The Apocalypse Codex: Number 4 in The Laundry Files: A Laundry Novel [Paperback]

Bob Howard has got the True Religion: he knows there are horrors from beyond that don't believe in any of our holy books and he needs to stop them. So when a TV evangelist who seems to have genuine holy powers appears, Bob has to find out what is going on

The Apocalypse Codex is the fourth instalment in The Laundry Files series, and you'd be well advised to start by reading The Atrocity Archives (The Laundry Files). Stross lays out the background and gets readers up to speed with his usual dry wit, and a new reader will probably get along ok, but there are frequent references to previous books.

For anyone who hasn't read the previous instalments in this excellent series: there are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know, but the computing revolution has made it all too easy to Find Them Out, with the result that Lovecraftian horrors can be summoned from the vasty depths of the Mandelbrot set with the right iPhone app. The Laundry is the British secret occult service, saving the UK from itself, but being a civil service department its agents need to succeed despite poor intel, outdated equipment, and the need to submit expense claims in triplicate The series has a strong vein of dry humour, usually from the narration of protagonist Bob Howard: civil service IT guy, reluctant spy, and computational demonologist.

Previous books have drawn inspiration from classic spy writers, and so The Apocalypse Codex features Persephone Hazard, a loving tribute to Modesty Blaise, the 1960s answer to James Bond. She is recast here as a freelancing agent (not to mention witch), more or less loyal to The Laundry's aims, called in for some plausible deniability when dealing with a serious problem: Pastor Raymond Schiller, an American religious evangelist, has some unusual powers and appears to have got too close to the Prime Minister. He needs to be checked out. So off she heads to the states, with her utterly loyal sidekick Jonny McTavish, and her new "liaison officer" Bob Howard in tow.

Hazard is an excellent character: tough, ambiguous, slowly revealing her motivations to the reader while delivering some top-notch secret agent action. It's a good job too, because she takes equal billing with Bob in this book, while Jonny gets some good scenes too.

The main event in the series is going to be Case Nightmare Green, an imminent occult apocalypse. The series has been slowly hinting at this, and it is clear that the latter half of the series will see things getting very grim indeed. In some ways, The Apocalypse Codex seems like Stross is getting the series prepped for the big event. The plot is tighter than some of the other Laundry novels, rattling along at a good pace with minimal digressions, but it doesn't move the series along as much as The Fuller Memorandum (The Laundry Files) did. The US setting means more about the enigmatic Black Chamber, and elements from previous novels return in very worrying ways.

The Laundry Files is one of my favourite series at the moment, not least because Stross is an excellent writer. The combination of well-drawn characters and a thumping plotline is compelling. The Apocalypse Codex is required reading if you liked the previous books. If you haven't read the previous books, go get them quick.

The Apocalypse Codex is the fourth in the `Laundry' series, best described as spy novels meet HP Lovecraft, with a hero who works in IT support and demonology (which, as everyone knows, are basically the same thing). The Laundry is the nickname for the ultra-secret part of British intelligence that deals with things beyond the usual universe, and the people who worship or try to use them.

The series started out as spy novel pastiches - The Atrocity Archives was a homage to the Harry Palmer novels of Len Deighton, and The Jennifer Morgue was a full-on James Bond romp, but that element seems to have fallen away a bit in the last two - The Fuller Memorandum was, according to Wikipedia, inspired by the works of Anthony Price, but I've never read any of those so couldn't confirm, and I'm fairly sure The Apocalypse Codex is at least referencing the Modesty Blaise comics and novels (in the central character of freelance witch Persephone Hazard), but the author seems to be getting into elaborating the universe of the Laundry itself, rather than riffing on other works.

Since that universe is shortly facing a full-scale apocalypse in the uncertain shape of the Great Old Ones who are due to return some time Real Soon Now and eat everyone's brains, it's not suprising that the last two entries in the series have been considerably darker in tone than the fun action of The Jennifer Morgue.

The Apocalypse Codex features some Christian (ish) cultists who want to wake an entity from another universe, and it's our hero Bob Howard's job to liaise with the `External Assets' (contractors, the CIA would call them) who are to infiltrate, investigate, and if necessary, terminate them - Persephone Hazard, who was running her own occult intelligence network before working with the Laundy, and her ex-Para (with a touch of the witchfinder) associate Johnny McTavish. Bob has less of the heavy lifting to do this time around, as he has been promoted to management, with the freelancers getting most of the action (and there is plenty of well-drawn action), but he still gets to kick cultist butt when required. The plot bowls along as usual, and the espionage and horrific elements are well balanced.

I'll be a bit disappointed if we never get to read a John le Carré-inspired Laundry book, and the tone of the books is increasingly dark as it heads toward the seemingly inevitable apocalypse, but this is a good addition to a fun series.

If like me you've been enjoying the lighter side of the Urban Fantasy genre, then you've more than likely read the other Laundry books by Charles Stross (The Atrocity Archives, The Jennifer Morgue and The Fuller Memorandum) and been awaiting the next outing for the principle player and hero of the series Bob Howard.

What occurs within the pages is another light hearted romp that has some great characters, a new addition to the Laundry and of course a whole heap of trouble to challenge the newly promoted Bob. As usual with Charles' writing, its crisp has a great sense of humour coming through and when added to razor sharp prose, top notch pace and backed with an author who clearly has affection for his world, makes this a title hard to put down with the humour cheering you up despite whatever type of day you've had. All in a cracking story and one I wished had gone on longer.