I am a huge fan of Charles Stross' The Laundry Files series, which can best be described as a combination of HP Lovecraft and Ian Fleming, with a dash of Len Deighton. Supernatural elder gods and computational magic meet post-9/11 intelligence operations. The newest one is just on the market: The Apocalypse Codex (A Laundry Files Novel)
For outstanding heroism in the field (despite himself), computational demonologist Bob Howard is on the fast-track for promotion to management within The Laundry, the super-secret British government agency tasked with defending the realm from occult threats. Assigned to “External Assets,” Bob discovers the company—unofficially—employs freelance agents to deal with sensitive situations that may embarrass Queen and Country.
So when Ray Schiller—an American televangelist with the uncanny ability to miraculously heal the ill—becomes uncomfortably close to the Prime Minister, External Assets dispatches the brilliant, beautiful, and entirely unpredictable Persephone Hazard to infiltrate the Golden Promise Ministry and discover why the preacher is so interested in British politics. And it’s Bob’s job to make sure Persephone doesn’t cause an international incident.
But it’s a supernatural incident that Bob needs to worry about—a global threat even The Laundry may be unable to clean up…
Does Persephone mean the Files will finally get a disposable Bond girl and, if so, with what impact on Bob's marriage? With a televangelist villain, how many more anti-religion rants will Stross give Bob relative to the usual Laundry novel? (I love them anyway, which is probably something I should discuss with my confessor.) Anyway, I highly recommend the series and am eagerly anticipating getting my hands on this one. If you're new to the series, you'll want to start with The Atrocity Archives.
