November 24

Doctor Who: Lights Out – Holly Black

Lights Out
Lights Out

Published by Puffin as part of the 50th Anniversary series of Doctor Who short stories this is the 12th 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.

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