The Taint

Michael Collier

ISBN 10: 0563555688 / ISBN 13: 9780563555681

Published by BBC, 1999

About this Item

THERE ARE NO TARIFFS OR CUSTOMS DUTIES ON BOOKS. The Doctor and Sam become involved in the psychological experiments being performed by one Charles Roley on former sufferers of mental illness - he is probing the psyches of six people who believe they've been possessed by the devil.

Seller Inventory # 441808

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Taint
• Publisher: BBC
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0563555688
• ISBN 13: 9780563555681
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Fair

About this title

Synopsis

The Tardis lands in 1963, and soon the Doctor and Sam become involved in the psychological experiments being performed by Charles Roley on former sufferers of mental illness -- he is probing the psyches of six people who believed they've been possessed by the devil.

While the Doctor is horrified to learn the full extent of the side-effects brought into being by Roley's research, Sam heads off to experience the swinging London of her parents' youth. Instead she finds deadly danger at the hands of a sinister half-man half-robot double act whose agenda is inextricably linked to Roley's test subjects.

Review

Michael Collier's previous book, The Longest Day, featured some good characters (especially the inspired Nashaad) and an interesting alien in the Kusk. With The Taint, all we get is very confused indeed as a group of inadequately described loonies takes over the asylum. It's very difficult to keep track of who is who early on, and so at the end knowing who lived or died is impossible.

The idea of alien mind parasites is nice if unoriginal, and the two robotic guardian-types were also neat, but their function in the novel is unclear. The new companion character Fitz remains something of an enigma, although he does have some nice moments and some interesting defining characteristics.

There are some good ideas in The Taint, but unfortunately the writing never manages to rise above the level of competent, and the plot gets a little submerged under a surfeit of characters. It's a pity, especially after the excellence of The Janus Conjunction, Vanderdeken's Children and The Face-Eater. --David J. Howe, Amazon.co.uk