Torchwood: Risk Assessment [Hardcover]

James Goss (Author)

Book Description

Series: Torchwood | Publication Date: January 5, 2010

Agnes Haversham is awake, and Jack is worried (and not a little afraid). The Torchwood Assessor is roused from her sleep in only the worst of times - it's happened just four times in the last 100 years. Can the situation really be so bad? Someone, somewhere, is fighting a war, and they're losing badly. The coffins of the dead are coming through the Rift. With thousands of alien bodies floating in the Bristol Channel, it's down to Torchwood to round them all up before a lethal plague breaks out. And now they'll have to do it by the book - the 1901 edition!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James Goss spent seven years working on the BBC's official Doctor Who website and co-wrote the website for Torchwood Series One. In 2007, he won the Best Adaptation category in the annual LA Weekly Theatre Awards for his version of Douglas Adams' novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Random House UK (January 5, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1846077834
• ISBN-13: 978-1846077838
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #695,745 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Jhaeman's Reviews, March 31, 2010

By 

Jeremy (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Torchwood: Risk Assessment (Hardcover)

SPOILERY


There's a couple of things that really set James Goss' Risk Assessment apart from other Torchwood novels.

First, there's the introduction of a great new character, Agnes Havisham. Havisham is the Torchwood Assessor, the person responsible for overseeing all Torchwood operations around the world and with the power to close them down if they get out of line. However, Havisham is kept in a perpetual state of suspended animation and awakened only when computers sense a moment of great crisis--something that has only happened four times in the last century. The best thing about Havisham (a Victorian-era spitfire of a woman) is that she's the one person Captain Jack is afraid of--indeed, instead of his normal cool and suave self, he comes across as a bumbling pretty-boy when in her presence. It's rare to see Jack out of his element, and the novel has quite a lot of fun with the situation.

Second, the book has a really nice twist about half way through. Normally, when the heroes attempt all kinds of crazy schemes to stop the big alien menace (in this case, a galaxy-devouring entity called The Vam--which seems rather similar to The Gordian from the story in Torchwood Magazine # 14) we know they're going to fail until finally hitting on a solution in the last chapter or two of the book. Here, however, they dispose of The Vam surprisingly quickly and then we learn that the real threat is something that has been properly hinted at but easy to overlook. Good stuff.

There's also some nice continuity with other Torchwood tie-in products: a new speedboat named The Sea Queen II since the first one was destroyed in The Sin Eaters audio book; a mention of Torchwood India, last seen in The Golden Age radio play; and a chapter set in the Skypoint Apartments from the novel Skypoint. There's also some fun flashbacks to previously unknown adventures that Havisham and Jack have shared, as well as Jack having experimented (and failed miserably) at being something other than a Torchwood operative.

I thought the end was perhaps a bit too jokey, but Goss definitely created a great character in Agnes Haversham--one I would love to see again.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Cracking Good yarn., April 11, 2010

By 

GUSR19 "JimE" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Torchwood: Risk Assessment (Hardcover)

OK, this is an interesting book with two separate stories in it, with just a little overlap. I have to admit that the ending is a bit strange (I will not give it away) and needed to be continued in another book, but does not seem to be ???

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful and mixed..., January 24, 2010

By 

Michael Valdivielso (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Torchwood: Risk Assessment (Hardcover)

The best part about this book is the flow of the story never slows down. Action, character development, flashbacks, and more than one threat to the Earth. What more could you want? Well, the story also shows you some scenes from Torchwood's early years. James Goss shows that his first Torchwood book was not great just because of good luck. He is a good author and I hope he writes some more books for this series. And others!
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