Kraken by China Miéville

Kraken

China Miéville is such a different author he has been given his own genre called New Weird. This book is a combination of fantasy, horror, police mystery, religion, and even humor. 

Kraken opens in the natural history museum in London where the curator is giving a tour of the collection of preserved specimens to a group including a class of students. After proudly showing them the collection preserved by Darwin himself, he proceeds to take them to see the real star of the collection, a giant squid, only to discover that the animal and the tank it was in had vanished. 

The book proceeds to follow Billy as he joins with Dane (the museum guard he had seen killed) and members of the FSRC (Fundamentalist and Sect-Related Crime Unit) to chase down members of the squid-worshiping sect and find out how it had been removed from the museum. The reader is treated to amazing new characters and creatures as they chase around London.

I highly recommend this book to readers who appreciate a real challenge.