TW: Something in the Water

The new Torchwood books are bigger than the usual set. I'm thinking this is to allow for more story than their DW counterparts. The first one is Something in the Water by Trevor Baxendale.


Certainly this is a more adult novel than his DW effort, and quite a decent story too, but again rather simplistic in the (lack of) complexity. There's a new infection spreading throughout Cardiff, and Torchwood find themselves dealing with sore throats and mythical creatures. (Have to say, while reading this, I thought I had a sore throat!)

One definite benefit to the books is the ability to spend more time on the characters. Ianto still gets a bit of a short shrift (I wonder how many scripts the authors got to read, especially with regard to his Captain Jack relationship), but the others get a lot of page time (as it were). Owen gets a lot of attention (as this is partly a medical mystery), but we don't get an arbitrary backstory like last time (I'm looking at you Another Life). Captain Jack gets to be competent without being annoying, so major plus there. (I'm not sure why the team are in black on the front cover, though.)

The villain of the piece isn't that much of a challenge, to be honest, and the ending is a quick "and then it was over". The focus is more on the impact than the cause, but we have to have something to defeat, and there she is.

Not the best effort by Trevor, but quite fitting the Torchwood mold.


Order: Reference to To The Last Man means this occurs right after that.

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