| THE ENGLISH WAY OF DEATH by Gareth Roberts |
| Story ? Synopsis: The Doctor decides to bypass the Randomiser, to take back some library books to Earth, 1930. Romana is not impressed, and becomes alarmed when the console registers time pollution. He lets her track it down, whilst he goes to a cafe. Whilst there, he experiences an earth tremor, and witnesses a geologist being kidnapped. He loses track of the kidnapper, but meets K-9, who leads him to Romana, who has met Colonel Radlett, who is on his way to meet the widow Felicia Chater, whose next-door neighbour, Percival Closed, is leading a meeting of the Circle, a group of time fugitives who have come to live on Earth. But the Doctor is attacked by a cloud of radmium, a foul-smelling green gas. He manages to escape, and admonishes Closed for abusing his time corridor. He sends Romana with K-9 to visit Nutchurch, where the time corridor is located. Radlett offers to give them a lift. They are pursued by an agent of Zodaal, the presence of radmium. They reach the time corridor eventually, but to escape Zodaal's agent, they enter the corridor. Meanwhile, Closed is kidnapped in the mistaken belief that he is the Doctor, and capable of stopping Zodaal. The Doctor and Ms Chater pursue, and rescue Closed. Zodaal's main store is Hepworth Stackhouse, a wealthy businessman. He organises the kidnap of the geologist, as he plans to destroy the Earth. The Doctor, Chater and Closed visit Stackhouse's home in Blackheath, to find him already gone. They manage to trace his base to Wapping. Romana, K-9 and Radlett find the ship blocking the corridor is from Phryxus. Therein lives part of Zodaal, who hived himself up to escape to Earth. They agree to take the rest of him back, to stop his plan. Stackhouse/Zodaal has built a flying saucer, within which he will reside after the Earth is destroyed, but he wants to use the Doctor's body as an extra receptacle. Romana and co arrive, but the reunited Zodaal remains as maniacal as ever. The Doctor devises a plan to electrocute Stackhouse, forcing Zodaal to leave. He takes to his saucer, where another body is waiting. But that person kills themself to atone for earlier action. The Doctor manages to stop the machine that would destroy the Earth, at the cost of incinerating the factory. Closed and Chater fall in love, whilst Radlett falls for Harriet, another member of the Circle. The Doctor, Romana and K-9 leave. |
| Review:- Following on from his success with The Romance Of Crime, Roberts uses the same Doctor/companions team, but finally tackles his first DW book set on Earth. If his earlier book lampooned cliches of sci-fi and alien planets, here he takes a similar approach to social manners and etiquette in 1930's England. But there are still sci-fi elements underlying the plot (or providing breathing space between the jokes, if you want to see it that way). The Circle are 24th century fugitives who have co-opted a time corridor to start new lives in Earth's antiquated past. But their corridor has been invaded by an alien maniac, Zodaal, who has come to Earth with a plan that will necessitate the planet's destruction. Set against this are the romantic efforts of Colonel Radlett, and Mrs Chater, erstwhile novelist, creator of Inspector Cawston. They initially seem tangential to the story, but Chater is new to London, and her next-door neighbour happens to be Percy Closed, co-ordinator of the Circle, and owner of the one of the silliest-yet-touching character names I may have ever read. These are the sort of touches that charm the reader. The Doctor deliberately ignores both the time pollution threat, and even the library books that brought him here in the first place, so he can take tea. It's there that he witnesses the kidnap of Porteous, the geologist, and is drawn into the story after all. When he and K-9 reach the residences of Chater and Closed, he is attacked by radmium, the deadly smell that signifies Zodaal. And so on. The drama of Zodaal's plan often takes a back seat to the romantic element of the book. More so than its predecessor, this is a book that develops romances, and brings together characters who grow to love each other through shared experience. Whilst Chater is smitten with Closed quite quickly, he is less interested, but eventually comes around to it. Whilst Radlett soon realises his planned love match with Chater is a non-starter, he is soon hoping for better luck with Romana. He eventually (and perhaps conveniently) finds love with another of the Circle. Zodaal, of course, is not interested in love, and ends up paying the price for his lack of interest in people, when his intended new body, the assassin Julia Orlostro, commits suicide to make right her earlier actions (kidnapping Porteous, for instance). As for the Doctor, he veers between the silly and the serious, drives like a dervish, is equally adept at taking tea or building scientific gizmoes, and knows when the time is right to push off again. This was once voted in DWM as the best of the Missing Adventures. Whilst I'm not sure I agree with that view, it is another very good book from Gareth Roberts. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |