Charles Stross cracks me up—sometimes, anyway—and definitely does so here, with The Jennifer Morgue, a sequel to his earlier The Atrocity Archive. The earlier book concerns hacker, sysadmin, and mathematician Bob Howard, an occult operative for the Laundry, a British black ops bureau which prevents well-meaning computer scientists from opening gates to other dimensions and thereby allowing the Great Old Ones to return to our time and place and devour our brains while re-establishing their rule over the planet they once knew. It’s a delightful mixture of computer science geekery, intenet humor, and Lovecraftian horror which I found hysterical and chilling by turns.

Howard returns in The Jennifer Morgue, which adds Ian Fleming’s spy novels to the mixture in ways that I am not even prepared to describe. The horror is toned down—this is more of a thriller than a horror story—but the book might be even funnier than its predecessor. I laughed out loud regularly, and read snippets to whoever was nearby. Here’s a sample:

“In case you were worried about BLUE HADES, Professor O’Brien speaks the language and is qualified to liaise. She’s also completed her certification in combat epistemology and can operate as your staff philosopher should circumstances require it.”

Wouldn’t that be a great name for a blog? Combat Epistemology. I like it.

There’s some strong language, and a certain amount of sex (Stross is riffing on James Bond, after all), and the humor is directed at a particular group; but if the above sounds at all like fun, be sure to grab a copy. And get The Atrocity Archive as well.