By Jacqueline Rayner, Mike Tucker, Paul Magrs, Richard Dungworth, Scott Handcock and Craig Donaghy, illustrated by Rohan Eason

Penguin, out now

Twelve creepy tales to mark Halloween…

This collection of a dozen short stories – one per Doctor, told in chronological order – marks Penguin pushing at the boundaries a bit, with some quite scary moments that may well unsettle some younger readers. Put in Doctor Who terms, it’s the Hinchcliffe era – briefly revisited in Mummy on the Orient Express – in book form, with each of the writers conjuring up vivid scenarios.

I’m not going to analyse each story since part of the joy of the collection is working out whether it’s an old or new enemy the Doctor is facing and if the former, which monster is involved (although one story may be slightly spoiled by the early inclusion of the creature in a picture) – but we’ve got many of the usual suspects, as well as ones that won’t surprise you. If there wasn’t a witchy story including Carrionites herein, then something would have gone seriously wrong! There are prequels and sequels to TV stories and focus on at least one TARDIS team who really don’t feature in enough spin-off fiction. Each author takes their time to create the necessary atmosphere so that you feel engaged with the (often young) protagonists.

Verdict: An enjoyably spooky anthology. 8/10

Paul Simpson