Strange how a novel based on a silly science fiction show can bring unexpected things to the surface...
Bad Therapy by Matthew Jones
Seventh Doctor Adventures number: 57
Originally published: December 1996
Companions: Chris and...Peri?!
"We're not like you - we can't be whole on our own."
Seeking respite after the traumatic events in the thirtieth century, the Doctor and Chris travel to 1950s London. But all is not well in bohemian Soho: racist attacks shatter the peace; gangs struggle for territory; and a bloodthirsty driverless cab stalks the night.
While Chris enjoys himself at the mysterious and exclusive Tropics club, the Doctor investigates a series of ritualistic murders with an uncommon link — the victims all have no past. Meanwhile, a West End gangster is planning to clean up the town, apparently with the help of the Devil himself. And, in the quiet corridors of an abandoned mental hospital, an enigmatic psychiatrist is conducting some very bad therapy indeed.
As the stakes are raised, healing turns to killing, old friends appear in the strangest places — and even toys can have a sinister purpose.
So this time around it was a series of firsts -
The first novel I've read with Chris Cwej. The first with a former companion returning after they've spent many many years apart from the Doctor. Oh and according to the title page, the first novel by Matthew Jones.
Which, based on the high quality of this book, is mightily impressive.
There is so much that he gets right here.
The Seventh Doctor acts and sounds like he should - mysterious and mercurial - one moment speaking with a quiet intensity and the next seized by a loud fierce anger.
Supporting characters, both good and bad, come alive on the page - full of hopes and fears and understandable motivations.
Plus with Jack we have another of those characters you fall in love with and wish they'd gone into the TARDIS for further adventures.
Sure on the surface we have a "What if The Doctor met the Krays" conceit crossed with a story about the rights of lab-created sentient metamorphs. But really when you hone in on it, there a deep sense of melancholy at the core of this book.
It's a story about loss. Loss of loved ones. Loss of friends. Loss of innocence.
And I'll be honest, it's been kind of hard reading this book.
Not because I haven’t enjoyed it - I've loved it - but because of the feelings it's brought to the surface.
During the time I've been reading it, much of the UK has been going through a strange communal mourning - for a Queen that 99% had never met yet felt like they knew.
And whether you were moved by the death of our longest reigning monarch or not, I think a lot of people, myself included, have found themselves thinking about the people in *their* lives that are no longer around...
It's almost ten years since my mum died after a long, long illness.
I'll be the first to admit - I didn't get really get that upset at the time mum went. I was practical - things had to be organised - and it's not like I hadn’t come to terms with the fact that her death was inevitable, given the effects of the leukaemia.
But with the national mood being the way it was - and reading about Chris Cwej clearly struggling with his grief over the death of someone that meant so much to him - it all resonated. A lot.
I found myself thinking about my mum more than usual - how I felt at the time - how I bottled things up and, like Chris, just tried to get on with life.
Until - suddenly - something like this reminds me that she's not here anymore.
It's an emotional reaction I wasn't expecting to have to a Doctor Who novel. But I'm glad I did.
I can say it now. I miss my mum.
Thanks for reading.