The Drosten’s Curse Review
Patrick Kavanagh-Sproull reviews the new Fourth Doctor novel by A. L. Kennedy.
The Drosten’s Curse is, by nature, jaunty. Kennedy writes with flourish, with funny little expressions and descriptions: you feel like you’re reading a book written by the Fourth Doctor himself. That is to say, The Drosten’s Curse rambles at time and there are moments when the prose ought to be toned down in favour of some advance in the plot. Much like an encounter with the Fourth Doctor, The Drosten’s Curse is exuberant and wryly funny. It takes a while to get used to its verve but once you’re adjusted, it’s a great fun ride.
As you would very much expect, Kennedy has captured the character and spirit of the Fourth Doctor down to the ground, almost better than Tom Baker himself. He’s playful and muddled, his disorderly exterior cloaking his fierce intelligence. Compared to The Death Pit, which somewhat overegged aspects of the Fourth Doctor, The Drosten’s Curse feels like a natural portrayal with all of Baker’s mannerisms captured perfectly. To add a little more tension to proceedings Kennedy has the villain infiltrate the Doctor’s mind, impeding his ability to assess the situation and work out a solution. Kennedy does this well and with the Doctor handicapped, it adds another layer of suspense.
The Drosten’s Curse, like The Death Pit, takes place in the Fetch Brothers Golf Spa Hotel in Arbroath – not the unlikeliest of Doctor Who settings – and has a solo Fourth Doctor materialise to discover something dangerous to mankind is lurking underneath the fairway. Sand bunkers are sucking people down, the Arbroath townspeople suddenly discover they’re all telepathic, the twin grandkids of the hotel’s kooky owner, Julia Fetch, are eerily symmetrical and slightly unreal, and in the centre of all this, the Doctor finds time to befriend the hotel’s Junior Day Receptionist (there is no Senior Day Receptionist), Bryony Mailer. It seems, considering the pantheon of assistants to choose from, odd for Kennedy to opt for one-off companions (Mailer is joined by a dopey yet well-meaning bounty hunter, Ian Patterson, who happens to be infatuated with her) but Bryony and Ian more than make up for the absence of, say, Sarah Jane or either Romana. Bryony in particular is terrific, quick-witted, rational and helpful aide – while Ian brings some levity with his well-intentioned bungling and head-over-heels adoration of Bryony.
The villain of the piece is a largely unseen presence. Interestingly, A.L. Kennedy keeps the creature voiceless for the majority of the novel. Apart from a couple of occasions she resists personifying the creature or giving it a humanoid master (besides a certain David Agnew, a brutish guest at the hotel; the name being a cheeky tip of the hat to the pseudonymous Who writer). In fact, whenever the antagonist contacts the Doctor, Bryony or Patterson, it speaks in broken, awkward English, Kennedy writing this in bold block capitals. Monstrous villains like the creature here commonly come with a suave controller to monologue to the Doctor and it’s admirable that Kennedy chooses not to do this, making her job harder in the process.
The Drosten’s Curse ambles on for the most of its duration. After the build-up in the first one hundred pages, Kennedy puts the brakes on and while not that much happens throughout, you don’t really notice it. When Bryony, Patterson and the Doctor stop off at Julia Fetch’s cottage for lunch and a quick game of Frisbee with her twins, it’s fun and undemanding. When Bryony, Patterson and the Doctor must do battle with an animated swimming pool that wants to strangle them, it’s exciting and thrilling. The Drosten’s Curse is comfortable in its quieter moments as well as its more stimulating sequences with Kennedy masterful at writing both. Once or twice you feel there are longueurs resembling the walks through the TARDIS in The Invasion of Time but, mostly, Kennedy keeps things enjoyable if not lively (she has a superb handle on the TARDIS, its multifarious rooms and how it serves as the Doctor’s home).
The Drosten’s Curse does, at times, stumble from an overdose on whimsy and there are a few tedious moments but, generally, it’s a light novel that doesn’t ask too much of the reader. It breezes through the plot at a relaxed pace, entertaining the reader with quaint prose and two terrific original companions.
Verdict: 8/10
