Doctor Who: Dead Air by James Goss

Doctor Who: Dead Air

by James Goss

‘Hello, I’m the Doctor. And, if you can hear this, then one of us is going to die.’ At the bottom of the sea, in the wreck of a floating radio station, a lost recording has been discovered. After careful restoration, it is played for the first time – to reveal something incredible. It is the voice of the Doctor, broadcasting from Radio Bravo in 1966. He has travelled to Earth in search of the Hush – a terrible weapon that kills, silences and devours anything that makes noise – and has tracked it to a boat crewed by a team of pirate DJs. With the help of feisty Liverpudlian Layla and some groovy pop music, he must trap the Hush and destroy it – before it can escape and destroy the world... Written specially for audio by James Goss and read by David Tennant, Dead Air features the Doctor as played by David Tennant in the acclaimed hit series from BBC Television. It was crowned 'Best Audiobook of the Year 2010' in a public vote hosted by The Audiobook Store.

Reviewed by kimbacaffeinate on

4 of 5 stars

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If you have been staying Caffeinated then you know I am a huge fan of Doctor Who and that David Tennant is one of my favorite doctors. I was home sick with a nasty chest cold and feeling quite sorry for myself when the email came in from audible for their daily deal. An exclusive BBC Doctor Who story called Dead Air written by James Gross and narrated by David Tennant. Within seconds, I made my purchase and snuggled in my bed on that cold March morning feeling suddenly chipper at the thought of David telling me a story!

Dead Air begins with a radio dial being tuned. We hear static as it tries to pick up a frequency and then we receive this message;

“Hello, I’m the Doctor, and if you can hear this, then one of us is going to die. If I’m lucky, you’re listening to this on the boat … Of course, if I’m not lucky, you’re listening to this somewhere else, perhaps even at home, in which case it’s too late. It’s already escaped. And it’s the end of the world.”
The Doctor boards Radio Bravo, a pirate radio station in the year 1966. Here he encounters Layla, Tomah, and Jasper the crew who share music illegally. He has tracked the Hush to this very ship. A monster that devours noise leaving only silence in its wake. The Doctor is convinced it is looking to broadcast through the transmitter on board with plans to silence the world. Layla was the most fleshed out of the secondary characters. Much like the show we dive head first into the action and receive information along with the secondary characters. The Doctor was his usual snarky, conceited and of course brilliant self. The narrative is first person from the Doctor’s pov and felt like a story being retold. The tale had clever moments, suspense, humor and a few twists as the Doctor faced his opponent.

David narrated the entire story solo, giving unique voices and accents to the others aboard the ship. I was quickly able to identify each. Tennant spoke in his native accent a wonderful Scottish brogue. I must admit I missed David’s British accent created for the tenth Doctor. Having said that David makes an excellent narrator, and I will be on the lookout for more books narrated by him. The soundtrack came complete with sound effects that added to the suspense. It felt like I was listening to an episode on the television complete with cuts for commercial breaks where we heard the TV show’s soundtrack.

Dead Air was relatively short and gave me a feel of what radio shows must have felt like before the invention of the boob-tube. I will be on the lookout for more Doctor Who audio daily deals.

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  • Started reading
  • 27 March, 2014: Finished reading
  • 27 March, 2014: Reviewed