The Rook: A Novel [Hardcover]

Daniel O'Malley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 2012

"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 bodies all wearing latex gloves. With no recollection of who she is, Myfanwy must follow the instructions her former self left behind to discover her identity and track down the agents who want to destroy her.

She soon learns that she is a Rook, a high-ranking member of a secret organization called the Chequy that battles the many supernatural forces at work in Britain. She also discovers that she possesses a rare, potentially deadly supernatural ability of her own.

In her quest to uncover which member of the Chequy betrayed her and why, Myfanwy encounters 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 ever could have imagined.

Filled with characters both fascinating and fantastical, THE ROOK is a richly inventive, suspenseful, and often wry thriller that marks an ambitious debut from a promising young writer.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"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 Lev Grossman )

"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 David Keymer )

"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 David Pitt )

"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 )

About the Author

Dan O'Malley graduated from Michigan State University and earned a Master's Degree in medieval history from Ohio State University. He then returned to his childhoom home, Australia. He now works for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, writing press releases for government investigations of plane crashes and runaway boats.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (January 11, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316098795
• ISBN-13: 978-0316098793
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.8 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,326 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Little x-men, dash of buffy, and a whole lotta awesome, January 8, 2012

By 

texasflower (texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rook: A Novel (Hardcover)

I picked this book up on a whim while at the bookstore. Just seemed really interesting. Once I started reading I didn't want to put it down. There is just enough humor to keep it from feeling overly stuffy and just enough intrigue to keep it from being overly fluffy. The idea of a secret spy agency that is designed to monitor the world's supernatural goings-on is not a new one, but the author takes it and makes it his own. There are definite parts of the book/plot that remind me of xmen, buffy the vampire slayer, xfiles, harry potter - but at the same time not in a bad way. The book melds all those together very well. It's a good read from start to finish. I look forward to reading more from this author!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wry humor, unusual supernatural beings, and a deeply absorbing mystery!, January 12, 2012

By 

The Qwillery (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rook: A Novel (Hardcover)

When I think of The Rook the first word that comes to mind is 'fun.' Great fun actually. But to simply say that The Rook is 'fun' would be facile on my part. The Rook is a terrific read for a lot of reasons.

Foremost The Rook is very well written. The mystery of why Myfanwy Thomas is without her memory and who did what to whom is hard to crack. As soon as I'd thought I'd figured it out, the story proved me wrong. Not because of authorial plot shenanigans, but because the unraveling of the mystery was very well handled. I really enjoyed how this is done with new Myfanwy being aided by information left behind by old Myfanwy. Myfanwy is a wonderful character. She's trying to figure out how to do her job as Rook and racing against time to find who in the Chequy harmed her and why. The Rook is not a short read (nearly 500 pages), but I barely noticed the length.

The Chequy is itself amazing. It's a fantastical governmental agency. Think FBI/CIA rolled into one that handles supernatural threats. Yes, other supernatural agencies exist in literature, but none quite like the Chequy. How the Chequy functions is explained well, but never bogs down the story. I really enjoyed seeing how the Chequy works, how threats are handled, and meeting the people with whom Myfanwy works, despite that fact that one of them wants her erased. Mr. O'Malley's scrupulous attention to detail creates a believable, if somewhat unusual, governmental agency.

The upper echelon of the Chequy are fascinating characters themselves. Because Myfanwy is trying to figure out which of them might be after her, we get to know each of them well. I certainly enjoyed learning about them and their powers... and trying to figure out who did it and why.

Mr. O'Malley has infused The Rook with wry humor, unusual supernatural beings, and a deeply absorbing mystery. The Rook made me laugh out loud, entertained me, and kept me fascinated from start to finish.

I give The Rook 5 Qwills.

Posted at The Qwillery.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My first fave of 2012!, January 12, 2012

By 

misplaced cajun "moecatj" (Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rook: A Novel (Hardcover)

Myfanwy Thomas opens her eyes to see a ring of bodies surrounding her and finds a letter in her pocket explaining what must be done next. She has no memory of who she is, what she does, or how she ended up in this place. The letter leads her to a safe place where she is given a choice, adopt the life she seems to have taken over, or run. Though her choice might be clear, extenuating circumstances force her to become Rook Thomas. As she reads the old Thomas's notes, explaining the organization she works for (The Checquy), what a Rook does, and all manner of strange things, the new Myfanwy takes to her life and position in a way that the old Thomas never seemed comfortable with.

This is another one of those amazingly fun books that's hard to pin down but is an absolute must read. The narrative is funny, at times laugh out loud so, and the story is quirky. The structure is interesting as well. The character has no knowledge of these things, and so the story unfolds as two tales, that of the new Myfanwy and that of the old. The new Myfanwy is our narrator and the old tells her tale through letters and notes written for her "replacement."