In short: A bloody good writer! by Joe Ford 12/12/03
He doesn't crop up very often but when he does he creates a controversy that is talked about for ages. His work has been revered (Who Killed Kennedy) and reviled (The Domino Effect) and you always know when you pick up one of his books/CD's it will provoke one of these extreme reactions. He always tries something different, and largely succeeds and at times pushes the realms of Doctor Who further than they should ever go... ladies and gentlemen I give you David Bishop!
Who Killed Kennedy: Any book that can take so many Pertwee stories and put such a fresh spin on them is worth a read in my book. If you love The X-Files then you will love this, it creates a conspiracy out of every single UNIT adventure. And it is further proof that Doctor Who has created such a fantastic canvas that it is possible to paint on it without the Doctor (who only appears in one scene) or the Brigadier (who is usually a must for a Pertwee PDA but only makes token appearances) and still be thoroughly absorbing. Protagonist James Stevens is captured vividly in the most dramatic period of his life, whilst he is losing his wife, his career, his reputation and his girlfriend we are privy to his every thought in remarkable first person prose. This is the sort of experiment that the PDAs should be capable of producing more regularly, a brave move tackling so much continuity but it pulls off the brilliant trick of allowing us to see the canon stories through the eyes on the public thus enhancing the continuity it is stealing.
Verdict: A plus (The amazing ending is just the icing on the cake)
Amorality Tale: My friend Matt hated this, he
claimed it was too childish and admittedly it is written in quite a
childish way (events are described briskly and excitingly as though to
perk the interest of a bored eleven year old) but that is the books major
strength in my eyes. Who doesn't love the Target novels and their
theatrical, hide under the bed terror? The bizarre and the normal mixed to
disturbing effect. Amorality Tale captures this surreal atmosphere,
taking the scary idea of killer fog in London and showing us how its
inhabitants are affected. While the gang wars and evil coppers are the
stuff of kids books the very human tragedy the book thrives on is
extremely adult. Rose and Frank Kelly are in three scenes but these
characters remain vivid in my mind today, their broken marriage repaired
thanks to their terrifying imminent deaths. Even blatant audience
manipulation characters like Brick and his pigeons works because we see
his pain through Sarah's eyes. Bishop fulfils one of my PDA wishes and
for somebody to write a 3rd Doctor and Sarah novel, this often ignored yet
instantly likable couple slapping away the novel's traditional ambience
and proving to be as much of a joy as I imagined. This is definitely Sarah
from season eleven, bolshie, intelligent and sensitive but Bishop's piece
de resistance comes with the tired, sensitive 3rd Doctor who is desperate
to stay out of things but cannot manage it. You get the feeling that he
knows his adventures in this body are coming to a close, an almost Logopolis style emotional cloud hanging over the story.
The Xhinn are imaginative and well written but it is at their arrival that
the book stops being vulnerable and emotional and takes on a shallower
tone. A shame because the human drama involved in the killer fog was
easily enough to hold up the book.
Verdict: B plus (Charming and poignant, if childish in spots)
The Domino Effect: How many times can I say this
without you guys wanting to slap me in the face? I have read this book
three times and each time came away suitably impressed. It has a dramatic
core that many books would be envious of and a brilliant idea (the world
that was halted, technologically, at all the important leaps) to start of
the alternative universe arc. Yes, Fitz and Anji are slow on the uptake
that this is an alternative universe and yes the book does revel in some
sadistic violence but these are mere niggles compared to all the good
stuff we get. 'Britannia' is a scary place to visit, all the Doctor, Fitz
and Anji do is arrive and try to settle in and they are racially abused,
accused of being terrorists, beaten up, forced to admit to evil crimes on
television and basically manipulated to seem like the bad guys all the
time. Bishop wants to show you how bad things could be and he does so well
creating a chilling world where everyone is corrupt, traitors and cowards.
The book moves at an incredible pace with lots of action and excitement,
the ending is especially striking. Sabbath
shows up and once again proves what a complete bastard he is; those apes
of his are scarier than ever. However the Doctor is quite forgettable,
being more subdued and detached from the plot than he has been for ages.
He could almost be the fifth Doctor! The secondary characters don't jump
at you but it is fun to guess who their parallels in 'our' world. The best
character comes in Alan Turing and Bishop handles his imprisonment and his
homosexuality in an extremely sensitive fashion.
Verdict: A minus (A book fizzing with powerful scenes and shock
moments)
And for Big Finish...
Sarah Jane Smith: Test of Nerve: On audio,
Bishop gets to show just how sharp his plotting skills are by filling 70
minutes with intrigue, scares and dilemmas, setting up some excellent
mysteries and providing some very satisfactory answers. It is the best SJS
audio by a square mile, treating its characters with care and providing a
real whoop-ass of a finale. Lis Sladen leaps on the chance to make Sarah
more paranoid than ever. Bishop writes her as a moral voice in a corrupt
world, a slightly crabby, bitter woman who just wants to protect those
close to her. The result is a character that barely resembles her cuddly
persona on the telly but makes her more interesting than ever. And
regulars Josh and Nat both get a good deal of lavish repair work after the
first two substandard SJS audios. Best of all is how well Bishop captures
the 'horror in suburbia' theme that drew me to the series. Utilising the
nightmare idea of nerve gas in the Underground, he uses the recent media
scares to unsettling effect. The fact that James Carver (Roy Skelton in
fine form) has a realistic (but hardly justifiable) motive (an ex
soldgier, obsessed with the fact he was experimented on during those ugly
years) helps lift the story's credibility no end. The real world is a very
frightening place to live in in Test of Nerve, a
strangling, oppressive society full of traps and surprises. The ending is
sensational, Josh trapped on the underground where Carver is about to
release the nerve gas on a train of un suspecting commuters, Nat trapped
at home with a bomb ticking away and no way out... and Sarah only has time
to prevent one of these horrors. Those last ten minutes show how a nail
biting finish should be done.
