The Rook
core novel 2012 The Checquy Files
Record
| First published | 2012 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.09 (64,824 ratings, collected 2026-08-19) |
| Page count | 504 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780316193276 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
The Rook, published in 2012, opens with a young woman waking alone in a London park at night, surrounded by dead bodies wearing latex gloves, with no memory of who she is. The only clue to her identity is a letter in her pocket, written by the person she used to be, revealing that she is Myfanwy Thomas, a high-ranking administrator, or Rook, within the Checquy Group, a secret British organization that defends the country from supernatural threats using operatives with unusual abilities of their own. Guided by a binder her former self left behind describing the organization and its dangers, she assumes Thomas's identity and duties while trying to work out, in secret, who tried to erase her memory and why, without revealing to her colleagues that she is not who she seems.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Checquy Files
- Series: The Checquy Files core; position 1 of 4 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Daniel O'Malley
Notes
- From the series record (The Checquy Files): A paranormal secret-agency series (a British government body that polices supernatural threats), in the same urban/secret-history fantasy mode this canon already admits for Rivers of London and Ninth House. Four books published 2012-2025; no announced conclusion, treated as in_progress.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series The Checquy Files: position 1 of 4: next Stiletto (2016)
Sources
- Rating-platform listing: The Checquy Files series
- Wikipedia: Stiletto (novel)
- Review: Royal Gambit (The Cosmic Circus)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_O%27Malley
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rook_(novel)
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