The Clockwise Man - Justin Richards

Confession time - I'm completely hooked on Doctor Who at the moment: not just the TV show but the books as well, so expect more Who-related reviews.

Justin Richard's The Clockwise Man is one of the earliest of the new Doctor Who Adventures books and it features the Doctor and Rose as played by Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper in the series from BBC Television. And I have to say, I don't feel Richards has done as good a job of capturing the voice of the ninth Doctor as he did of capturing the voice of the tenth Doctor in The Resurrection Casket (which I recently reviewed).

The Doctor and Rose arrive in 1920s London, intending to visit the British Empire Exhibition and instead find themselves caught up in the hunt for a mysterious murderer; someone has been going around killing the servants of prominent Londoners. But whoever is doing the killing isn't necessarily human, as the bodies turn up with marks on their necks that look as if they've been made by a metal implement, not hands. There are a number of secrets hidden behind various locked London doors. Just who is the Painted Lady and why is she so interested in the Doctor ? How exactly can a cat return from the dead ? Can anyone be trusted to tell, or even to know, the truth ?

I confess, this book reminded me quite a bit of The Girl in the Fireplace, which just happens to be my favourite episode from Season 2 of Doctor Who, and I didn't feel that Justin Richards had written as good a story as Steven Moffat did, even allowing for the fact that they've written for two different Doctors - and it's a different medium for which they're each writing.

The Clockwise Man is also available from Amazon.com.