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The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross
01/12/2007 . Source: Tomas L. Martin 
pub: Orbit. 418 page paperback. Price: £ 6.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-84149-570-5. Buy The Jennifer Morgue in the USA - or Buy The Jennifer Morgue in the UK  check out website: www.orbitbooks.co.uk and www.antipope.org/charlie/index.html
Charles Stross is a fantastic writer and his work shows a remarkable breadth. Amongst near-future techno-thrillers like the excellent 'Halting State' and sprawling space opera such as 'Iron Sunrise' are his witty and weird Laundry series.
Bob Howard used to be a computer programmer. He stumbled on a piece of code that would invoke a demon that could destroy the world and got caught by the Laundry, a secret branch of the UK government. It turns out magic, demonology and the occult is closely linked to many complicated mathematical formulae and computer code.
Following his arrest, Bob was given a choice: work for the Laundry or disappear. Five years down the line, he's one of their frontline agents. He regularly gets in too deep for his own good amidst evil-doers and monsters, relying on programming skill combined with demonology to emerge safely.
Needless to say, this series has its tongue firmly in cheek and this one takes the level of satire to new levels. Bob is sent to investigate Ellis Billington, a shady billionaire businessman looking to bring an alien artefact up from the seabed.
Bob is partnered with an American agent, Ramona, stunningly beautiful but with a soul-eating demon inside her. Fate magically tied with hers, Bob starts to realise he is trapped in a geas that makes everything seem like a Bond movie, making him behave like the eponymous British spy. Billington has set a charm so that only someone following the Bond hero archetype can beat him.
This leads to a raucous jaunt through much of the stereotypes of the Bond canon. Much of what happens would be ridiculous and fall flat in a serious thriller but Stross' healthy dollop of humour means this is a really enjoyable pastiche.
Following the end of the main story, there's a short story tacked on the end. A lot of Stross' work was originally published shorter and then converted to novel form. This isn't a bad piece but it feels a bit out of place at the end of such a successful longer story. There is also an author essay on Bond which has a great satirical twist in it.
The Laundry series is probably my least favourite of Stross' work but it's still highly readable, exciting and very funny. I'd question the tacking on of material at the end of the book to fill up space but highly recommend reading the main story of 'The Jennifer Morgue' for its witty dissection of the Bond myth.
Tomas L. Martin
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