Justin Richards is a British writer. He has written many spin off novels based on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, and he is Creative Director for the BBC Books range. He has also written for television, contributing to Five's soap opera Family Affairs. He is also the author of a series of crime novels for children about the Invisible Detective, and novels for older children. His Doctor Who novel The Burning was placed sixth in the Top 10 of SFX magazine's "Best SF/Fantasy novelisation or TV tie-in novel" category of 2000.
And so my challenge of finishing series continues - now with the penultimate book from the Invisible Detective series.
The books have been gradually weaving a story - set both in the present and pre-war London with some interesting if limited cross overs (no there will be no spoilers) however as you would expect from the second from last in the series things about to get a whole lot more challenging and a little more closer to home.
The various books usually have a parallel or at least related challenge going in both times sometimes in parallel and others consecutively, in this book something new is introduced - and rather than it being contrived you do get the feeling (possibly for the first time) that things are developing towards a head.
The story as usual is fast paced and entertaining and for me one of its strong appeals is that even though children are the main characters they are neither super humans who laugh at the face of danger nor are the scream queens of run and hide and wait for someone else to come and save them. They are precocious children who know they get in over their heads but still try and figure their way out.
There is only one more book to go - and I will admit I will be picking it up with trepidation - yes I want to see how it all ends and what it is even building towards but also sadness as it appears this is the end of the series - I hope for now though.