Rip Tide
By Louise Cooper 

     Here is the sixth Dr. Who novella from Telos Publishing (the previous five have all been reviewed on this site) and I find that I look forward to reading them more and more. This is because they have all been consistently imaginative and they have managed to do what is nearly impossible--update the whole concept without ruining it. Television couldn’t manage this, and as this book features the most elusive Dr. Who of all-–the eighth incarnation, played only once by Paul McGann and replete with possibilities, few of which were exploited on television.

     The story takes place in a small Cornish village where lifeboatman Steve and his sullen teenage sister Nina live. Much to Nina’s disgust, Steve has found a rather sinister but attractive tourist called Ruth to be the girl of his dreams, and she is sure that the body which has just been hauled out of the sea has something to do with her. When people start falling sick, she thinks that a mysterious object brought up from the sea bed might also be suspicious, and what about that ominous character who is staying by himself and keeps offering her jelly babies and wants to ask her questions?

     The beauty of keeping Dr. Who alive between the pages of a book is that you can have him however you wish. This attractive and lonely version, who is willing to listen to Nina when nobody else is and buys her dinner, seems to be the incarnation that modern viewers would take to the most. Louise Cooper is well known for her superb children’s books and as she lives in Cornwall, the setting for the story comes to life wonderfully; you can almost smell the sea. This novel also has an underlying theme of teenage angst and dealing with problems that would appeal to readers of that age, but anybody ought to enjoy the tactile mix of seaside holiday, thriller and above all classic British SF for the modern person.