Verdict: A plus (on my intial listen I was awe struck at how good this
series could be)
Unbound: Full Fathom Five: It would be unfair to
label this 65 minutes of build up just to reach a delicious ending but it
certainly feels like that after listening, those last few minutes tossing
away any expectations you might have at how far Doctor Who can go.
It is a climax you will never forget, dismissing formula and taking the
'Unbound' ideal to its limit (where ANYTHING can happen). But there is
much more to savour, chief among them David Collins' take on
the Doctor. Aside from the
ending the story is quite happy to hit some traditional notes (the
underground base, the misguided scientist, the girl wanting to find out
what happened to her father all being the stuff of cliche) albeit with a
dark, sinister edge that is no doubt helped by Andy Hardwick's spine
tingling score. The acting is good and the production has a palpable
claustrophobic feel. But it is still the heart-stopping (literally) ending
that will cling to your mind when it's all over.
Verdict: A (A terrific shocker)
Clearly I am quite impressed with David Bishop's work, his is a talent for decent action stories, freed from the angst and melodrama that invades so much Doctor Who fiction/audios.
Endings. David understands endings, the climax of a book is all important in my eyes, a decent read can go rapidly downhill if the ending fails to provide decent enough answers or to end the book with a big enough bang. Zeta Major and Endgame, Grimm Reality and Heritage, they all had lousy endings and frankly ruined my opinion of them. Who Killed Kennedy uses protagonist James Stevens, expert in JFK, and forces him back in time to stop the Master's minion from preventing the assassination! And in those final frightening moments Stevens realises somebody has to shoot him to keep history on track and finds himself holding the gun... a truly astonishing turn of events, impossible to predict and utterly unforgettable. And his two audios have outstanding climaxes, so good they both left me yearning for more.
He is a bit of a realist too, our David, he doesn't like to get bogged down in too much fantasy. Even when there are fantastical elements present like he likes to add a good dose of realism to make sure we remember this is serious. Amorality Tale features killer alien smog but opposes that with violent gang wars. The Domino Effect is set in an alternative universe (a SF gimmick if ever there was one) but it is full of violent, sadistic bastards. The sudden SF theme of time travel in Who Killed Kennedy is undone with the assassination. If nothing else you know with David Bishop the book won't be silly or full of belly laughs and it will definitely have a strong dramatic core.
David has a penchant for hurting the nice characters in his books that is both a curse and blessing. It does appear quite sadistic for him to have Fitz brutally beaten up (continuously) and forced in front of a camera to confess his terrorist actions and to punish James Stevens endlessly by taking away everything he loves to the point that he puts a gun to his head but it is extremely brave too. Funky guys like Fitz and James are the ones we root for in the books and to have them tortured is discomforting but powerful and keeps you reading. And that's not even mentioning what he puts poor Sarah through. David can be a little manipulative git too, killing off the nice characters earlier than the horrible ones. He reminds us frequently how unfair the world can be.
Each of his books and audios has a sparkling moment or two, irrelevant to the plot but perfect in making you glow with pride. One such moment creeps up unexpectedly in The Domino Effect, Fitz, beaten and bruised finds out that Anji and the Doctor are coming to rescue him and despite his horrific injuries laughs his head off. His torturer Hastings is incensed, he has lost any hold of the boy as Fitz cries, "My friends are coming for me, and there's nothing that you or your little tinpot army of thugs can do to stop them." And suddenly Hastings is very, very afraid of his new found confidence. A delightful reversal of fortune.
Another comes in Who Killed Kennedy when the Brigadier finally meets up with Stevens and reveals why UNIT is such a secret organisation. Stevens realises with horror as he stares down at an Ogron that he has been wrong about everything.
People have been extremely unkind about Bishop's prose and I have to set the record straight. Not quite Terrance Dicks and nowhere near Lloyd Rose, his style is perfect for the type of stories he tells. There is no Tolkien style detail or overdone similes and metaphors, David writes in a shockingly brief documentary style, not just for Who Killed Kennedy, which demanded a journalistic approach. The stories he is telling is serious and so is the prose, sharp and to the point. I wouldn't want every book to be written like this but it makes an interesting change from the usual overdone scribblings we get. Bishop knows he's no great prose writer so he doesn't pretend to be; he concentrates on his strengths, storytelling and firm characterisation. He gives his characters strong dialogue ("Saran gas in a pellet. Just imagine what I could do with this on the underground during rush hour tomorrow?", "Well I guess this is all about priorities, isn't it? You've got yours and I've got mine! Are you sure you know what you really want Doctor?" says Anji) which distinguishes them and ensures they are living, breathing people and not just ciphers in the plot.
Like I said at the beginning of this review David Bishop hasn't written much compared to some of the other, bigger Who names (Kate Orman, Paul Cornell) but in my eyes he has managed to achieve more than most because he never gives up trying to surprise you. I expect his PDA next year will be another triumph, utilising the fifth Doctor and Nyssa (no Tegan! Yay!) in Victorian England (double yay!) it sounds like a ripping read without even hearing the blurb.
And a quick message to Big Finish... use David Bishop again, he has delivered two of your best audios, you should recognise talent when you see it!
Boasting strong violence, twisted characters and dark themes David Bishop's work is not for the faint hearted but I promise you you will find his books readable and gripping and his audios impossible to turn off.