Something ate the Rindan consul and her husband alive. And now it’s eating humans... The extraterrestrial diplomatic community blames Doctor How. He and his assistants try to deal with the alien threat quietly, but events spiral out of control when the MI6 headquarters and US embassy come under attack.
Meantime, Doctor How’s cousin When has neglected to tell him about a far greater danger, which threatens to destroy the power of the Time Keepers.
Doctor How, his assistant Kevin, and morphing alien superpredator Trinity must exterminate the vermin and find out who's behind the plot to neutralise the power of the Time Keepers. Can they do it whilst keeping one step ahead of MI6, the Metropolitan Police and a crack unit of US Navy SEALs?
This is book two of the Doctor How series.
This book series is not affiliated with or endorsed by the BBC. It is not a Doctor Who story.
Mark Speed has been writing novels since he was fifteen. His comedy writing has appeared in newspapers as diverse as the London Evening Standard and The Sun, and been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra. He performed his solo comedy, The End of the World Show, at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2011 and 2012. He is currently working on the five-volume Doctor How parody.
Amongst other postgraduate and professional qualifications, he has a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from City University, London. In 1995 a chiropractor told him he’d never run again. Sensibly he chose to give up chiropractors, and has since completed several marathons and a couple of Olympic-length triathlons.
NLP founder Dr Richard Bandler publicly called him a ‘polarity responder’.
Mark Speed’s writing has taught me a great deal about the amazing potential for works of parody. While in the past I had unfairly thought “parody” only meant a lesser imitation, the Dr. How series has shown me the range of professional writing that can be employed in this genre. Mark Speed is a stellar writer with an eye for precision of language. His books are supremely well edited and clean in their formatting and style. On top of that, they are just a whole lot of fun. The fact that Mark has gifted us his talents here and brought us such a great spin on the Dr. Who story arc is really fantastic.
Deadly Anemones picks up where Illegal Aliens left off, finding Dr. How and his assistant, Kevin, on the trail of rogue aliens. You will need to read the first book to appreciate this one fully but they are quick, enjoyable “episodes.” Anyone who is a fan of the Men in Black films will especially enjoy this version of London that Speed has created. “Out-of-towners” have their own community imbedded in the populace of London, and it’s up to the Timekeepers to keep things in line. When citizens disregard the rules, cleaning up the mess takes Dr. How and his team all over (and under) London. Speed has done a great deal of research for this book and obviously knows the environment well. I learned a lot about anemones and polyps and I don’t think I will ever think of a sewer system in quite the same light. Besides all that, I have enjoyed getting to know Speed’s cast of characters, even his side characters like the team of Thickett and Peterson at MI16. I’m excited to see where the story will lead.
The sequel to Doctor How and the Illegal Aliens, Doctor How and the Deadly Anemones, brings some unexpected encounters with killer polyps (imported illegally and inter-galatically) who traverse the water system to home in on their victims to eat them alive. The novel is at times thrilling and other times chilling. In an adventure that descends to the darkness of the sewers, this novel explores parts of London I have yet to see but does so vividly enough for me to virtually visit them.
The dialogue is spot on - dialects, colloquialisms and cracking lines. Kevin is certainly maturing in his role as Assistant and Doctor How seems to be thawing out as a consequence of their unlikely pairing.
The way in which Speed depicts the Secret Services, from both sides of the Atlantic, is a testimony to his research and development. Those in power are dangerously dim witted against the Doctor's super intelligence and technologies, and this is reflected in the absurd cover ups.
There is some time travel involved and hopefully this will be explored in further missions.
The creatures, technologies and characters are fascinating and his research thorough. Once again, Speed has used flair for concocting a very good read indeed.
Well, I'm not sure where my first review ended up...out there somewhere in cyberspace!
The main reason I really like Mark's books is because of the humor and wit. Think of the classic Who's on first routine. But they are full of so much more. We have great characters whom you can easily picture and imagine, based on how Mark has them speaking. He does a great job with accents and dialogue. We have a morphing super predator who also has other amazing powers. What a great pet to have! We have cool spectrels of different shapes and functions.
The storyline is wild and has folks running and slipping all under London. We have fun surprises and some you'd never expect.
There is an excellent historical diversion in which it is obvious Mark has done tons of research.
Yes, this book is full of excellent reading material. For Americans, be advised that Mark is British so you'll find lots of new terms and words. I truly enjoyed all the learning I did by reading this book.
Mark is a smart, sharp writer and I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
The irascible Time Keeper (not "Time Lord") battles a really, really invasive species loose in the London sewers, backed up by his new apprentice Kevin, his shape-shifting arachnid pet Trinity, and Tim the intelligent slime mold. Together with the REAL story behind the assassination of Kennedy. Be warned, the Who's_on_first lines don't let up in this volume either.
The fact that this took me 3 months to read is simply criminal! I will have to write a fuller, better review when I am not on mobile, typing on the Kindle is a nightmare I want to endure for a short period. . . Just know that 5 stars is not enough to do this book, and it's superb writing justice. It's not enough to do the characterizations, and the way even their accents are written justice. It's not enough to do the feel, the plot, and the beauty of the book justice!
Different from the first book in this series, I was surprised, it's very different. A lot of it takes place in the London sewers, and is pretty gross. Not so gross that I couldn't read it! It's a really good story, lots of action, new characters which are interesting. The old cast is still there as well: Dr. How, Kevin, Trinity, the Tardis...uh...you know!
This story is faster paced, more life and death activity. Two of Dr. How's cousins are on board, at least partially - and we get a bit of back story on that, which is interesting!
I took off a star for several reasons, some editing errors - enough to interrupt the story for me several times, and I just am not a fan of poop. Sue me!
Evidently can't get enough of Doctor Who not Doctor Who/Doctor How and his twin Who, and cousins What, When, Where, and Why. Doctor How and the Illegal Aliens: The Doctor Who is not a Time Lord 1 - Doctor How and the Deadly Anemones: (Doctor How book two) 2 - Doctor How and the Alien Invasion 3 - Doctor How and the Kennedy Assassination Conspiracy (Doctor How, #0.1) Doctor How and the Rings of Uranus (Doctor How, #0.2) {.2 subscriber only, unsure about .1 but probably also and is part at least of book 2} - Doctor How (3 Book Series) {#1-3} Doctor How and the Dragons Doctor How, book four {Due out ??}
Also: Not a not Doctor Who books but by same writer: The Default Girlfriend Britons in Brief Britons in Brief
Kindle Unlimited, but got the first way bit back and lost in my kindle mess of uncategorized books {didn't switch over my folders when updated couple of times though did add yet another kindle for pc listing go figure} Take binges on things, especially reading, this one was all the Doctor How books which of course by Mark Speed, and John Pirillo's The adventures of Lord When: Travels Through Time {Trilogy} andand In Times Like These {Trilogy by Nathan Van Coops}.Took me longer than usual to read Doctor How, so many 'in' references, hilarious.
I loved this book. It's a page turner and belly laugh funny. Speed's humour is warm not dark and the steeply escalating silliness reminded me of Pratchett. It is beautifully written and well timed. You don't have to be a Dr Who fan to enjoy.
For those who haven't read the first in the series, the premise is that Dr Who is an egomaniac to has sold his story to the BBC, wiping his twin brother and cousins from the picture. The truth is that Dr How is the only one doing any work, policing the extraterrestrial visitors to earth. Fortunately Dr How has excellent assistance from his giant spider / cat Trini and former petty criminal, Kevin. The irresistible Dr Petersen and her useless boss also makes a repeat appearance. There's something for Kennedy conspiracy theorists too.