| AMORALITY TALE by David Bishop |
| Story ? Synopsis: Sarah Jane is investigating a story about a fatal smog that killed thousands over a few days in December 1952. She finds a photo of local gangster Tommy Ramsey shaking hands with the Doctor. Curious, she puts it to him, and he says they should go and find out. Arriving two weeks beforehand, they establish new roles. She is a barmaid, he a watchmender. His shop, Fixing Time, is close to St Luke's Church. Anyway, Sarah gets close to Tommy, but he is more concerned about a new gang war. A young nerk called Callum has incited some kids into a gang, and challenge Tommy to a High Noon showdown. Tommy arrives, and cuts Callum's arm off. Then Callum changes into an alien energy being, a Xhinn. He causes terror, and the disharmonious gangs flee. The Doctor, a witness to the scene, is dismayed - the Xhinn are ruthless exploiters of planets. They unleash a nerve gas, which is the killer smog. As it intensifies, it kills more. But Father Xavier Simmons of St Luke's Church is a pawn in their game. He has started a factory producing cheap bread to help poor families in the East End. The bread turns its consumers into drones, subject to the strong will of the Xhinn. The police come under this influence, and begin rounding up many of the East Enders, and take them to the Xhinn's ship, underground, where they are killed, for their resources. Anyway, the Doctor constructs a Time Bomb, as an Ultimate Weapon to defeat the Xhinn. As he goes to St Luke's for the big confrontation, he finds Sarah a captive. With help from Tommy, Sarah is rescued, and the Doctor gets free before the Bomb detonates. The Xhinn are destroyed, but the Doctor feels letdown. The fateful picture of Tommy and the Doctor is taken. |
| Review:- There's nothing like a comeback. This month, David Bishop returns to monthly DW fiction for the first time in 6 years, since Who Killed Kennedy. Perhaps I should have read this in April, after Trading Futures, but before The Book Of The Still. Both April books are Earthbound, compared to the space operas of May. Still, what's done is done. This book seemed a pleasant change after The Book Of The Still, and I certainly got it read quicker. Maybe that was to do with the larger font. Considering the story breaks up only at the end of each day, this could have been confusing, but the time narrative flows delightfully. I have to say that I have read mostly negative reviews of this, so you can probably guess what's coming. Almost all the characters are tolerable, and come alive from the printed page. The plot twists are neat, and cognisable. Maybe it's a bit thin, but I think the slow pace works to its credit. The gang war subplot ties up the first hundred pages, then we've got the Xhinn, then the gas attack, then the attempts to fight back. There is a strong kind of morality throughout, which may be the point. The Doctor's watchmending business serves only a small relevance, but is a nice touch all the same. Sarah's involvement with Mary and her children gives a bit of feminine colour to contrast all the overwhelming machismo so prevalent in the rest of the book. Mrs Ramsey is a typical senile old bat of a character, loves her son, stupidly narrow-minded, loves the Bible. Sadly, whilst some will complain that she is a stereotype (as is Tommy and so many others), the fact is that stereotypes are generated by real life. However PC you think the world should be, there still are people like the Ramseys, and yes, I do think their attitudes are outdated. Moving on... possibly the dumbest note for me is the red herring that the Xhinn may return in 50 years time, i.e. 2002. Which is a bit galling. The offhand fact of this book getting published in the anniversary year of the event it's referencing is one thing, but claiming that there's a potential sequel is going a bit far. Yes, exactly the same stunt is pulled in The Masque Of Mandragora, but at least that gave a bit of latitude, which DWM dealt with, very well too, I might add. But here... no. All in all, a jolly readable book, and a pleasure to complete. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy of this book. |