“Release the Doctor - or the killing will start.”
An asteroid in the furthest reaches of space - the most secure prison for the most dangerous of criminals. The Governor is responsible for the worst fraudsters and the cruellest murderers. So he’s certainly not impressed by the arrival of the man they’re calling the most dangerous criminal in the quadrant. Or, as he prefers to be known, the Doctor. What does impress the Governor is the way the new prisoner immediately sets about trying to escape. And keeps trying. Finally, he sends for the Doctor and asks him why? But the answer surprises even the Governor. And then there’s the threat - unless the Governor listens to the Doctor, a lot of people will die.
James Goss is no stranger to Doctor Who fiction, penning Dead of Winter for the Eleventh Doctor range and The Time Museum, The Scorchies and The Last Post for Big Finish amongst others. His Big Finish work in particular show an author unafraid to try something new with a format and The Blood Cell is no different, told (unusually for a Doctor Who novel) in the first person.
Told from the perspective of the Governor of an intergalactic prison (The Prison), the tale is in many ways reminiscent of the “Doctor-lite” episodes of the TV series, placing it’s focus on the life and interactions of a secondary character who just happens to come into contact with the Doctor, or Prisoner 428 as he is otherwise known here.
The Doctor is well characterised by Goss, impatient, intimidating and heroic, his bickering with the Governor is evocative of the Capaldi we are starting to get to know. The Doctor tries to warn of the impending slaughter at the The Prison if he’s not allowed out to help, making frequent escape attempts in the process, all the while gathering new information on the prison and his captors. We like to think it would be scrawled all over a blackboard if he had one!
Of course the inevitable comes to pass and chaos ensures as systems go down, people start to die and a creature stalks the prison, forcing the Governor to place his faith in the prisoner who’s “crimes” he feels sickened by.
Goss crafts an intriguing tale from the outset as we first ask how the Doctor has come to be in the predicament he’s in and then with each layer that’s peeled away new questions arise surrounding the creature, the failures throughout The Prison and what exactly the Blood Cell is. While the novel successfully maintains the intrigue, The Blood Cell remains a true page turner and it is only toward the end that interest may start to wane for the reader as explanations begin to sound somewhat convoluted.
The finale certainly doesn’t detract however from what is an engrossing new start for the range, this our first of three Twelfth Doctor books released this month. Early steps for the new range as the TV series itself looks to do likewise but, again like Series 8, there is much here to enjoy and be excited about.
And a spoon.
The Blood Cell was released on Monday alongside Silhouette by Justin Richards and The Crawling Terror by Mike Tucker, it is available via the Amazon link below.
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