Charles Stross returns to the world of British occult espionage in The Jennifer Morgue, a sequel to his eccentric, high-density work in The Atrocity Archives (reviewed here). Staying true to form, Stross once again constructs an elaborate parody of genre fiction by simultaneously using and mocking the traditional narrative formula.The Jennifer Morgue is, like its predecessor, actually a longer story (of the same title), a shorter story ("Pimpf"), and an essay lumped together into one book. The main narrative makes up the lion's share of the book and is very explicitly a send-up of the classic James Bond stereotypes. Pimpf is weak and forgettable, while the closing essay is quite excellent. For the purposes of this review, I'll assume the story-and-essay caboose cancel one another out and focus on the main storyline.Stross has written a much more accessible story with The Jennifer Morgue than he did with The Atrocity Archives. Despite being a sequel, the story is able to stand alone. It spends less time dwelling on the "how" of things and focuses on the action. Plus, it's familiar action. While the spy fiction of Len Deighton (the spy fiction inspiration for The Atrocity Archives) may be a bit obscure to some readers, everyone knows Bond. And as Bond goes, The Jennifer Morgue is really quite as good. In many ways, Stross has woven a more plausible story than many Bond has stumbled through, which is saying a lot given that Stross is weaving Lovecraftian cosmic horror along side the traditional fast cars and seductive assassins.The core problem with The Jennifer Morgue, then, is that it pegs itself too closely to Bond. At the risk of sounding like a snob, Ian Flemming was no Shakespeare, and the Bond formula is both tired and absurd. Without the big-screen action to carry the improbable plot twists, cheezy dialog, and Deus Ex Machinae, Bond falls flat. Credit goes to the author for having found a very clever way of justifying the absurdity of Bond within the framework of the story (a plot device that, for the sake of future readers, I won't spoil), but in the end it's still a Bond plot, and as a result the story seems at times to ride on predictable rails toward its conclusion.To die-hard Bond fans who also enjoy the works of H.P. Lovecraft, it's hard not to recommend The Jennifer Morgue. But to seasoned readers who make effort to avoid the less intelligent pulp, I fear Stross may have chosen to lampoon the material sufficiently closely that the resulting book isn't quite as good as it could have been. It's still plenty enjoyable, but it isn't quite as brilliant as his earlier use of these characters.
Bond. James ... or maybe it's Bob. In the grand tradition of science fiction satire (new genre?), here he is ... password '007'. Well, ok, maybe there's no such genre, and if there were, there are limited entries. But however others may want to classify this book (Locus nominated it for best fantasy), it's still a hoot! Just hilarious. Stross sends up every fixture of Bond-dom: drop-dead gorgeous femme fatale, exotic locale, and rich but crazy megalomaniac. You can almost hear the Bond theme playing in the background. It's Dr. No (Ursula Andres, Crab Key/Cape Canaveral, Dr. Julian No/SPECTRE), Octopussy (Maud Adams, India/East Germany, Octupus) and Casino Royale (Eva Green, Montenegro, Le Chiffre) all rolled into one. The Jennifer Morgue (Ramona Random, Caribbean, Ellis Billington), in the attempt to be more than just another spy spoof, weaves in more of the 'scientified' occultism of the Laundry series, where Stross offers the SF artifice of using mathematics as the basis for undead phenomena. This, for me, is where the novel starts to unwind. On a personal note, though the author, perhaps patterning after his own beliefs, defines the main character, Bob Howard, as an atheist, the story does touch on several religious themes such as hell, demons and demonic possession, and the marriage bond (not necessarily in combination). Having dropped all these potential spoilers, I will stop, and move on to the companion short story, pimpf... ... which on further thought I would not like to review. Likewise the essay on Ian Fleming and James Bond. Both of these add-ons left me cold, an enthusiasm damper for sure.
What do You think about The Jennifer Morgue (2006)?
The Jennifer Morgue, the second novel in Charles Stross’ LAUNDRY FILES, is a science fiction spy thriller that’s an obvious homage to Ian Fleming and H.P. Lovecraft. Bob has been sent to the Caribbean to try to find out why Ellis Billington, an evil megalomaniac billionaire, is interested in The Jennifer Morgue, a place deep in the ocean which may be an access point into our universe by tentacled eldritch horrors. For this assignment, Bob is paired up with someone from the American agency that deals with this kind of supernatural stuff — a gorgeous woman possessed by a succubus.As usual, Bob has been insufficiently briefed about his mission, so he’s bewildered most of the time. What is he doing wearing a tuxedo to a casino and ordering vodka martinis (shaken, not stirred... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
—Kat Hooper
Bob Howard is a spy, but not your normal run of the mill spy, and certainly not the type that wears a cummerbund and bow tie. He's a computational demonologist and his purview is more mountain dew then shaken martini. Bob works for the Laundry (formally known as the Chinese Laundry due to their location during the start up years during world war II), a super secret spy division that prevents, or manages, those magical incursions that we don't believe that happen. As Bob says "Magic is applied mathematics. The many angled ones live at the bottom of the Mandelbrot set. Demonolgy is right after debugging in the dictionary" Bob has proven his worth to the boss, Angleton, and is slowly moving up the Civil Service chain, living with his girlfriend Mo (who also works for the Laundry, that story is told in the Atrocity Archives). Unexpectedly Bob is sent to a conference of other civil servants of the same "persuasion" and after a power point presentation gone very very bad ("Powerpoint is symptomatic of a certain type of bureaucratic environment, one typified by interminable presentations with lots of fussy little bullet-points and flashy dissoves ... It's the tool of chance for pointy-headed idiots with expensive suits and skinny laptops who desperately want to look as if they're in command of the job with all the facts at their fiddling fingertips, even if Rome is burning in the background.")things get interesting. With a Smart Car that Q would have loved to have specced out and a super bad guy all you are missing is the Spy Hero and the Girl...or maybe not.
—Hali Sowle
I think Stross' Laundry Files books fit a particular niche crowd. They definitely aren't for everyone, and perhaps that is why this doesn't receive a four star rating (even though I'm likely to read more of his work). The humor in the books is subtle, and much is really aimed at those who might have a better than average understanding of tech (having done some sys ad work I'm sort of qualified there). For the averegae reader the tech references and humor could be a big miss, one that would detract from their reading of the tale.The Laundry is the division of of the British government that eals with the fact taht so-called magic is really higher mathematics. These civil servants work at keeping Lovecraft's old ones from coming, and other multi-dimensional "supernatural" events from harming the general populace.So why is Bob Howard now acting like James Bond while on assignment with a demon infested CIA trained assassin? That's where Stross mixes sorcery with science. Stross does a better job at giving Bob some character this time around, as Bob becomes much more relateable for the average reader.
—Alan
