Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #958 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-06
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Synopsis
Dr. Bob Strong's GP surgery has being seeing a lot of coughs and colds recently - far more than is normal for the time of year. Bob contacts Owen Harper, an old student friend, who reluctantly agrees to look into it. Meanwhile, Toshiko and Gwen are investigating ghostly apparitions in the marshy areas of South Wales. It's been a dull month and they're just about to pack up when they discover a dead body. The Team find that there's been a massive spike in respiratory infections right across the UK. Captain Jack agrees that it's worth investigating, but at the moment his priority is Tosh and Gwen's work: they've brought the corpse back for examination. It's old, in an advanced state of decay, and still able to talk!

Customer Reviews

Something in the Water
The 4th Torchwood novel find the team up against a serious dose of strep throat, as an alien water hag spreads an infection throughout Cardiff...

For the most part 'Something in the Water' is good stuff - the water hag has enough historical background to be more than just another random 'alien of the week' and makes a viscious enemy, there are some enjoyable scenes of horror and action, and the regular characters are all true to their television counterparts. If the novel has a flaw it's with the ending, with the lack of clear rationale behind the creatures plans for the Rift dissapointing, while the fact that the adventure is concluded more with brawn than brains doesn't make this a memorable finale.

Nevertheless, despite the mild downturn at the end this is for the most part an engrossing, enjoyable adventure, and while it may not do anything radical with any of the main cast this is still fun stuff.

Something in the water
Good read for Torchwood fans. There is a lot of cutting back and forth between actions, especially at the start but it all comes together quite nicely. As mentioned in the review by Hadrell there is perhaps too much decriptive text of the 'nasties' but I felt it gave a good visual image of just what the Torchwood team were up against. After all, Torchwood is aimed at adults, not children. Found the book engrossing enough not to want to put down. If you can stomach the vivid desriptions of blood, snot and gore, it is a good read.

Nothing special but not bad
I like the book but contrary to the other Torchwood novels I have read before, it lacks depth. On a superficial level the book is entertaining but it is nothing special. The characterizations are accurate but the author didn`t do anything with them that adds something, that challenges them or even shows some interesting interactions. You can feel the bond between these people and find some nice touches of humour but there was nothing I found really engaging.

The story itself felt like a "connect the dots" exercise because everything was so predictable. This was a blood, gore and snot story in which these graphic descriptions seemed to be more important sometimes than actually dealing with the characters as people. We have a female monster in a beautiful looking package who is distributing its seed among the male population but in the disguise of what looks like a particularly unpleasant and painful flu epidemic. I hate the cliché used at the end and although I expected it, I was nevertheless very disappointed.

Although the book could definitely been better, for a quick, light read it is not a bad choice.