Watching Doctor Who 40/14/1.4 73 Yards

I'm writing this an hour or so after watching it early in the wee hours of the night. But will hold back from posting it properly until after the UK BBC1 Saturday evening airing.

In a nutshell I really liked it. A satisfying crossover of folk horror and alternative history, with hefty elements of Sapphire & Steel, The Woman in Black and much more besides. And an absolute tour de force of acting from Millie Gibson. To get into more nitty gritty, and I recommend only reading this after you've seen the episode: ( spoilers )

I expect this episode will make the Hugo award shortlist next year. I will certainly be nominating it.

Book 22 of 2024: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

I just read this for my book club, and really enjoyed it. Surprisingly I'd never read it before, though I know the 1940 Hitchcock film well, which won the Best Picture Oscar back in its day.

Rebecca is a gripping gothic thriller combined with psychological study. It has a rather leisurely pacing, which took me a while to adjust to. But then it felt more of a natural fit, and I was happy for it to have room to breathe. The story is that of a young woman, newly married and returning with her husband to his Cornish grand mansion home, only to uncover secrets from the past. I don't want to go into the plot too much, but I found it a real page turner. And even though I knew the core plot (there are very few differences between the 1938 novel and 1940 movie), it still kept me glued, through to the very end.

I have seen other movies based on Daphne du Maurier stories - Hitchcock's The Birds, and Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now. But I haven't read any more of her writings. And I need to fix that.

Rating 5/5 stars. Easily.

Next read: Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman

Picking my next fiction read, which I think will be Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman, an author best known for the Invisible Library series of books. Scarlet is an alternative take on the Scarlet Pimpernel, combining the French Revolution with vampires. That sounds like a fun read.