In the Blood

"They keep finding dead people who were... prominent on the internet."

Writer: Jenny T. Colgan
Format: Novel
Released: May 2016
Series: BBC PDA 04

Featuring: Tenth Doctor, Donna

Synopsis

'So many people out there, Doctor. Wanting so many things. Wanting, wanting, wanting. Terrible things they want. Terrible things.'

When internet trolls start to drop dead, the Doctor thinks there might be more to it than just a sedentary lifestyle and high blood pressure.

From the backstreets of South Korea to the jungles of Brazil, the Doctor and Donna follow the leads until they find the source of this online infection. But they aren't the only ones who are interested.

Before long the Doctor and Donna are fighting for their lives – and the lives of everyone else on the planet who use the internet.

Verdict

In the Blood was an excellent novel to complete my reading of the Tenth Doctor and Donna's prose adventures! Of course, this one came a long time after their brief initial New Series Adventures run, and with that only having four stories it was great that when it came to revisiting the era Donna was chosen as the companion. I am a big fan of Jeany T. Colgan's writing style and even though it was a little weird to have so many short chapters, she really does get this TARDIS pairing and that shone through on the page. I think it was probably a little ahead of its time as I'm really not sure just how prominent internet trolls were in 2008, but the issues this story raised were excellent and incorporated into a Doctor Who story in a fantastic way that was not in-your-face. The idea of something getting into the blood through the internet was brilliant because that opens up the entire world for infection and the Rempaths certainly fed on that. I loved the scale of the story stretching between London, South Korea and Brazil and the latter two connecting through a tunnel felt very Miracle Day which was unexpected. It was a real joy to read the Doctor's experience of commercial airline travel and he couldn't believe that people spent so much money on the triangles! That line of course referring to Toblerone was just wonderful and a terrifically humorous line in a book that was dealing with some serious and complicated issues. It's no secret that the internet is a dangerous and often unhealthy realm and the way Colgan explained that through the characters in the book was magnificent. I thought the descriptions of both Korea and the Brazilian jungles were very good and in a book that was longer than the typical NSA, the renewed settings definitely helped. As I was making my way through the pages, I found myself wondering why there wasn't much continuity in the NSA books and how they were most often just standalone stories. A few chapters later and I got Gully returning and essentially a follow on from Time Reaver! I did not expect that so his reveal was a fantastic surprise. Of course, that audio made up part of the first volume of Tenth Doctor Adventures and I was stunned to find out after finishing that the book actually came out four days before the audio! The fate of Gully was detailed extensively here and his description of experiencing essentially being set on fire for four months was quite something. I can't imagine that. So his revenge was to have the Doctor experience the same. I thought Fief was a good little character and his matter-of-fact nature and just accepting everything as it is was good. His relationship with Donna throughout developed really well and became one of the highlights. His reaction to experiencing life when the earpiece that basically conformed him was removed was wonderful. Donna popping home was a nice addition and I can't help but love anything with Wilf. His affection for Donna and the Doctor making her happy was lovely to read and his going mad with the Rempath infection must have been tough for Donna to see. Her willingness to give the blood transfusion to dilate the Rempaths was good and I loved how the Doctor realised that it wasn't actually the blood that fixed him, it was the sacrifice Donna made. Nothing could overcome altruism which was excellent. Fief experiencing the TARDIS was good and I really enjoyed the silliness of the hippies and their coffee stall blocking the TARDIS. Donna loved the coffee though - triple filtered! The ending was really good and pacy with the Doctor using the earpiece of Fief to send a signal to the human race to do something nice and selfless and rid them of the Rempath disease. His climbing into the tunnel was very good and provided some tension. The way things finished was really nicely done and Colgan did a tremendous job in capturing the real world. Overall, a fantastic read!

Rating: 9/10