Casanova: Avarita - Matt Fraction & Gabriel Ba

This is the third and final part of the Casanova story and it finds him traversing the multiverse in an attempt to for the world of every possible version of the person who will be Newman Xeno.  Is not a task that sits well with him and he soon starts to work to his own ends.  Not everyone is best pleased with this and chaos inevitably ensues.

It's an appropriate end to a series that has been equal parts engrossing and confusing and one that has left me feeling like I've been on quite a fun trip that I was a little to distracted to enjoy fully and as such need to do it again.

Doctor Who: Damaged Goods - Russell T. Davies

The Doctor's continuing investigation of human psi powers brings him to a council estate in Thatcher's Britain. He discovers that there's a lethal new batch of cocaine on the streets--and the man who's dealing it has been dead for two weeks.

Now that was an unexpected treat.  Obviously he's a very able scriptwriter but in his one and only attempt at a novel there was always going to be an element of trepidation as to whether it'd work.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.  What a very different Doctor Who series this would have made.  It's pitch black in tone and filled with drugs and sex - impersonal, alfresco gay sex mostly.  It's set on a London housing estate and features a family called the Tyler's (any relation?) who have a terrible secret that's tearing them apart. Across town is Mrs Jericho and her very I'll son who looks very much like the Tyler's youngest, so much so that the already unhinged Mrs Jericho begins a rapid descent into outright lunacy upon setting him.  Into this mix we have an alien weapon possessing the body of a dead cocaine dealer (and all who've partaken of his wares) and of course The Doctor and his entourage.

The giant robot ending (shades of the Other Doctor Xmas special) is a little OTT but the characters and the settings are spot on.  The doctor is note perfect and the scene in the kitchen and the dining room when Mrs Jericho finally loses it and goes homicidal is utterly sublime.

There were places where I thought it dragged a little but for the most part I thought this was a real entertaining piece of work that would have made for a very, very different show.

Road to Perdition - Max Allan Collins & Richard Piers Rayner

I've known and liked the filmbsince it came along which surprised me as I don't really have a lot of time for Tom Hanks movies.  The book had eluded me though until I found it in a local charity shop the other day.

It's a different beast to the film, less of a road movie vibe, although that's in there, and also an little bit more real, although I certainly am discounting his escape from Capone's office from that statement.

An enjoyable short of tale even though this whole gangster thing isn't a favourite.  It's coherent and complete and satisfying. What more do you want from a Sunday afternoon read.

Ravenor vs Eisenhorn: Pariah - Dan Abnett

A fab surprise on a post Xmas visit to the bookshop as I didn't know this was out.

The first two trilogies - particularly Ravenor - are a real favourite of mine so I was very keen to see where this was going to go.  I pretty much wasn't disappointed.  It wasn't as balls out inventive and editing as the other two series openers but it did have it's moments.

That it features at its centre Bequin who spent the entirety of the Ravenor books dead(ish) and frozen was confusing but the ride to the realisation was a trip.  It's pretty much all about the set-up for the series this one and it'll be a fun ride to find out just where Abnett takes this and just how badly these former allies are going to hurt each other before they take down Chaos.