OK so not a Dr Who book, but an affiliated series and I wondered if BookCrosser grubsneerg might be interested in this so picked it up for BookCrossing. I’ll check, and in the interim mark this as RESERVED and pop the book details below.

NB Andy Lane, writing as Andrew Lane has produced a cracking series of ‘Young Sherlock Holmes’ books .
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SLOW DECAY (Torchwood 3) by ANDY LANE (2007)
ISBN: 1-84607-471-1 / 978-1-84607-471-4 (UK PB)
Publisher: BBC

Separate from the government; outside the police, beyond the United Nations; TORCHWOOD sets its own rules, a team of investigators, using alien technology to solve crime - both alien and human. Torchwood a British sci-fi TV thriller series, created by Russell T. Davies, follows a team who consistently delve into the unknown - a group of people fighting the impossible. The series stars Captain Jack Harkness, last seen in Doctor Who.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/series/torchwood/

In Slow Decay, when Torchwood track an energy surge to a Cardiff nightclub, the team finds the police are already at the scene. Five teenagers have died in a fight, and lying among the bodies is an extra-terrestrial device. Next morning, they discover the corpse of a Weevil, [creepy alien thingy, sorry cannot recall if they major nightmare creatures or innocuous beasties - see previous in series] its face and neck eaten away, seemingly by human teeth. And on the streets of Cardiff, an ordinary woman with an extraordinary hunger is attacking people and eating her victims.

The job of a lifetime it might be, but working for Torchwood is putting big strains on Gwen’s relationship with Rhys. [Gwen, local police woman co-opted on to the Torchwood team after an alien encounter she handles with gutsy proficiency.] While she decides to spice up their love life with the help of alien technology, Rhys decides it’s time to sort himself out – better music, healthier food, lose some weight. Luckily, a friend has mentioned Doctor Scotus’s weight-loss clinic…

Very Torchwood! Amusingly it was impossible for me to read this without ‘hearing’ the dialogue in the voices of the actors. Surprising in one sense as I last viewed Torchwood at least years, and years ago. Then again the three of the characters had lovely distinctive welsh accents and in particular Gwen and Rhys representing a pivotal couple got a lot of air time. Gwen, now working for Torchwood, represents a dynamic defender of public safety but one who has to vigilantly operate with the secrecy required of a Torchwood employee and Rhys as an outsider to Torchwood offered the man in the street’s view point, a member of the public whose safety was being defended by the efforts of Torchwood.

An aspect of the plotlines in the Torchwood series I was uncomfortable about at the time was brought back to me in this book, that of the almost shoe-horning in of a sexual element to the tales. An almost titillating 1970’s style plot element of ‘sex with aliens’ tone which didn’t quite sit right with me. I didn’t want to be icked out by it as after-all Torchwood was offered up as Dr Who for adults but yet… I did get tired of that element in the TV series now I recall.

Slow Decay is a pretty dramatic and enjoyable tale but I think I prefer Lane’s Young Sherlock Series, which he writes as Andrew Lane.

Marking this as reserved as it’s about to head off to another Bookcrosser.

Into the post, to grubsneerg, using surface [slow mail] – cheers rainbow3

It will be lovely to revisit Torchwood again. Thank you so much for sharing, rainbow3!

Oh, Torchwood, how I have missed you and the early days of the new Doctor Who, both led by Russell T. Davies. Captain Jack Harkness has been one of my favorite characters since he was introduced in the Steven Moffat DW episode "The Empty Child," so it was lovely to travel back in time and visit him in the Hub, along with Gwen, Owen, Tosh, and Ianto.

This was a well written story, with seemingly unrelated plot lines coming together for a satisfying resolution. Andy Lane did a nice job of capturing each character's personality and I liked the moments of humor which made the story seem authentic, like an episode that I somehow missed seeing on TV.

Thanks again, rainbow3, for sharing this with me. I hope the next reader enjoys it as much as I did.

Left at the Trolley Line access around 5:20 p.m.

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