-
The Atrocity Archives
- A Laundry Files Novel
- Narrated by: Gideon Emery
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
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- Unabridged
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If you've never read a Repairman Jack novel, this is the place to begin. It's 1990. A twenty-one-year-old named Jack has dropped out of college, leaving his old life behind to build a new one in New York City. Manhattan's rough edges are jagged enough to shred any unwary newcomer, but perhaps not one who is determined to stay off the grid, at any cost, in the busiest metropolis on earth. And to do so, he'll have to take jobs of a less than legal nature.
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Fun, as long you don't think too much
- By Andrew Pollack on 01-17-14
By: F. Paul Wilson
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Darknet
- By: Matthew Mather
- Narrated by: Tom Taylorson
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
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One minute Jake O'Connell is on top of the world, with a beautiful family and bright future as a stock broker in New York; the next it's all ripped away when he's embroiled in a fraud investigation, his childhood friend is murdered, and he finds himself on the run. Dodging the FBI and targeted by the Mob, Jake is thrown into a Wall Street underworld of crypto currencies and autonomous corporations, where he discovers a dark secret setting the world on a path to destruction.
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Good Outline, bad book
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 08-25-16
By: Matthew Mather
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The Mermaids Singing
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Graham Roberts
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
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The bodies of four men have been discovered in the town of Bradfield. Enlisted to investigate is criminal psychologist Tony Hill. Even for a seasoned professional, the series of mutilation sex murders is unlike anything he's encountered before. But profiling the psychopath is not beyond him. Hill's own past has made him the perfect man to comprehend the killer's motives. It's also made him the perfect victim. A game has begun for the hunter and the hunted.
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The First of a Superior Series
- By Nancy J on 04-08-13
By: Val McDermid
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Market Forces
- By: Richard K. Morgan
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 15 hrs and 42 mins
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What do you buy and sell when the global markets reach saturation point? The markets themselves. Thirty years from now the big players in global capitalism have moved on from commodities. The big money is in conflict investment. The corporations keep a careful watch on the wars of liberation and revolution that burn constantly around the world. They guage who the winners will be and sell them arms, intelligence, and power. In return for a slice of the action when the war is won.
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Good easy listen
- By GGodman on 06-07-05
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Dark and Stormy Knights
- By: Ilona Andrews, Jim Butcher, Shannon K Butcher, and others
- Narrated by: Renee Raudman, Joe Barrett, Marc Vietor, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
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It was a dark and stormy knight, and nine dark defenders embarked upon a most perilous quest. They're the ultimate defenders of humanity, modern day knights who do dark deeds for all the right reasons. In this all-star collection, nine of today's hottest paranormal authors bring us thrilling, all-new stories of supernatural knights that are brimming with magic mystery and mayhem.
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Bought this for Dresden, loved the rest!
- By Moon River on 06-27-12
By: Ilona Andrews, and others
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Two Weeks' Notice
- A Revivalist Novel, Book 2
- By: Rachel Caine
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
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After dying and being revived with the experimental drug Returne, Bryn Davis is theoretically free to live her unlife - with regular doses to keep her going. But Bryn knows that the government has every intention of keeping a tight lid on Pharmadene's life-altering discovery, no matter the cost. Thankfully, some things have changed for the better; her job at the rechristened Davis Funeral Home is keeping her busy and her fragile romance with Patrick McCallister is blossoming.
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Bourne + iZombie + Terminator = Empire cliffhanger
- By 🔥 Phx17 🔥 on 11-05-23
By: Rachel Caine
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Children of the Deterrent
- Halfhero, Book 1
- By: Ian W. Sainsbury
- Narrated by: Sam Phillips, Jaimi Barbakoff
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
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The new novel by the author of the best-selling The World Walker series. 'My name is Daniel Harbin, and I'm a child of The Deterrent.' What if a superhuman turned out not to be so super...or even human? Britain's superhero, The Deterrent, was unveiled to the world in 1979 and disappeared two years later. The truth about his origins has never been revealed. The rumours about his children - those that survived - and their mysterious abilities have never been confirmed. Until now....
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Everything Backstory Until Last Few Chapters
- By Sailfish on 06-30-20
By: Ian W. Sainsbury
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Doughnut
- By: Tom Holt
- Narrated by: Ray Sawyer
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
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Things have been going pretty badly for Theo Bernstein. An unfortunate accident at work has lost him his job (and his work involved a Very Very Large Hadron Collider, so he's unlikely to get it back). His wife has left him. And he doesn't have any money. Before Theo has time to fully appreciate the pointlessness of his own miserable existence, news arrives that his good friend, a renowned physicist and Nobel laureate, has died. By leaving the apparently worthless contents of his safety deposit box to Theo, however, the professor has set him on a quest of epic proportions.
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A fun world for scifantasy fans
- By illgnosis on 06-19-13
By: Tom Holt
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Ishmael Jones is someone who can’t afford to be noticed, someone who lives under the radar, who drives on the dark side of the road. He’s employed to search out secrets, investigate mysteries, and shine a light in dark places. Sometimes, he kills people. Invited by his employer, the enigmatic Colonel, to join him and his family for Christmas, Ishmael arrives at the grand but isolated Belcourt Manor in the midst of a blizzard to find that the Colonel has mysteriously disappeared.
