Review: The Jennifer Morgue

Bob Howard is an IT expert and occasional field agent for the Laundry, the branch of Her Majesty's Secret Service that deals with occult threats. Dressed (grudgingly) in a tux and sent to the Caribbean, he must infiltrate a millionaire's yacht in order to prevent him from violating a treaty that will bring down the wrath of an ancient underwater race upon humanity's head.

I met Stross in a crypt in London several years ago. He was unknown to me as an author, so I brashly asked him what he'd written. He politely told me "quite a lot" and he suggested I start with Halting State. I've been a fan ever since.

I enjoyed the first book in this series - but I found this one a bit hard going.

The outdated tech is fun - in a retrotastic sort of way. The fact that it is suffused with an outdated male gaze is less so. It's a self-admitted James Bond knock-off, but it is basically a rehash of the first book.

I mostly love Stross's writing - Rule 34 can't be beat - but this was a rare exception.