Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1019 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-06
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Synopsis
Tiger Bay, Cardiff, 1950: A mysterious crate is brought into the docks on a Scandinavian cargo ship, the Kungssangen. Its destination: The Torchwood Institute. As the crate is offloaded by a group of local dockers it explodes, killing all but one; a young Butetown lad called Michael Bellini. Fifty-eight years later a radioactive source somewhere inside Torchwood leads the team to discover the same Michael Bellini, still young and dressed in his 1950s clothes, cowering in the vaults. As they question the intruder, it becomes apparent that each of them has met him in the past. All of them remember him talking incoherently about terrifying 'Men In Bowler Hats' and little more, but it's Jack who remembers him best of all.

Customer Reviews

A must-read book
This is an excellent book that you must read. It gets better by the minute! I particularly like the bit about the Vondraxian Orb and how Jack described it. I also liked the men in bowler hats as well.
Read it and you will love it!

I enjoyed it
This book is a bit different than the other Torchwood novels I know because the actual main character is a time traveller called Michael. Michael is a very intriguing character who became a continuous time traveller by an accident that is linked to Torchwood. From the beginning I was wondering what will become of him and I was kept wondering until the end of the book. I like it that the answer is somewhat open to interpretation. Maybe Jack managed to break the cycle Michael is stuck in but maybe not. But even if he did, I don`t think Jack was able to finally free Michael. I very much cared for that tragic character and although I would have wished a happy end for him I think the author made the right choice.

What I like is that this book uses the opportunity when exploring the accident and its consequences to reveal more about Torchwood`s past and the history of the main characters. If the author wanted to, he could easily write a sequel. I would welcome it if the does but maybe it is better to leave the reader wondering and wanting more.

Captain Fantastic
Having read all of the original Torchwood novels published to complement the TV series, I have found them to get better and better. I often think that they would make good television stories and this novel in particular could be a cracker with today's special effects. Michael is an enigma - how does he know the Torchwood team, why does he think he's travelling in time and who are the sinister 'men in bowler hats' who seem to know exactly when and where he's going to be at any given time and who will stop at nothing to track him down..?
David Llewellyn has produced another fast-paced, imaginative and unputdownable read; let's hope there are many more to come.