| THE HOLLOW MEN by Keith Topping & Martin Day |
| Story ? Synopsis: The TARDIS lands in a field near Hexen Bridge, early in the 21st century, as the Doctor wants to attend a school reunion. He and Ace visit a library first, to get some local information, then take rooms at The Green Man pub in the village. The Doctor goes to attend the reunion, but stumbles on a gunrunning mission, and is kidnapped. Ace finds herself alone and puzzled. Her investigations don't get far, and she finds the TARDIS surrounded by a tight ring of scarecrows. The Doctor wakes up in Liverpool, and is used as a decoy in a plot to smear a policeman. He fails to prevent the copper's daughter being falsely arrested for possession of drugs, and she hangs herself at the station to save her father's shame. The Doctor persuades the copper to take the fight to their enemy. Ace learns that the population count in the village rarely varies, and the village green seems to extend year on year. Then she's attacked by a walking scarecrow, and chased through a graveyard. The Doctor tracks the main culprit, Hatch, down to an infertility clinic near London, but finds he is in commune with the mythical Jack i' the Green, who has been influencing Hexen Bridge for centuries. Hatch escapes, and returns to Hexen Bridge. Ace manages to stay alive. Back in Hexen Bridge, as Hatch goes to spread Jack's taint of heightened mental processing to others, the Doctor finds Jack is really Jerak, a Hakolian probe malfunctioned. Ace breaks Jerak's concentration in a mirror, dealing with Hatch in the process. Hexen Bridge wakes up to a new start. |
| Review:- A sleepy English village where they don't like strangers... even in the 21st century. Topping & Day bring their style to bear on the 7th Doctor and Ace, creating a story that spreads from the horror of Judge Jeffreys, down to crimewaves in Liverpool and genetic codes. In many ways, this is a good imagining of Season 26, with the Doctor concluding long-running investigations, whilst Ace pals up with someone from an ethnic minority and varies between maturity and childishness. For most of the book, the mystery of Hexen Bridge is a bit compelling. The linkage between the various families is just about covered without recourse to sniggering juvenilia, and the kidnapping of the Doctor places him in an unusually fraught situation, as well as playing catch-up with the elusive Hatch. The sideline with Kenny Shanks provokes high emotion and decent drama, especially for the Doctor realising his earlier meddling has backfired so badly. As he slowly moves back towards the mystery of Jack i' the Green, things begin to fall apart. Ace's escapades make for an intriguing contrast. She works out that the mysterious green is expanding, and makes a desperate escape from a church. The use of scarecrows as agents of Jack allows for many spooky scenes, and the dread horror concerning the fate of bad lad Billy Tyley. But as the final reel rolls on, and Jack wakes up, any remaining cohesion breaks. The Doctor is catapulted into danger, the scarecrows are repelled by etheral archers, Hatch makes a brief run as a plague carrier, and then Ace smashes a mirror and it's all over. Oh dear. Many stories have been written as direct or indirect sequels to stories ranging from the compelling to the dull. But somehow, following on from The Awakening doesn't do this book any favours. Perhaps the mood is meant to evoke the earlier story, but it fails. Though there are other distractions. The rather silly trip up to Liverpool appears to serve no purpose other than tedious padding. The DWM review of this book famously slagged off the repeated use of "the 'Pool" as a term for this city. Every time it comes up in the book, it just seems silly. Another silliness that irritated me was the endless smug pop-culture referencing, with a veritable chart-ful of bands mentioned. But apart from the Smiths and a few others, they're all made up. Quite how this is supposed to enrich the book, I don't follow. It just reads like a smug in-joke. Worse is the opening quotation from Margaret Thatcher, one of the most misunderstood comments in the 20th century, and naturally, entirely misrepresented here. Ultimately, whilst there is a fair story told here, it's smothered by irritating, or worse, boring, stretches of authorial indulgence. |
| Disclaimer: I've read a copy. |