by MG Harris

BBC Books, out now

The finest time-travelling assassin in the cosmos is running scared – her own death is coming for her in a matter of hours and the only person in the universe who might just be able to save her is the Doctor.

This first novel in the Doom’s Day Doctor Who series covers hours 11 to 14 in the assassin’s 24-hour countdown, though the cover of the book decidedly wants to spoil every surprise contained inside.

Maybe it was a concern that a cover with just Doom on it wouldn’t be enough of a hook to convince the casual reader to pick it up, and instead the safer option has been taken to show which two incarnations of the Doctor make an appearance, which location it’s set on, and which alien race is involved. It’s a shame, because the book is structured in such a way that each of these legacy characters or locales is teased before being revealed, but we’re already there, one step ahead.

Each of the four hours is broken down into nine chapters, meaning that there’s a lot of short chapters helping to propel the story. Author MG Harris writes breathlessly, reflecting Doom’s limited time, but still herein lies the problem. Even in this most long form (to date) iteration of Doom, we barely know her, and as we know so little about her, we struggle to care. At the end of the 24 hours, whether she lives or dies, will her final day linger in our memories, or will she just be seen as a stopgap keeping the brand front of mind until the 60th anniversary?

Verdict: Absolutely fine, but questionable in relevance, and resolute in spoiling its own surprises. 6/10

Nick Joy