Rook

backup copy hidden in the bowels of the hard drive. (People, I implore you, back stuff up! The novel you save may just be your own.) My mom was the first to read the book, and she pronounced it good. She believed in it, and in me, and it was she who urged me to get an agent and then helped me find one. (The perfect one!) My mom gave me invaluable advice on how to proceed at every step of the way. She always thought big, and it is because of her that you are holding this book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
     

    D ANIEL O’M ALLEY graduated from Michigan State University and earned a master’s degree in medieval history from Ohio State University. He then returned to his childhood home, Australia, where he manages media relations for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the agency that investigates plane crashes and runaway boats.

ABOUT THE BOOK
     
     
    “Dear You. The body you are wearing used to be mine.”
    So begins the letter Myfanwy Thomas is holding when she awakes in a London park surrounded by dead bodies – all wearing latex gloves. With no memory of who she is or how she got there, Myfanwy must follow the instructions her former self left behind to discover her identity and escape those who want to destroy her. She soon learns that she is a Rook, a high ranking operative in the Checquy, a secret government agency that protects the world against supernatural threats – from sentient fungus to stampeding ectoplasm – while keeping the populace in the dark. But there is a mole at the highest level of the Checquy who wants Myfanwy dead. In her quest to save herself and unmask the traitor, Myfanwy will encounter a person with four bodies, an aristocratic woman who can enter her dreams, a secret training facility where children are transformed into deadly fighters, and a conspiracy more vast than she could ever have imagined. And she must learn to harness her own rare, potentially deadly supernatural ability.

Reviews
     
    “Just outrageously good. A rich secret world to play in and a superpowered and frequently hilarious heroine.” Lev Grossman
     
    “Utterly convincing and engrossing – totally thought-through and frequently hilarious. The writing is confident and fully fledged. Even this aging, jaded, attention-deficit-disordered critic was blown away.” TIME
     
    “Stop reading right now and go pick up The Rook. Hands down, I have not enjoyed a good supernatural novel this much for some time.” Wired
     
    “The pace never lets up in this entertaining high-action read… A near-perfect supernatural thriller… Something unexpected happens on almost every page. Don’t start this book unless you’ve got lots of time, because you won’t want to put it down. It’s that good.” Library Journal
     
    “Adroitly straddles the thin line between fantasy, thriller, and spoof… O’Malley is a nimble writer, effortlessly leaping back and forth between comedy and action. There’s plenty of room here for a sequel that readers will no doubt begin clamoring for before they’ve even finished this book.” Booklist
     
    “Impressive… Dry wit, surprising reversals of fortune, and a clever if offbeat plot make this a winner.” Publishers Weekly
     
    “O’Malley’s narrative is peppered with sly humor, referential social commentary, and the ironic, double-layered self-awareness that will have genre fans believing Buffy the Vampire Slayer has joined Ghostbusters. ” Kirkus

Copyright
     
    First e-book edition: May 2012
    The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
    Copyright © 2012 by Daniel O’Malley

    The moral right of Daniel O'Malley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
    Cover design by Lindsey Andrews. Cover art credits: octopus © Imagezoo/Getty images; lion © Jim Snyder/iStock Vectors/Getty Images; teapot, rabbit, and crown © Shutterstock images. Cover copyright © 2012 Head of Zeus, Ltd.
    Head of Zeus Ltd.
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