Product Description

The ninth novel in the bestselling Torchwood range from BBC Books. Emma is 30, single and, frankly, desperate. She woke up this morning with nothing to look forward to but another evening of unsuccessful speed-dating. But now she has a new weapon in her quest for Mr Right. And it's made her almost perfect! Ianto Jones woke up this morning with no memory of last night. He went to work, where he caused amusement, suspicion, and a little bit of jealousy. Because Ianto Jones woke up this morning in the body of a woman! And he's looking just about perfect! And Jack Harkness has always had his doubts about Perfection...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30790 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

About the Author
James Goss spent seven years working on the BBC's official Doctor Who website and co-wrote the website for Torchwood Series One. In 2007, he won the Best Adaptation category in the annual LA Weekly Theatre Awards for his version of Douglas Adams' novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

Customer Reviews

Almost Perfect is a fun but poniant read
Many people will probably roll their eyes upon first reading the synopsis for this book but I would advise them to give this story a go, as the subject matter is handled better than you initailly think.

The main focus of this story is on Ianto Jones but it also focuses on a woman called Emma, who after coming across an unknown alien tech on the dead body of a woman, finds a sinister voice in her head telling her that she can mysteriously make both herself and the men that she meets almost perfect, through the use of physical manipulation.

Gwen arrives at work one morning to find a beautiful and unknown woman appearing to be doing Ianto's job but it isn't until several minutes later that she finds out exactly who the 'woman' is. On the same day, the team also find a fully clothed skeleton sitting at a resturant table.

Rhys also gets to play a role in the story.

Whilst there are obviously humourous moments to be found in Ianto's situation and a few moments that make you roll your eyes when it comes to female cliches, there are also poniant moments too, with Ianto thinking about his relationship with Jack from time to time.

Both the Jack/Ianto and Gwen/Rhys relationships are given more warmth and dignity here than in much of series 2 - there isn't a hint of Jack/Gwen anywhere beyond friendship and even Gwen and Ianto get to share some nice moments together as Ianto faces up to his situation - and whilst it's fairly clear that Jack isn't in love with Ianto, you come away with the feeling that it could be a possibility in the next series.

Perfect Page Turner
Although it sounds like something from the maddest reaches of fanfiction, you shouldn't let the overall premise of Ianto waking up as a beautiful woman put you off reading this story. This is a fast-paced mystery thriller in which all the pieces slot together until you eventually find out how this bizarre situation happened. No prizes for guessing that alien tech is involved and that it's all Jack's fault, even if he doesn't realise it at first.

The short chapters switching from one set of protagonists to another really move the story along, and keep you turning the pages, although you do have to concentrate to keep the time-line straight as the narrative jumps around.

All the main characters are well written, especially Jack who leaps quipping, smirking and larger than life out of the pages, until he is once again put in the position of having to make the really tough decisions to undo the damage.

There are moments of great humour including the Time Agency's use of flowcharts and Rhys & Gwen undercover at a speed-dating session; real horror and also poignancy - particularly when Ianto is given the opportunity to have his heart's desire granted.

(S)he's got perfect skin
A strange one this - James Goss' story is uneven and often uneventful, and focuses on Ianto's overnight transformation into a woman, possibly caused by an unidentified alien presence that's making people beautiful and curing cancer miraculously but also destroying lives and reducing hapless people to ashes.

With the majority of chapters being very brief, and a lot of focus on the relationship between Gwen and Rhys, the book seems to lack cohesion, and I found it to be difficult to be drawn into events. The inherent humour in Ianto's new form is played pretty well, and Jack is his usual innuendo-driven self, while several references to Tosh and Owen remind us that this new slimmed down Torchwood is still recovering from the sudden deaths of two of its members.

Overall it's one of the weaker in the series but is still pretty fun and true to the spirit of the TV show.