In the Blood Review
Patrick Kavanagh-Sproull gives his verdict on the Tenth Doctor and Donna novel.
Jenny Colgan has reached the stage where she is so adept at writing Doctor Who novels that she could have comfortably written In the Blood in her sleep. From the very first word she nails the dynamic of the Doctor and Donna (a Doctor/companion pairing she also wrote for in David Tennant and Catherine Tate’s recent much-hyped Big Finish audio debut), with Donna’s teasing, very human snark playing brilliantly off the Doctor’s alien innocence and naiveté. Couple the terrific dialogue with an engaging, globe-trotting plot makes In the Blood a really lovely ride and one of Colgan’s best contributions to the non-televisual canon.
Getting any criticisms away early, there is one pretty obvious one with In the Blood. It’s a satire of the trolling culture that has continued to fester on the Internet, with Colgan touching on recognisable hot-button topics. Gwyneth Paltrow gets a name-check as does a certain American dentist whilst the emergency of hipster culture serves as a pretty major plot point. This all works wonderfully within the plot and it gives Colgan the chance to supply Donna with some great one-liners, but the big problem here is that Gwyneth Paltrow’s weird health advice, hipster culture and Walter Palmer either didn’t exist or were nothing like as prevalent as they are now way back in 2008/9. It adds some awkwardness to the social commentary (given that it’s social commentary in a different society) but you do, more or less, forget about it and just purely enjoy Colgan’s gentle ribbing.
The plot is a nice sci-fi spin on trolling culture with the novel kicking off with some particularly aggressive online commenters dropping dead at their keyboards. Immediately the Doctor and Donna become suspicious of the spate of deaths and set about trying to solve the mystery. In writing a Doctor Who novel Colgan is awarded the chance to set her book absolutely anywhere and she makes full use of her budget-less format. The Doctor and Donna’s travels go from Chiswick to Rio via South Korea and it makes for terrifically fun reading (even if the reason for not using the TARDIS is a bit daft). The book’s threat is also cannily teased throughout and the resolution will satisfy almost any reader.
But with a book that features the Doctor and Donna reunited on the page, they were always going to be the star attraction and Colgan is aware of it. While the plot rattles along at an enjoyably breakneck pace, it’s the dialogue that really shines and there’s a lot of time given over to the TARDIS duo bantering. The Doctor and Donna have such a captivating dynamic and Colgan takes her cues from Russell T Davies, giving the pair funny, honest and earnest dialogue.
Verdict: 9/10
In the Blood is Jenny Colgan firing on all cylinders. There’s a compelling, pleasingly up-to-the-minute plot, a genuinely threatening and unique threat, and, best of all, the Doctor and Donna are rendered wonderfully. Their wonderful relationship is enough to overcome any of In the Blood‘s flaws.
