Dear Peter... Hope this finds you. Goodness only knows how. But these things have a way of working out – sometimes. Look, I’m on this huuuuge spaceship with Jack. You don’t know Jack. But we’re on this ship... in space... with a hole in the middle... a hole that is being monitored by scientists (who are creaming off cash from their employer)! The rest of the passengers are mostly squirrels and meerkats – and a bad-tempered jack-rabbit (no, let’s not ask)...

OK, let’s step away from the back-cover blurb for a moment, because that is quite a lot to take in, isn’t it? For those of you wondering why Peter would not know Jack, despite having interacted with him in the box sets Legion and New Frontiers, this book takes place during the strange disappearances of the fifth box set, Missing Persons. Bernice is now travelling with Jack alone. As far as they are concerned, Ruth was lost some time ago, they have never been to Legion, and Benny has not been reunited with Peter.

Adorable Illusion may prove to be the final Benny book, since the regular Bernice Summerfield range has come to an end, at least for now, and the producers have once again wiped the slate clean of loose plot strands and character arcs. Further audio releases are imminent, but they will be flashbacks to Bernice’s time aboard the TARDIS rather than a continuation of her post-Doctor adventures. Author Gary Russell seizes the opportunity to catch up with former regulars Bev, Adrian and Joseph, who feature in an effective early chapter that would also work as a standalone short story. I have missed those guys! Tragically, they are not reunited with Bernice, but hope is offered for the future, which could be explored by other production teams at some point.

Bernice and Jack are not alone for long, though, as they soon encounter a plethora of peculiar people aboard the Adorable Illusion. Back to that cover blurb...

The Captain is an artificial intelligence who thinks he’s a pirate, the doctor’s a vet and the cook is a Madras (literally – the guy making our dinner is a living curry) – oh, and the talking parrot is dead. How do I get into these situations? (Don’t answer that!) Oh, and there are the monsters. Not sure where they fit into the grand scheme of things, but they don’t seem to like the rest of us much. Quite why they call this ship The Adorable Illusion is, frankly, beyond me. Anyway, assuming I survive, hope to see you soon. Whoops – forgot to mention the “I’m here ’cos I murdered someone” bit...

Bernice has assumed the identity of a disgraced archaeologist called Anya Kryztyne (another alarmingly unprofessional tutor, rather like Neon Tsara in The Slender-Fingered Cats of Bubastis). The bizarre cast of characters and the inherent dangers posed by Benny’s undercover role keep the plot ticking over until the ship arrives at its destination – a spatial anomaly known as the Rapture – which takes a surprisingly long time.

The pace and structure of the novel is not always as readable as it might have been. For example, the description of the Rapture that opens Chapter Nineteen would have been more effective if it had been placed much earlier in the book (think of the Nexus in Star Trek: Generations as a useful reference point for its appearance and destructive capability). Dramatic revelations often take place near the start of scenes or chapters, rather than towards the end, which robs the narrative of some of its potential page-turning excitement.

However, when the proverbial stuff finally hits the fan, it does come as a shock by virtue of the event’s suddenness. At first, the inclusion of elements such as a sentient stuffed parrot and a computer that likes to say “Arrrr” struck me as being strangeness for strangeness’s sake, but I was impressed by the way in which, during the latter part of the book, Russell juggles with the fates of these various personalities – many of whom have secret agendas, knowledge and origins – and ties things together in a number of clever and surprising ways.

What could well be Bernice Summerfield’s final appearance in the prose medium that gave rise to her is not without its flaws, but it has certain adorable qualities.

7

Richard McGinlay