Yeah, I know.  Sorry.  But Dead Romance made me REALLY want to see
what could follow it, and Justin is my favorite Who author, and so I kinda read
the book in 2 days.  Um.
 
SUMMARY:  Obviously, not another Dead Romance.  But not the 'return to
normal' runaround I was suspecting.  In fact, it's what Justin does best:  a
well-plotted mystery-thriller where the plot reigns supreme and twists like a
twisty thing.
 
SPOILERS!!!  (I mean it this time, I talk about the ending, the
plot twists, the character twists, everything)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I've mentioned before that my favorite author is Justin.  Kate's books grip me
more, Dave's books are funnier and/or creepier, Paul's books are more
romantic, and Lawrence's books mess with your head more, but Justin just
writes damn good plot.  Over and over again. My mouth drops open more times
reading Justin's books than any other author.  This book is no exception.  I
expected it to be the 'back to normal' book.  I should have known better, even
with Dave's book coming in August.
 
Specifics, as per usual:
 
PLOT:  As always, the best part of the book.  It's a murder mystery, like many
traditional Benny books, with a dash of thriller, like many traditional Benny
books, with loads of recurring characters... and yet it manages to have some
gob-smacking twists that make it pretty damn revolutionary.  This book has a
lot of ground to cover. Benny's illness, more Dellah antics, Cwej's new body...
it's a very full book.
 
BENNY:  Certainly not quite back to normal, even before she gets infected. 
The first 60 pages or so have Benny acting almost TOO Benny-like, turned up
a tad too manic.  She's clearly not recovered from the whole Dellah/Mary-Sue
incident.  We also get a side of Bernice we rarely see, when she finds out
she's dying.  It's a
very touching breakdown, tying in as it does with her growing 
paranoia later on.  And yet, in the end she finds the courage to go on, with the
help of her friends.
 
BRAXIATEL:  It looks like we're going to be seeing even more of
Irving now that the Benny Books are off Dellah.  He works very well in this
venue, not as a Doctor-substitute, but more of a mentor figure.  He too gets to
have his emotional moments, and this book and Where Angels Fear have
served to humanize him.  Oh, and then there's his brother.  I love the way that
these books don't connect to the Who universe anymore.  <snort>
 
JASON:  Well, technically Jason only shows up towards the end.  However, we
do see a pretty damn spiffy simulation of him.  Both Jasons, however, are
clearly very much in love with Benny.  The
end of the book has him propose again, and I don't think it was
just because she's dying.  I was very upset when they broke up the marriage in
Eternity Weeps, but it's clear the long-range plans of the Benny Book authors
are more complex and romantic. ^_^
 
OTHERS:  Lots.  We lose two more recurring characters to the
huge retcon of 1999, and their deaths are both quite tragic.  Cwej is back, and I
admit I was a little disappointed to see him so... Cwej-like.  Hopefully we'll see
him again, and see how well he's REALLY handling his regeneration.  We get
Clarence's old identity revealed to us (though I kinda guessed this), a couple
possible new recurring characters, and B-Aaron playing Columbo again.  
In fact, B-Aaron as detective might carry a book all by itself.
 
VILLAIN:  Um...the creature?  Well, it kills a few people, but it's kinda hard to
hate it, as it's so insubstantial.  Kebara?  More
pitying him.  The Oracle?  Definitely pitying her.  Speaking of
which, her fate was very much left open.  Will Benny & co. reveal where she
is?
 
STYLE:  The book starts with a snippet of a very late chapter,
making us read it very much out of context.  This sets a tone of paranoia that's
very appropriate to the book itself, as we try to see what Justin's implying and
then break our neck as he goes in another direction.  Certainly I was as
untrusting of the cast as Benny towards the end.
 
PROBLEMS:  Well, one.  There's a lot of Scooby-Doo-ing at the end where
Braxiatel, God, and B-Aaron take time out to explain the 
plot twists to us.  It felt much like one of Watkinson's lectures. 
 
OVERALL:  This can't really get a 10, not after Dead Romance.  But it's an
interesting page-turner that introduces new avenues, closes off old ones, gets
Benny back into the spotlight for the first time really since Beige Planet Mars,
and manages to make the People look much less utopian and more...human
(pardon the ref).  
 
I guess it is a typical Benny book after all, then.
 
9/10.
 
--SG
--who may start up the reviews again just for the Benny books...