Alex Schwartz had a great job and a promising future - until he caught an unfortunate bout of vampirism, and agreed (on pain of death) to join the Laundry, Britain''s only counter-occult secret intelligence agency.

His first assignment is in Leeds - his old hometown. But the thought of telling his parents he''s lost his job, let alone their discovering his ''condition'', is causing Alex almost as much anxiety as his new lifestyle of supernatural espionage.

His only saving grace is Cassie Brewer, a student from the local Goth Festival who flirts with him despite his fear of sunlight (and girls). But Cassie has secrets of her own - secrets that make Alex''s night life seem positively normal . . .

James Bond meets H. P. Lovecraft in the latest occult thriller from Hugo Award winner Charles Stross, in a series where British spies take on the supernatural.