Torchwood: The Undertaker's Gift [Hardcover]

Trevor Baxendale (Author)

Book Description

Series: Torchwood | Publication Date: January 5, 2010

The Hokrala Corp lawyers are back, and they're suing planet Earth for mishandling the twenty-first century! An assassin has been sent to remove Captain Jack Harkness! And, a record number of aliens have been coming through the Rift - it's been a busy week in Cardiff. Now, there are reports of an extraordinary funeral cortege in the night time city, with mysterious pallbearers guarding a rotting cadaver that simply doesn't want to be buried. Torchwood should be ready for anything, but with Jack the target of an invisible killer, Gwen trapped in a forgotten crypt, and Ianto Jones falling desperately ill, could a world of suffering by the Undertaker's gift to planet Earth?

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Trevor Baxendale was born in Liverpool in 1966. He has been contributing to a variety of Doctor Who fiction ranges for both BBC Books and Big Finish Productions for the last ten years and is the author of the award-winning 2004 BBC novel The Deadstone Memorial. He is a regular contributor to BBC Magazines' hugely popular Doctor Who Adventures, scripting the further exploits of the Doctor in comic strip form. His first Torchwood novel, Something in the Water, was published in March 2008 and was a national bestseller.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Random House UK (January 5, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1846077826
• ISBN-13: 978-1846077821
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #301,821 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Complete waste of money if you enjoy Torchwood!, January 31, 2010

By 

Jaybird023 "jaybird023" (Co United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Torchwood: The Undertaker's Gift (Hardcover)

The storyline itself sounded interesting at first, but it is really hard to get through the obvious attempts of the writer who seems to be cheering for a Gwen/Jack pairing or who may have slightly homophobic tendencies. On top of that, it ended up being rather predictable in which you knew that things were going to work out a certain way. Normally that wouldn't bother me, but for a book I should have finished in 1 day, it took me nearly a week to read it because I had to keep putting it down whenever Jack's character went off in some weird tangent and didn't act like himself (which happened every three or four pages!).

I have liked nearly every Torchwood book that I've read (12 of 15), but this one seemed way too out of character on everyone. Jack spends half his time pining after Gwen and the other half completely ignoring Ianto or disproving of his actions. Then when Ianto ends up getting hurt, he shows no concern for him at all! I tried several times to get into the storyline, because it really would have been a good one otherwise, but every other page there seems to be some reference to Jack acting like a complete jerk. Nearly all the other Torchwood books have some form of normal interaction between the characters, but for a book that was supposed to take place just before COE, this one seemed to fail miserably in that aspect. I would not recommend this book if you like the characters or cannon couples. The writer seems to have a fascination with Jack and Gwen being together and ignoring the fact that Ianto would not put up with the way Jack treats him in this book. Also, I have to add, that you really should avoid this book unless you want to struggle against the urge to throw it across the room when Jack's having a sex dream about Gwen!

To top it all off, Jack actually gives two people the OPTION of being retconned in the end. He's normally avid about doing the right thing for Torchwood. He wouldn't give them an option just because they became a happy little hetro couple in that time frame, as we've seen on the show. What's important is keeping the secret. In this, he just walks away after setting the pills on the table in front of them and telling them exactly what they do. Therefor giving them the option of doing whatever they want with it. Just imagine what would happen if some scientist got a hold of it because this couple decided to make some money off of it!

Honestly, the portrayal of Jack in this book made me have to keep closing it to look at the cover and make sure I was actually reading a book about Torchwood. If it hadn't have had a picture of John Barrowman on the cover I would have thought it was some weird book about 3 overtly obnoxious people who only mildly resembled the characters we all love so much.

What a waste of money...

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Misses the mark by a rather large distance, February 11, 2010

By 

Michael A. Duvernois (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Torchwood: The Undertaker's Gift (Hardcover)

The characterizations are dramatically off from the show. Jack is not recognizable in this book. The plot and writing are okay, nothing great, but the feel is all wrong. This doesn't add anything to Torchwood.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Captain Jack "OOC" Harkness..., May 9, 2010

By 

Michael Valdivielso (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Torchwood: The Undertaker's Gift (Hardcover)

I liked Something In The Water (Torchwood) so another story by Trevor Baxendale was OK to me. But for some reason things just didn't click. As many people have already pointed out Jack wasn't Jack. And as he is the Hero, the major character, the Big Cheese of the story, if you mess him up you mess up everything. Watch out, more spoilers.
One of the dark realities about being in Torchwood is sometimes doing things that need to be done, even if they are not just or right. Helping people to forget is one of those dark, depressing facts of being a part of Torchwood. Retcon was part of the Torchwood tool kit, right up there with the SUV, big guns, and good coffee. People don't decide if they want to forget or not. Choices have very little to do with the events that twist and twirl around the universe that is Torchwood. That is why it is so dark and sad and realistic.
And there is a Vortex Dweller. Really? I thought living beings could not live in the Time Vortex - well, it may depend on which Doctor you listen to. But that's like having God show up with a mop to clean everything up. As one of the other reviewers has already pointed out also. This isn't bad writing, but it is lazy writing.