This is a book review of the The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross.
It has been many years since I read one of his books. I do remember enjoying the books, but also the books pushing the boundaries at times of what I’m normally comfortable reading, with regard to violence and gore. So it was with trepidation I picked up this book, about demons, spies and geekery.
The book is a kind of warped James Bond spy thriller, and primarily follows the action of a demonology hacker called Bob. It sees Bob team up with another spy from another agency, and they try to thwart a billionaire’s scheme.
Bob Howard works for the Laundry, a British agency that handles the occult, often with a heavily dollop of technology aiding their actions. The Laundry itself, reminds me very much of some past British organisations I’ve worked for or with, with their bureaucracy issues and office furniture that has seen better days. Though most of the action is abroad, sun, sand, dead hence men and being binded to a drop dead gorgeous, but lethal female spy.
This book is a bit strange and yes, crazy at times. Though I suspect I find it more so than perhaps others, because it isn’t my usual fare. I normally don’t bother with demons and suchlike. Plus my reading of this book wasn’t helped by a trip, that whilst I took the book in tow, I devoted little time to reading the story for a number of days. This wasn’t because the book wasn’t interesting (it is), but did dent the flow of reading this book.
What kept me reading was how the author had brought various plot lines together. I wanted to know what occurred, how situations would be handled and the outcome of the secret agent aspect of the book, which was a quirky and interesting aspect.
Is this the best book I read this year? No, definitely not. However Charles Stross is a good author, and this book stands out, treads its own path, and it was good for me to deviate from my usual tastes.
This book is actually the sequel to the The Atrocity Archives, which I had borrowed a number of years ago from the library. So whilst I was familiar with the character and his agency, it wasn’t fresh in my mind. I’m sure you could easily read this book, without reading the previous book in the series.
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