The Laundry Files is a series of novels by Charles Stross. They mix the genres of Lovecraftian horror, spy thriller, science fiction, and workplace humor. Their main character for the first five novels is "Bob Howard" (a pseudonym taken for security purposes), a one-time I.T. consultant turned field agent. Howard is recruited to work for the British government agency "the Laundry", which deals with occult threats. In this world, computers and mathematical equations are just as useful, and perhaps more potent, than classic spellbooks, pentagrams, and sigils for influencing unseen ancient powers...