Bob Howard is working on a desk job for the "Laundry", but he's bucking for field service. We meet him on his first trial, breaking into an industrial building to destroy the traces of a dangerous discovery a young mathematician has made. It turns out that certain kinds of math knowledge lead to the ability to summon demons from other universes -- the sort of thing once done with chalked pentagrams, but much more efficiently achieved with lasers instead of chalk, and with computers to keep track of the summoning rituals. It's the job of the Laundry to keep such knowledge under wraps.

But aside from the dangerous job, the Laundry is just another Dilbertian government job environment. So the first few chapters show Bob dealing with bureaucratic hassles: stupid bosses demanding silly paperwork, dumb training classes, computer problems, etc. It's all very funny stuff. He's also dealing with his crazy sometime girlfriend, and his weird roommates. Then he gets sent to California to try to pry a beautiful redheaded Irish scientist from the clutches of the US -- it seems she might be studying some dangerous stuff. But his mission turns bad when she is kidnapped by some Islamists who may have bitten off more than they can chew. Before long, Bob is posted to a more curious part of the Laundry, with a boss straight out of classic spy fiction, and it looks like they might be dealing with a secret Nazi project -- or something even scarier...

The Atrocity Archives is a very breezy, fun, and imaginative novel. Structurally there are a couple of problems -- basically, the opening, though always entertaining, drags on too long. The novel proper doesn't start until about a third of the way through. But that's a minor issue -- overall, this is great fun.

The added novella is called "The Concrete Jungle". It is a separate work, not an expansion of the novel. It still features Bob Howard, this time investigating the sudden appearance of a bunch of concrete cows in Milton Keynes. The cows may once have been real -- thus a case of "gorgonism" is suspected. Worse, there is a possibility that someone has figured out a way to automate the basilisk effect that turns flesh to stone. Howard and a new, unwilling helper brave great danger in tracking down the eventual villains. There is more bureaucratic satire here as well, and it's snappily written and clever throughout. Still, though I enjoyed it the story doesn't have quite the impact of the novel -- perhaps a matter of length, or simply that the novel was first to present the ideas. There is also an introduction by Ken MacLeod and a smart afterword by Stross that compares the spy thriller and horror genres. The Atrocity Archives as a whole is definitely to be recommended.