I had
only read a few lines of chapter one before I was supplying the easy American
drawl of a thousand private eye voice overs. A minute or so later
I knew that the location was London during the blitz and that a serial
killer, dubbed The Limehouse Lurker, was at work in the bomb damaged streets.
"Put that damn light out," shouts a warden a few pages later in true Dad's
Army fashion. By now the main supporting character is firmly established,
the scene is set and I haven't yet resorted to flipping the pages to see
how far I've got to read before the Doctor turns up.
| The combination
of the private eye and the sardonic Special Branch man Mullen are as familiar
as the Tardis crew. The tv series often borrowed from other genres in order
to create atmosphere in a short space of time. Mix in Nazi spies and "some
very old enemies" as the cover summary hints (blowing the surprise completely
with the front cover and the caption "Featuring the Seventh Doctor and
Ace - plus the Cybermen") and you have a marvellous debut for the Tucker/Perry
partnership. |
 |
Whenever the cyber-mats turned up during the tv series
when I was a kid it wasn't a case of hiding behind the sofa, it
was more like out the door, so it astounded me when I read somewhere
that the critters weren't used in Silver Nemesis because they weren't convincing
or scary. I wasn't quite out the door when the things turned
up here but they still seem pretty effective frighteners even in print.
Due to the long running New Adventures
published by Virgin, the pairing of the Seventh Doctor and Ace is one of
the most published Doctor Who double acts but I don't think I've ever read
a more accurate and faithful portrayal of the two before reading this book.
The NA's Ace never really seemed like the same character - even
before she underwent her transformation into a battle hardened super soldier.
The original character seemed to me to have been abandoned with only Ace
as a visual template remaining.
The story is fast paced with many a twist and
an about turn along the way. A very enjoyable read. |
