The Laundry Files

I can honestly say that the Laundry Files series by Charles Stross is some of the best stuff I've read in years.

So far the series consist of; The Atrocity Archives (2004), The Jennifer Morgue (2006), The Fuller Memorandum (2010) and finally The Apocalypse Codex (2012).

These books take a new fresh look at the Cthulhu Mythos originally created by H.P. Lovecraft and his friends like Robert E. Howard and August Derleth.

The main character of the books is Bob Howard a, as he puts it, computational demonologist working for The Laundry, a super secret branch of the British Secret Service. The Laundry deals with the ancient occult horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos (Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, Shoggoths ect.) who are trying to invade and consume mankind.

The Laundry Files combines the bureaucratic humor exemplified by Yes Minister, with the British spy/intelligence stylings of James Bond and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. They are funny, exciting and incredibly well written. The blend of classic style magic like hands of glory and pentagrams, mixed with computational magic done with palmtops and smart phones, is both imaginative, fresh and well thought through.

These days you can easily fill your shelves with books written by authors who are either inspired by or just flat out copying Lovecraft directly. Most of these books are a bit mediocre at best, but not the Laundry Files! Charles Stross has created a setting both unique and highly entertaining. I found these books almost impossible to put down, and there were many a night I when went with way too little sleep. All worth it though.

Personally I wouldn't call this horror as such, but neither could I call it satire or comedy. It is it's own thing, and it stands proudly on it's own.

The only negative thing I can say is you really should be familiar with Lovecrafts original works to get all of the references, but if you're looking to read these books, you probably are.

As I write this, I have just started reading The Apocalypse Codex, and I don't know if there are more books in the pipeline, but I do hope so!