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 The fourth Doctor Who novella from Telos publishing is, ‘Ghost Ship’ written by a man not so unheard of in Doctor Who circles – Keith Topping.
Topping has undertook a very difficult aim, one you can only admire him for, to write this novella from the perspective of the Doctor himself. The Fourth. But this isn’t the Fourth Doctor we take as the norm with his quick wit and rapid responses, no this is definitely the more subdued one, the somewhat more sensitive Doctor we saw in TV stories such as The Deadly Assassin.
When reading the book, I personally could tell immediately it was the Fourth Doctor, it’s those tiny characteristics in his perspective that jump out at you, the Doctor is highly articulate with his choice of words etc and he is here. The ‘walking in eternity’ speech from The Pyramids of Mars shows what tone this novella is written in.
Traveling alone, the Doctor lands on one of the most haunted places ever, the Queen Mary, yes that spooky ship which you can still view today! As is obvious from what I’ve just mentioned, Ghost Ship is a Doctor Who ghost story, something which was never the main focus point of any TV story plot.
Matching the dark and subdued character of the Doctor is the setting itself and Topping here hits the target spot on with his choice of prose – filled with lovely use of adjectives and reflection of life. Without revealing too much of the plot, even at the beginning of the story, the Doctor does consider leaving the ship at once considering the general feeling of the atmosphere around him, something we have never ever heard of from the Doctor before – this goes to show what type of Fourth Doctor is behind this written account.
Going back to that setting comment, this novella gave me the impression of the same sort of misty, dark setting as Horror of Fang Rock, dark and dangerous!
The images painted into the mind of the reader are frightfully thrilling which makes you wonder just how this may have looked on screen – the writing of events and appearances of apparitions are incredible, as are the Doctor’s account of them and perspective.
In Keith’s novels in the past I have always found characterization a strong point of his, and this novella totally reinforces that view for me – it’s terribly well written and goes at a steady pace and never once loses it.
We rarely see inside the Doctor’s head and rightfully so, it works best as him as a mystery, which is one of the reasons why at first I wasn’t keen on the idea of the novella when I first heard of it, but, three pages in and I was hooked – I really do recommend you buy this book, even if you haven’t been keen on written Doctor Who, the style is so different you have to give it a go! – Seriously!
» Review by Andy Kitching, Copyright 2002.
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