Doctor Who: Lights Out – Holly Black

Published by Puffin as part of the 50^th Anniversary series of Doctor Who short stories this is the 12^th Doctor (Peter Capaldi) getting caught up in an adventure while on a trip to get Clara a cup of coffee. Author Holly Black is probably best known as a co-creator of the Spiderwick Chronicles series but she turns in a cracking tale featuring our favourite Time Lord.

 

Thanks to Puffin and Netgalley for my review copy.

 

If you were to ask me for a list of my favourite things you would find Doctor Who, Coffee and Murder/Mysteries would feature in the top 10. As Lights Out is a Doctor Who story about a murder in an intergalactic spaceport famed for its coffee you can probably guess that this fan is a happy boy.

Holly Black has done a fantastic job capturing the feel of Capaldi’s Doctor. He quickly drafts in a companion (Clara is absent but name-checked) he explains they just need to make him look brilliant and then he sets about solving the murder which occurred while he was queuing for coffee.

Lights Out ticks along at a good pace, plenty of detail and background of the characters and an emotive ending which caught me off guard when the plot twisted in a way that I had not expected.

While not a fan of short stories (usually) I really enjoyed Lights Out and would love to see Holly Black take on a longer Doctor Who novel at some stage in the future. Short stories get short reviews but this is a great pick up.