntled politicians, Mo discovers to her horror that she can no longer rely on her marriage, nor on the weapon that has been at her side for eight years of undercover work, the possessed violin known as 'Lecter'”.

The Annihilation Score is the sixth book in Stross’ Laundry Files series, with its blending of Cthulhu Mythos horror and spy fiction and bureaucratic comedy. So the book starts in a pretty dark, depressing place, at least for Bob and Mo, which the growth you want in a long-running series (more on that later). And much like Bob’s early days in the Laundry, you get a sense that Mo is out of depth here and no one seems to question why. But, as well, the shift in the protagonist is startling for me and while I like Mo, I came for the adventures of Bob. Still, the book is sharp, somewhat fresh (the ideas here are not new), and sufficiently tongue-in-cheek about the whole possibility of people mistaking themselves for superheroes. And Stross is clearly teasing this out towards a more climactic event related to the existential threat that is CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN, but overall, I felt cheated Bob was missing from the tale, even though Stross succeeds in making Mo’s voice distinct from Bob’s.

I did some further looking ahead in this series and discovered that with this book, until it’s finale, Stross will be featuring different protagonist, with Bob only popping in book eight, and the final book in the series (which was released in January 2026). There is a novella in which Bob Howard appears in, explaining his absences from the seventh novel in the series, The Nightmare Stacks and the beginning of the eighth, but overall Stross appears to expanding his universe because either there is not much more he can reveal about Bob Howard, Mo O’Brien, and the Laundry or it’s just another publishers desire not to end a successful series, so they shift the plot a bit, introduce new characters and let them handle a half-dozen titles before finally pulling the plug.