Jailhouse Trock (Review: 'Doctor Who: The Blood Cell', 2014, by James Goss)

Of course my "Eleven Faces of Who" ended up dragging on for so long that it is now "Thirteen Faces of Who"; this will be my sole Twelfth Doctor entry and I have one more Tenth Doctor novel to read to so I can finally conclude this series of reviews.

The BBC, unsurprisingly, has released three tie-in novels featuring Twelve and Clara to tie in with Season 34... and this one is distinctly unusual in its style.

Where we're at

This is set in the 'early' part of this Doctor's life; Danny Pink is mentioned but not present.

The plot

The Governor of an asteroid prison receives a highly dangerous criminal called The Doctor... who warns him than unless he listens to him, a lot of people are going to die.

What works

• The novel is written entirely in the first person, the journal of the unnamed prison Governor; it's always interesting to see someone do something different.
• The background of HomeWorld is well worth a re-visit.
• There are some wonderful jokes about the novels of Jeffrey Archer (who of course did time for perverting the course of justice), TripAdvisor and unlocking achievements.
• The Twelfth Doctor is wonderfully grumpy and alien, yet caring as well.

What doesn't

• The Doctor is not seen wearing his regular costume here; one wonders just how much Goss had to work on before doing this - always an issue with first novel batches.
• The resolution to the main threat seems a bit simple... also I'm not sure that level of horror needed to be 'seen'.

Conclusion

An excellent novel with a lot of humour, but the climax leaves a bit to be desired.

9/10