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Starship engineer Anailu Xindar dreamed of owning her own ship, but she didn't find the courage to actually go for it until she was forced out of her safe, comfortable job. She goes shopping for a cheap, practical freighter, but she ends up buying a rare, beautiful, but crippled luxury ship. Getting it into space will take more than her technical skills. She'll have to go way outside her comfort zone to brave the dangers of safaris, formal dinners, a rude professor, and, worst of all, a fashion designer. She may even have to make some friends...and enemies.
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There couldn't be a fire along the Jorgmund Pipe. It was the last thing the world needed. The Pipe was what kept the Livable Zone safe from the bandits, monsters, and nightmares the Go-Away War had left in its wake. Enter Gonzo Lubitsch and the Haulage & HazMat Emergency Civil Freebooting Company, a team of troubleshooters who roll into action when things get hot.
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What listeners say about The Atrocity Archives
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Nick
- 07-13-11
Fantastic! Nerd humor + Lovecraft! :)
You had me at "Knuth, Dykstra, Al-Hazred"! :) Chock full of great "inside" jokes for nerds, but great story! Reminds me a lot of Thursday Next books (in a good way)!
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- Rita Briar
- 10-27-17
Good Book, Great Voice
I would listen to Gideon Emery read a phone book, but The Atrocity Archives was suspenseful and entertaining. Charles Stross has created interesting worlds and characters. I look forward to the next in this series.
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- David
- 03-05-15
Chuck vs. Cthulhu
Bob is a hacker who accidentally came to the attention of a super-super-no-for-real-secret British agency known as the Laundry, and was recruited into an intelligence agency that literally makes you sign your oath of secrecy in blood. The Laundry is dedicated to saving the world one day at a time from eldritch horrors who threaten to blot out the sun, and also to maintaining Total Quality Management and keeping Parliament from cutting back on their office supply budget. In other words, it's meant to be wacky Call of Cthulhu adventures as undertaken by Chuck. No sooner does he get back from a mission to Pluto to stop undead Nazis from summoning a Great Old One than Bob has to explain to his bureaucratic tyrant of supervisor why he didn't file a request for comp time when he didn't show up the next day during core office hours.
I liked this book better than Stross's space operas, though it did not have quite the genius of Accelerando. But it's a sort of weak Stephenson, the satire more reminiscent of Dilbert and User Friendly comic strips than the biting inventiveness that marks really good satire. I found it funny because I got a lot of the jokes which many readers will not, as they lean heavily into fairly esoteric computer science references, plus being an (ahem) civil servant myself, I know a bit about the spook shops that Stross is satirizing.
I don't think you need to be a CS geek or a federal employee to enjoy The Atrocity Archives. You do need to have some appreciation for British humor and Lovecraft, though. I enjoyed Stross's sharp skewering of government work (and yeah, I can totally believe that even a super-secret super-elite agency that literally saves the world on a routine basis still would not be exempted from bureaucratic and regulatory idiocy), but Bob himself was the sort of gormless Everyman character so popular in British urban fantasy (think Neil Gaiman) and on TV, who manages to execute very clever tricks to save the day and somehow manages to wind up with girls several orders of magnitude out of his league, and seems to be a wish fulfillment character for his nerd audience.
Fun, light, somewhat clever, would read more Laundry novels, but it's the kind of clever that can get old quickly if the author gives in to the tendency to let cleverness substitute for plotting and character development.
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- Anonymous
- 12-04-18
Not For The Average Reader
I'll start by saying it was a very intriguing storyline with excellent performance by Gideon. But you won't have to listen long to realize that only theorem junkies, tech engineers, and the like will find the execution spot on. The author streams through lingo that we average specimen would find difficult to pronounce, much less define. It leaves the tale confusing and open-ended more times than not. I progressed to Chapter 5 and had to give it up out of frustration. Although I followed for the most part, it was more work than enjoyment to finish even that much.
Summary: Not for the Casual Reader unless you have a Doctorate in Theoretical Mathematics and Sciences
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- Dr.J.A.P.
- 10-24-19
Funny lovecraft influenced scifi
Got this because it was the book of, choice for this monthly sci fi book club I was going to attend. Quite funny story... it's a toss up of what's more terrifying, lovecraft influenced monsters from parallel universes that want to invade our reality and kill us, or the mundane bureaucracy of office life. Reader did a real good job creating distinct voices, accents and personalities for all the different characters.
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- Michael
- 01-11-21
Whimsical geeky fun
Fun read. Math and physics meets the supernatural. Kept my inner geek amused if it was a bit whimsical at times.
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- Ron
- 05-03-22
My new favorite book
ok so I didn't expect anything. my friend recommended this book because I requested magic themed stories. was not disappointed.
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- Bob Lovely
- 09-25-19
A clever look at Cthulhu Mythos investigation.
If you play Call of Cthulhu Trail of Cthulhu, or any other sort of investigative horror role playing games, this will make all the sense in the world to you. Clever, comedic, and filled with hilarious pop culture references.
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- JeffChris65
- 03-09-15
Too much vulgarity
The book was interesting, fun and clever. The vulgarity detracted from the story and the humor. I'll avoid this author in the future.
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- binxwalker
- 10-17-14
I really want to like this series...
Any additional comments?
but I just barely made it through the first book because the plot structure is disorganized and a bit hard to swallow at times. I feel like the writer can't decide whether to write this as an all out spoof of magical horror stories, or try to just barely keep it serious. I like the narrator a lot and the characters are fun, but it just never makes the jump to really keeping my interest for more than 30 minutes. I am still going to purchase the next book in the series, because it has a ton of promise and it is just so close to being really good that I have to give it another shot.
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