Product Description

A Third Doctor, Jo and Unit novel. In Dartmoor, a punk band get into a fight with a group of rich and rowdy young students, whose Range Rover crashes into their car. The groups are spurred on to insane acts of violence by a mysterious force, and the punk band singer hears a voice in his head which directs him towards a rusty knife buried in the ground. Murder ensues and blood soaks into the rock. It is much later on that a creature emerges from the bloody rock, greedily anticipating the chaos that it plans to cause...The Tardis alerls the Doctor to an incongruous energy fluctuation in the southwest of England. There, he finds himself part of the audience of one of the band's gigs, and their anarchic music is attracting an ever-growing convoy of violent disciples. What is the dormant force that has been awakened, and what are its destructive aims? How many more people must suffer a brutal death before the Doctor can halt the bloody trail of the convoy?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #714770 in Books
• Published on: 2001-03-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 288 pages

Customer Reviews

Very violent, lacking in plot.
If you are a fan of the Pertwee era, give this book a wide berth. It deliberately insults the style and feel of the era by going for a violent bloodbath. The regular characters come over as very two dimensional, merely sharing their names and outward appearences with their TV counterparts. Lewis' characterisation is better with his own creations, but it's still a chore to read, giving little story development, but much concentration on graphic horror. If you like American Psycho, this might be the book for you. If you are looking for a light hearted fantasy based on an old television show that was aimed at family and children, don't look for it here. I persevered to the end and really wished I hadn't.

Very gritty.... what a pity
Rags is, admittedly, an original piece of Earth-bound Who.

The story follows a quartet of mind inflicting ragamuffins, guised as a stereotypical punk rock band. Their course is plotted along the south of England by wanton slaughter, as they move from venue to venue, playing black concerts to suddenly frenzied spectators.

The Doctor is on the case, but is sadly removed from the majority of the action and UNIT watch the violence impassive, courtesy of the author.

Mick focuses on the issues and anxieties at the dawn of 'punk'. He uses all the necessary scope to compliment the clash of the class systems at the time, drawing on the darker side of human nature. Needless to say the story is terribly gritty and the book turns to horror, rather than science fiction.

Personally I feel the story is exaggeratingly gritty, when concentration on the Ragman character could have improved the plot, rather than a surplus use of swear words, for effect. The ending was obviously rushed and the author shows great disrespect towards the character the late Jon Pertwee created for us all to adore.

The book strays completely from the 'Doctor Who' theme we readers look forward to and sadly leaves disappointment upon closure.

Join the Ragged!
A very unique entry into the novels series-very gory and with a sense of quite explicit character. Beware the horror if easily queasy but enjoy also a well written novel, Dr Who at it's most disturbing. The only reservations are a total lack of humour and the clear annoyance of the author of having to include the Doctor, who is kept at arms length for the duration of the story. Never the less-recommended. Unique also for me as it has one of my local pub haunts on page 94 and Jo gets to snog another female character!!! Truly a one in a million occurence!! But remember, after reading Rags...don't have nightmares. They may come to haunt you back.