How many of you, after watching "The Angels Take Manhattan", wanted to take a peak in Melody Malone’s book? Well, now’s your chance… Kind of.
Y’see, while they may share a title, the story here is entirely different. And it certainly doesn’t start addressing the Doctor and Amy directly. Instead, this is a pulp detective story with deliberately ambiguous links to Doctor Who .
Melody Malone is a private eye in '30s New York. When superstar actor Rock Railton comes to her afraid that someone is trying to kill him, she is intrigued enough to take the case. But the very next day, he’s forgotten ever meeting her. What gives?
Clocking in at just 80 pages, this is a very quick read indeed. That brevity works in the book’s favour - it’s just long enough to play a series of cute metafictional games with the reader, before wrapping everything up neatly. Is Melody actually River on an adventure? Or is River just having a laugh writing Melody as a fictionalised version of herself? And is there any concrete link to last week’s episode? All is revealed – albeit slightly clumsily – by the end.
Given that the only reason for this book to exist is to capitalise on "The Angels Take Manhattan", Justin Richards does a decent job of making it feel like a worthwhile way to spend an hour or so. Though he does write Melody as being rather obsessed with her own cleavage…
Will Salmon twitter.com/evilrobotbill
Read our review of Doctor Who: A History Of The Universe In 100 Objects .
Read our review of The Comic Strip Companion: The Unofficial And Unauthorised Guide To Doctor Who In Comics: 1964-1979 .
Read our Doctor Who series 7 reviews .
Read more of our book reviews .
