Book 13 of 2024: The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown

I've just finished this contemporary fantasy book, a debut publication by a new novelist. Who lives near Edinburgh of all places! I liked a lot about it. It's a combination of a tale of magic books / contemporary fantasy / time travel / thriller and I'd say memoirs in a strange way. But I did have problems, and that's why I've rated it just 3/5 overall.

The plotting is intricate, right through to the very end, and admirable. But I found the mass of characters being introduced early on and the chopping and changing of points of view tricky to keep up with, and hard to stay engaged with. However when it reached about halfway through something happened that was so very clever as writing. I was rather wowed. And then from there it careers towards the finale. Again densely plotted.

Beware it gets very violent in places. Very violent. This is not what I would term a young adult read for that reason. It's closer in some respects to crime fiction in that respect. It also strangely reminded me of the TV scifi series Heroes, with the many protagonists in there. But it was a bit overwhelming to read in book form. Though on plus it's very cinematic, and I could easily imagine this book adapted to a movie version.

However for fans of contemporary fantasy who aren't deterred by violent bits in places I'd recommend this. Just maybe beware going in that it is going to be a bit choppy in narrative, especially earlier on, and you may need to give it more time to get hooked.

I would definitely read another book by the same author, but would prefer one with a fresh plot and concept. I am also looking forward to seeing the author chat about this book at the Cymera book festival in Edinburgh in the summer. I have an online weekend pass for that whole festival, and will be watching - mainly on catchup - with interest.

Doctor Who rewatch: The Girl Who Waited

Just finished watching this tonight, the Matt Smith story that sees Amy separated from the Doctor and Rory, and time shenanigans mean that Amy ends up spending a very very long time trapped ...

This was my favourite episode of that year on first watch. It even beat Neil Gaiman's "The Doctor's Wife" for me. And I think I voted in the Hugos that year, when both stories were on the Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) shortlist. And I knew which I preferred, though the Gaiman story won the Hugo award in the end.

It's still powerful to rewatch today. The opening third is standard scifi setup, but when you meet the older version of Amy the emotional level escalates rapidly. I think I probably related to that more this time, because I'm closer in age to that version of Amy than I was when this first aired.

The direction is a joy, and one scene in particular stands out for me, when the two Amys - young and old - are able to talk to each other across time. Originally an older actress was intended to play older Amy, but Karen Gillan wanted to give it a go. And with the aid of prosthetic makeup does a fantastic job. By far her best acting in Doctor Who ever.

It's also remarkable as a low budget and Doctor lite episode. Matt Smith is very much in it, but the story is carried by Amy (both versions) and Rory, and both act superbly. I should also praise the writer Tom MacRae. I wasn't that keen on his Cybermen two-parter with David Tennant, but this - his other story - is stellar.

The ending is inevitable, but how you get there is in turns moving and shocking. And throughout so brilliantly acted.

This remains an absolute highlight for me of the Matt Smith era. There were some gems, even if there were some clunkers too.

ABBA viewing

A week or two ago the BBC aired masses of ABBA programmes on Saturday night. Channel 5 has also been getting into the spirit. We recorded everything, but have decided to pass on the full Eurovision 1974 recording. But making a start on the many others! We have just marvelled at Basil Brush introducing ABBA on his programme 😜 I’ve adored ABBA since I was about 5 in the late 1970s. A huge highlight was going to see the ABBA Museum in Stockholm 5 years ago.

Book 14 of 2024: Murder Isn't Easy: The Forensics of Agatha Christie by Carla Valentine

Alongside lots of fiction books I read non fiction books, usually having one main one on the go alongside one or more novels. This book about the history of forensics studied through the lens of Agatha Christie stories is my latest read. And it was very enjoyable. Rating 4/5 stars. The author is the curator of a pathology museum and I believe worked for many years as a forensic technician, assisting with post-mortems.

Each chapter looks at a different aspect of forensics, and explains the context in which Agatha Christie's stories fit into, and how she depicts the techniques used in her stories. This use of her own stories is powerful, but would appeal more to someone who is very familiar with lots of her plots. The book is careful not to reveal major spoilers, but a sense of recognition would work best for the reader in these sections.

Alongside discussing forensics using Agatha's stories each chapter explains the history of the relevant aspect of forensics, discussing evolving techniques, and numerous real life cases. Many of these are very well known to the general audience (e.g. Dr Crippen), but others much less so. And all are well described, covering developments in forensics primarily up to and throughout Agatha Christie’s life.

I did skip quite a lot of the autopsy chapter, having lost my Dad relatively recently, and not least because he donated his body to medical science for anatomy students to learn from. But I hugely enjoyed what I read.

One slight disappointment for me was in the table of murder methods by story at the back of the book. This seems to just focus on Agatha's novels, not her shorter stories, of which there were so very many. So it presented a very incomplete picture. But the main section of the text is full of references to these.

However this is a slight quibble. The book could perhaps be trimmed a little for me as well, but is an effective read. To be fair I have read a lot of Agatha Christie's stories. But it would also work well for fans of TV programmes like CSI who want to know more of the real life history.