I read this novel twice. This was not because I enjoyed it so much that I had to go back for a second helping, though. No, the reason for the repeat was that I found the narrative too complicated to cope with first time around. Unfortunately, the second attempt proved to be just as confusing. The source of my bewilderment is the Doctor’s yo-yo time line in this story.
Now, I know that this novel has received a good number of favourable reviews, and I’m perfectly happy to accept that the fault for my bemusement is my own: plenty of other readers have not had a problem with the story’s non-linear structure.
Albert is a very clever man. At the novel’s opening, 1973, the fruits of his labours are about to become apparent: artificial intelligence, and, further down the line, the advent of the android and robot assassins. But when one assassination on foreign soil turns into a massacre, the order is given for the androids’ destruction. And it’s this event that gives rise to the Doctor’s skewed race against time, and where the muddle in my head begins.
It’s a shame that I have this issue with the novel because otherwise it’s very well written, particularly Albert’s character. His emotional attachment to one of the androids and the isolation imposed on him by the military make him seem both psychotic and vulnerable. Amy and Rory don’t get much of a look in, but their dialogue fits in well with their television personas.
Oli Smith has also dabbled with an out of sync time line for the Doctor in the enjoyable audio story The Runaway Train. That story’s plot was far less convoluted and the time line aspect was an unnecessary adjunct.
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