The Atrocity Archives

A Laundry Files Novel

By: Charles Stross

Narrated by: Gideon Emery

Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Bob Howard is a computer-hacker desk jockey, who has more than enough trouble keeping up with the endless paperwork he has to do on a daily basis. He should never be called on to do anything remotely heroic. But for some reason, he is.

©2004 Charles Stross (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"In Atrocity, Bob, a low-level computer fix-it guy for the Laundry, a supersecret British agency that defends the world from occult happenings, finds himself promoted to fieldwork after he bravely saves the day during a routine demonstration gone awry. With his Palm, aka his Hand of Glory (a severed hand that, when ignited, renders the holder invisible), and his smarts, he saves the world from a powerful external force seeking to enter our universe to suck it dry....With often hilarious results, the author mixes the occult and the mundane, the truly weird and the petty." ( Publishers Weekly)

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.

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.

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

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.

Whimsical geeky fun

Fun read. Math and physics meets the supernatural. Kept my inner geek amused if it was a bit whimsical at times.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A wonderful introduction

If you could sum up The Atrocity Archives in three words, what would they be?

Lovecraftian Science Adventure

What did you like best about this story?

Many things. The writing is superb, very fluid, and fealt natural. The setting appealed to my background in IT, and ultimately I found the main character - pseudonym Bob Howard - to be very relatable. The way the structure of the world is revealed over the course of the book is well done, and sets the stage for what looks to be a really cool series.

What does Gideon Emery bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Being American, and Stross being British, there were a number of minor details like common slang that I likely would not have picked up on were I reading. With Emery's inflection where relevant, I instantly understood exactly what he meant even though I had never heard the phrase before.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I want to listen to the entire series in one sitting!

Any additional comments?

This is like the Dresden Files if Harry were a hacker instead of a wizard and based in London instead of Chicago.