gotham_-_dawn_of_darknessBy Jason Starr

Titan, out now

Shortly before the return of Jim Gordon, things are getting bad in Gotham City…

And they’re not a lot better in this book, which unfortunately doesn’t live up to the series that it’s based upon. It feels as if it’s been rushed out – the book is littered with inconsistencies (is Alfred in his sixties or his fifties? we’re told both), typos (kings are apparently vulnerable to “coops” – there’s a joke about pigeons in there waiting to happen) and horrible bits of recapitulation disguised as dialogue. There’s a violent death at the start of the book that Thomas Wayne witnesses, but then it seems as if he’s never seen one before when another occurs later… What doesn’t help is that the book tries to “solve” (or at least present a suggestion as to) the Waynes’ murder but is constrained by the fact the TV show is still unravelling that particular mystery.

It almost feels like two different books have been pushed together – the strand featuring Harvey investigating an art theft at the Waynes, that involves a PI whom Thomas has hired, works much better than any of the rest of it. The scenes as the PI in question disintegrates mentally are also well written, with the noir element that the TV series does so well brought into prose form. But when it gets into continuity overdrive, some of the cameos really feel excessive and it simply doesn’t work.

Verdict: Doing a prequel to a key event in a series before the series itself has run its course is always a dangerous proposition, and in this case, it’s a gamble that doesn’t pay off. 3/10

Paul Simpson