The Rhesus Chart

Charles Stross
Orbit Books
Audible

London can drain the life out of you...
Bob Howard is an intelligence agent working his way through the ranks of the top secret government agency known as 'the Laundry'. When occult powers threaten the realm, they'll be there to clean up the mess - and deal with the witnesses.
There's one kind of threat that the Laundry has never come across in its many decades, and that's vampires. Mention them to a seasoned agent and you'll be laughed out of the room.
But when a small team of investment bankers at one of Canary Wharf's most distinguished financial institutions discovers an arcane algorithm that leaves them fearing daylight and craving O positive, someone doesn't want the Laundry to know. And Bob gets caught right in the middle.
The Rhesus Chart is a brand new supernatural thriller from Charles Stross, and sees hacker-turned-spy Bob Howard take on the (literal) bloodsuckers running London's financial district.

Charles Stross

Now here's one I've been waiting for.  I've absolutely loved these Laundry books from Stross but with the exception of one short story about unicorns I've never read one.  Instead I'm utterly besotted by the audiobook versions as read by Gideon Emery.

This time out Bob finds his newly promoted self hunting for vampires and finding a figure from his past just as his present starts to fracture alarmingly.

As ever with this series much of the time is spent exploring the bureaucracy of the Laundry and, in this case, the feasibility of vampirism.  In both cases it is inordinate amounts of geeky fun.

Gideon Emery

The story as a whole is perhaps less expansive and absorbing than some of it's predecessors and the identity of the big bad is perhaps a tad obvious but as a romp it is romptous indeed particularly during the game changing finale.

As ever I'm leaving one of these Laundry books desperately craving more but this time in the sad knowledge that one of my favourite modes of address will likely be absent from here on - although I sincerely hope not.

Buy it here - The Rhesus Chart: A Laundry Files novel

NB - My write-up of the rest of the series can be found here.