Title: The Clockwise Man
Author: Justin Richards
Year: 2005
Genre: Science Fiction, Tie-In, Steampunk
The Clockwise Man is the first entry in the BBC New Series Adventures following the 2005 revival of Doctor Who. The Doctor and Rose travel to 1920’s London for the British Exhibition but instead track down an alien fugitive with a plan to destroy London. Check out my thoughts here.
Like Winner Takes All which I reviewed last month, I remember reading this book when I was 10 after that one when I decided to play catch up and read the rest of the New Series adventures, which at the time had six books and I remember I picked this one up along with The Monsters Inside which I will read next, again I wanted to give my collection one final read through before passing them on.
Unlike that previous book, this first entry is set in the past in 1920s London and finds the Doctor and Rose on the hunt for a mysterious killer. However clockwise killers roam the streets and secrets hide behind locked doors. There is also a mysterious Painted Lady who wears masquerade type masks and has a sudden fascination in the Doctor. There are also cats that return from the dead and a conspiracy involving a wanted man from another planet and a case of mistaken identity.
With the clockwise killers closing in, can the Doctor and Rose find the truth before London is destroyed…
This first book in the series also features The Doctor and Rose as played by Billie Piper and Christopher Eccleston in the 2005 series of the TV show. It is also the first historically set book in the New Adventures series and Richards uses the time and setting to great effect and the book has quite a few elements that make it quite steampunk in tone – for example the mechanised clockwork killers and emphasis on machinery, the Edwardian/Victorian setting and this does create a story that has a very unique tone in the canon of the series.
The central mystery is intriguing and I found some of the new characters interesting, in particular I liked Freddie – the brave but sickly young boy who gets swept up in the adventure, as well as Repple and Aske who have a very strange dynamic which has some very funny and slightly weird moments before the truth is revealed of their involvement in the story. I also really like Melissa Heart as the Painted Lady as she is a very intriguing secondary antagonist with a great backstory and when she appears you do wonder what mayhem she is going to bring for the other characters.
In terms of characterisation, I think the most off actually seem to be the Doctor and Rose themselves, especially the Doctor. I’m not sure how far along the TV show was in production when this book was written but it does feel like this Doctor isn’t quite the same as Christopher Eccleston’s portrayal on screen, possibly I would assume being the first entry maybe Richards had less to work from, maybe a few scripts but no actual filmed episodes. This is also shown in that this adventure has relatively few references to the main TV show, which does make it ideal for people who haven’t watched the original 2005 series but for fans doesn’t really have much connection to the main show.
Also whilst Melissa is a fascinating secondary villain, the big twist and reveal of who the eponymous Clockwise Man is is a little bit underwhelming and the actual villain is a bit cookie cutter after all of the double crossing and intriguing mystery of the first half of the book. Also the final act of the story takes place as a typical race against time which whilst exciting is a bit confusing to follow at times and making the Doctor into a pure action hero seems a bit strange when he usually uses wit and intellect to outsmart his adversaries.
Overall it is an intriguing little read and the mystery does satisfy even if it doesn’t follow through to the ending.
