Grave Matter by: Justin Richards

 

Doctor Who has always had a relationship with classic horror and science fiction literature for stories.  The Hinchcliffe/Holmes producer/script editor team drew heavily on Frankenstein, Forbidden Planet, Who Goes There?, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and The Mummy throughout Season 13 and stories like Robot and State of Decay took plot elements from King Kong and Dracula respectively outside of that particular duo’s era proving how much influence horror has on Doctor Who.  Interestingly of the classic horror monsters of vampires, werewolves, Frankenstein’s monsters, and zombies, zombies were absent from the television series, with vampires making multiple appearances (The Claws of Axos and The Curse of Fenric are also vampire stories, though with a science fiction and World War II twist respectively), werewolves getting their day in The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.  While David A. McIntee would use zombies to great effect in his first book, White Darkness, these were the genuine zombies of the voodoo faith and overshadowed by the Lovecraftian horror of the Old Ones and violence of the period, meaning that it wouldn’t really be until the Past Doctor Adventures novel Grave Matter in 2000 for a traditional “western” zombie story.

 

Grave Matter is a book of two halves, the first half being a traditional Hinchcliffe/Holmes style Doctor Who horror story and the second half transitions excellently into a science fiction zombie thriller akin to the best aspects of Seasons 18 and the Pertwee era (without the military intervention).  The book takes place on the secluded island of Sheldon’s Folly, a mist covered island trapped in Victorian times with no electricity and a folly at the peak of the island run by a mysterious Christopher Sheldon who spends most of his time in London.  Richards’ thrust of the narrative is a misunderstanding of what time the Doctor and Peri have landed in, as the island is technologically distant the initial idea is that they’ve landed in Victorian times at a funeral.  These sections of the book are excellent as the Doctor and Peri are essentially outsiders who can’t find their way into these islanders’ social circles, performing their own social faux pas as they imply that the dead were somehow terrible in their navigating of the sea.  Early scenes take place in the local pub right at the end of the funeral, and that slow build helps drench the book in an atmosphere.  One scene which perfectly encapsulates this is the Doctor and Peri, out in the fog, being passed by a zombie whose nature isn’t revealed right until the final third.  It’s a scene which essentially builds tension where the Doctor, Peri, and the reader really don’t understand just what this person is doing out in the fog, wandering through its life.  The Doctor and Peri’s dynamic are also incredibly well developed here: there is definitely slight antagonism as this is early for them, but it isn’t every hateful like in The Twin Dilemma and Attack of the Cybermen.  Richards gives Peri her own moments where she can challenge and quip right back at the Doctor for an excellent point to develop why they work as a TARDIS team.

 

Interestingly, Grave Matter essentially unfolds as a mystery as the Doctor and Peri are simultaneously attempting to solve where exactly they are, why there are so many people dying on this island, and why the children are acting strangely and can learn somehow simultaneously.  Richards just gives everything this absolutely dripping layer of horror atmosphere.  Once the genre shifts and the zombies start to rise Richards employs several other twists, one of which is the only point where the book slightly falters.  There is a character who goes through several identity reveals, so when you actually get to his true identity it kind of feels extraneous to requirements and it doesn’t even impact the solution to the plot.  The science fiction aspects of the plot also feel incredibly clinical and similar to a pandemic thriller as the zombies are essentially the result of a science experiment gone right but also wrong.  It’s eventually revealed to be mad science gone mad and the local village doctor has been manipulated and infected with the virus, his suicide marking the shift in tone with some passages which are most definitely Richards’ best prose.  It’s such an emotional sequence where you feel this doctor character’s life slipping down the drain and eventually to his own death.  The fear of the virus escaping permeates each page and the implication of the Doctor and Peri being infected also makes the tension build towards a conclusion.

 

Overall, Grave Matter is a Doctor Who book which doesn’t actually get discussed nearly enough by fans.  It’s a PDA which flies under most people’s radar, which is a shame as it’s a brilliant piece of horror coming from an era which isn’t usually associated with horror.  Justin Richards knocks it out of the park with one of his best books and something that everyone should track down.  9/10.