The Nightmare Stacks

Laundry Files, Book 7

By: Charles Stross

Narrated by: Gideon Emery

Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

The Laundry Files' "fast-paced blend of espionage thrills, mundane office comedy and Lovecraftian horror" (SFX) continues as Hugo Award-winning author Charles Stross assigns a day trader to a permanent position on the night shift....

After stumbling upon the algorithm that turned him and his fellow merchant bankers into vampires, Alex Schwartz was drafted by The Laundry, Britain's secret counter-occult agency that's humanity's first line of defense against the forces of darkness. Dependent on his new employers for his continued existence - as Alex has no stomach for predatory bloodsucking - he has little choice but to accept his new role as an operative in training.

Dispatched to Leeds, Alex's first assignment is to help assess the costs of renovating a 1950s Cold War bunker into The Laundry's new headquarters. Unfortunately Leeds is Alex's hometown, and the thought of breaking the news to his parents that he's left banking for civil service, while hiding his undead condition, is causing more anxiety than learning how to live as a vampire secret agent preparing to confront multiple apocalypses.

Alex's only saving grace is Cassie Brewer, a drama student appearing in the local Goth Festival who is inexplicably attracted to him despite his awkward personality and massive amounts of sunblock.

But Cassie has secrets of her own - secrets that make Alex's nightlife behaviors seem positively normal....

©2016 Charles Stross (P)2016 Recorded Books

Returning to form

Alex, or Bob 2.0, is a far more intriguing and empathetic character here. The supporting cast of characters and entertaining and earn their places in the narrative. As ever lots of humour, references and some top action. Definite entertainment value for multiple listens.

fun and exciting, a great read to the last

wonderful new heroes to add to the series, highly looking forward to what ever comes next.

Another foray into occult officialdom

I had my doubts that the Laundry Files could maintain it's quality and momentum with out the character of Bob Howard (a doubt fed by the just okay previous novel in the series).
I was wrong. The sly humor is still there. The grand otherworldly threats still threaten. Entertaining.
Wonderfully narrated by Mr. Emery.

Note to Newcomers to Laundry Files Series

Loved the book and the other reviews tell you what you need to know. Except note to newcomers: this is not the book to start with. At least go back to book 5: Rhesus Chart or you will be lost. Better to go back to book 1, Atrocity Archives, because it really is a fun ride to go with the series - many hours of entertainment.

My quibble is this: Scene changes need some signal to readers! Please! Often got whiplash when the scene changed and took a couple of minutes to decipher which characters we had switched to. All audiobooks have this problem to some extent and I wish they would come up with a solution. In books you have white space, usually, at least, to convey scene change. Come on Audible, fix it.

Brilliant

Fun, funny and action packed. Mr stress outdid himself in the nightmare stacks and as ever brilliantly narrated my Gordon Emery

another solid entry in the laundry files series

I really like the reader, and the story itself is Stross in fine form. it's great to get a new perspective on the laundry files universe as well.

The magic is back and then some!

The last three Laundry novels have been very uneven, as Stross seems to have run out of steam with his increasingly damaged, increasingly powerful main characters. What was once a series that managed to, oddly, combine real humor with spycraft and supernatural horror had become a slog rather than a delight. I barely got through the last book.

All of that changes with the Nightmare Stacks. By switching to a new character who is essentially a relaunch of Bob, his original protagonist, Stross escapes the problems that dogged the previous books. Once again, we have geek humor (references to everything from Baldur's Gate to software licensing terms), witty banter, and dark ritual magic. There is even an amazing dinner party scene that is genuinely hilarious.

In addition to recapturing the old magic, two things make this new book stand out. First, Stross has finally let the timeline of his books move forward into Case Nightmare Green territory, as the first inklings of the end of the world reach the population at large. The result is that we are moving from spy novels to war novels - and Stross writes some amazing Tom Clancy-esque miltiary action scenes.

The second thing that makes this book a stand out is that I think it is accessible to new readers. A short Wikipedia recap of the first book is all you likely need to get up to speed. You can certainly skip Book 6 and lose very little.

Overall, this was great - well read as always, and tight and well written. I am happy that one of my favorite series has found its (dark, eldritch) magic again.

Good return to form for the series

This is a fun story with the deeply geeky references throughout. This has Tom Clancy like elements mixed in to things, much like previous books that had Bond elements or other spy/thriller send ups. Good times.

Another great installment

I was leary of the new main character, but it won me over completely and I enjoyed it immensely.

Glorious!

Entertaining and interesting. Good to see the author stresstesting his setting, especially with this and the previous installment to the series.