Review of Dead Lies Dreaming by Charles Stross

Technically a part of the Laundry Files universe, Dead Lies Dreaming is the first in a spinoff trilogy called The New Management, and it shows. I respect what I think Charles Stross is trying to do here, but I enjoyed this book a lot less than previous Laundry Files books, and this review will mostly be an explanation why.

Wendy Darling is an ex–police officer now working for a private security company. Imp is a thief with dreams of filmmaking. Eve is an executive assistant to a decadent and awful billionaire. All three people’s stories intersect in this alternative version of Great Britain where the Prime Minister is an avatar of an Elder God and some people have superpowers.

Dead Lies Dreaming jumps between these three characters’ limited third-person perspectives, far more so than any previous Laundry Files story, which typically featured a primary first-person narrator with some third-person chunks. The chapters are long and the action is frenetic, to the point where, honestly, I had trouble keeping track of what was happening. The plot is convoluted, with layers upon layers of double-crosses and intrigue and people fighting other people in ridiculous Xanatos gambits and I just … sigh … I just want to switch my brain off and I couldn’t.

The plot eventually crystallizes into a relatively simple three-way heist for control over a MacGuffin. But I couldn’t bring myself to care about any of these protagonists. Stross tries his best to establish each as a sympathetic character, but there’s a degree of cynicism to his world that makes it challenging for me to feel sorry for someone like Eve, who chose to allow her circumstances to shape her into a horrible person. Similarly, I just didn’t see anything in Wendy that made me interested in her down-and-out story or her attraction to Del (which was cute!).

I will probably persevere with this series as I build towards the final Laundry Files novel, but I’m not sure I will enjoy them.