(2021) Alex Kingston, BBC Books, £16.99 / Can$35.99 / US$23.99, hrdbk, xi + 275pp, ISBN 978-1-785-94713-1
This story is set in a prison called Stormcage in the year 5147. Where River Song is once again imprisoned.
She is there voluntarily so she can write a book. The book, Melody Malone Mysteries set in 1939 New York and Egypt.
She is forced to find a reality-altering weapon, the Eye of Horus. The trouble is everyone who comes into contact with it dies. River doesn't believe in curses, so the adventure starts.
The story takes us from the top-security confines of Stormcage to the Egypt of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar’s Rome, to find the Eye of Horus before its powers are used to transform the universe.
She must team up with a most unlikely ally - Melody Malone, her own fictional alter ego. Together they must solve mysterious deaths and find the eye.
For Doctor Who fans there is a cameo of the latest Doctor helping River.
This is a very good read. Alex is of course the Actor who played River in Doctor Who, she had help in the guise of the excellent Jacqueline Rayner, who has written many 'Doctor Who' and 'Bernice Summerfield' books.
Terry Miles
See also Peter's more substantial review of Doctor Who: The Ruby's Curse.
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