The Crawling Terror Review
Patrick Kavanagh-Sproull gives his verdict on Mike Tucker’s 12th Doctor novel.
It’s only been a few weeks since Peter Capaldi debuted as the Doctor and already the good folk at BBC Books have whipped up a triplet of full-length novels featuring the new, Scotch-on-the-rocks incarnation. The three authors tasked with tackling the Twelfth Doctor on the page are Justin Richards, James Goss and Mike Tucker, and they’ve got something of a bittersweet job. While it might be easier for fans now to compose stories featuring the latest Doctor, Richards, Goss and Tucker relied heavily on the scripts provided by the BBC with no full episodes to speak of. Speaking in the recent DWM, Tucker said that “there was also a fair bit of scouring the Internet to try to find images or footage of the new Doctor that fans had shot in public locations” and while this initially sets alarm bells ringing, the writers make a good fist of grappling with the Twelfth Doctor. However, here I’m talking about Mike Tucker’s The Crawling Terror and he describes it as “a homage to the ‘village beset by horrific threat’ movies of the 1950s and 60s”.
That is not an inaccurate description. The Crawling Terror certainly wears its influences on its sleeve, taking the well-worn base under siege format and twisting for Capaldi’s Doctor. He sets the action primarily in the peaceful town of Ringstone somewhere in Wiltshire and he uses the sleepy location well. The Doctor and Clara materialise in the town for vague reasons involving ley lines and instantly they discover trouble is afoot. Humungous insects stalk the tranquil meadows and plague the residents of Ringstone but there’s much more to it than first meets the eye.
While Tucker’s novel is undoubtedly enjoyable his plot hinges on conveniences with some glaringly obvious and irritating expediencies. For example, during the events of The Crawling Terror every member of UNIT is occupied abroad in a creative move that would put The Dark Knight Rises further to shame. The only benefit of not having soldiers well versed in aliens is that the tension can be ramped up with a handful of faceless servicemen trying to understand the situation from outside the village. The Crawling Terror echoes The Dæmons (cited by Tucker himself as a source of inspiration) in a lot of places and like that Third Doctor story it seems that The Crawling Terror could have profited from the inclusion of UNIT – but, then again, the whole thing could have been easily tied up in about 50 pages.
The characterisation of the Twelfth Doctor, to me, was key to these three books. For them to convince, the reader has to believe in the central character and as the books were marketed widely as being the first of a new Doctor, I really had to hear the new Doctor. The result is something of a mixed bag. Tucker successfully captures the new Doctor’s more eloquent, scientific diction but makes him far too nice. It might sound like an odd criticism but there are countless moments when a sarcastic joke could be smoothly inserted and, overall, he’s far too human. Capaldi’s Doctor onscreen has a certain distaste for mankind yet here, in The Crawling Terror, he’s full of apologies and sympathies, a far cry from the sardonic man we saw in Robot of Sherwood or “top layer, would you like to say a few words?”
Clara Oswald is given much better treatment and Tucker nails the slowly flourishing companion, including elements of her forceful, resourceful, playful personality. There are even a few lines about Danny Pink and her work at Coal Hill School for some authenticity. The interior of the TARDIS, which I was interested to see described (this can be a problem with writers of Who, they can leave the TARDIS fairly anonymous) is illustrated well, too.
There are a surprisingly large amount of similarities between The Crawling Terror and Tucker’s first contribution to the New Series Adventures, The Nightmare of Black Island. It’s hard to go into any detail without spoiling any of the surprises of the plot but anyone who has read that Tenth Doctor yarn will quickly see the parallels.
Verdict: 7/10
Mike Tucker might depend on conveniences just a few too many times but The Crawling Terror is enjoyable, compelling enough fare with one or two twists that keeps the sluggish second half exciting. Clara is rendered well on page but the Twelfth Doctor less so although some of his empirical speeches are spot on. If you’re looking for something to while away an afternoon pick up The Crawling Terror but don’t go in expecting a masterpiece.