“Bob and Mo become tangled up
in a plot by some cultists to steal Teapot, also known as the Eater of Souls.
The cultists are being manipulated by a bigger, badder, blacker order that wants
to bring on CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN (also known as the end of the world) sooner
rather than later. If that’s not bad enough, Bob’s boss, Angleton, goes
missing, and Bob is suspended from work with pay pending an investigation into
a civilian fatality he accidentally caused.”
With what seems like a Robert
Ludlum inspired (?) title, The Fuller
Memorandum is probably the most accessible of the first three Laundry Files novels - but they’re is
still a bunch of somewhat unfriendly tech-speak throughout the book that will
go over the heads of us non-computer programming nerds. Like me.
But I would also say this is
probably the darkest one so far, as it furthers the arc of Gods, demons,
zombies, and other Lovecraftian nightmares that are trying break through the fabric
of our reality to destroy the world. The snark remains, however, and there a
number of funny bits, like the introduction of the Jesus Phone and The Cult of
Steve, along with another jab at British bureaucracy with the spoofiest of
James Bond spoofs. But Bob is not your typical suave secret agent; he is a
civil servant.
But then are parts –as seen in
the previous two books- where Bob goes on for paragraphs at a time about
Chthonic beings and Lovecraftian monsters and computational demonology. It’s
fun, even cute, but it drags. Stross has created a very clever character, one
seemly smarter than everyone else, but it slows the narrative down. But a lot
of modern day writers do this, and I’ve always wondered why editors don’t –carefully,
I guess- as them to get to the point sooner.
We finally get a bit more background on some characters, most notably Angleton. Last time we learned that Angleton has been with the Laundry since practically its inception—yet hasn’t seemed to age. I like that Stross continues to spin out bits and pieces of Laundry mythology. While each novel is a self-contained, madcap thriller with supernatural elements, the series mythology continues to grow and appearing to head towards some kind of apocalyptic climax.
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