Review: Doctor Who: Keeping Up with the Joneses by Nick Harkaway

Doctor Who: Keeping Up with the Joneses by Nick Harkaway is a Time Trips series short story starring the Tenth Doctor. I read the Kindle edition which was published by BBC Digital February 6, 2014.

The TARDIS hits a temporal mine and it seems it has a bit of Wales stuck in its teeth or a storeroom or two. Somehow The Doctor finds himself in the library of a bed and breakfast belonging to a different Christine de Souza in Jonestown in this bit of Wales. And somehow there is a monster (Puh Puh Pom) after them as well. Structural integrity of the TARDIS is threatened too.

I only really had one negative comment here. At one point the Doctor dismisses explaining things as Timey Wimey and then later proceeds to get technical about how things work. Kinda felt like one or the other, but not both. And honestly some of the technical bits gave me a little headache, but that's just me.

On the plus side, it is a  Doctor heavy story. It must have him in it to work. And it works well. Christine de Souza functions both as a part of the story and as a little bit of a companion. The story moves along quickly once things start happening. I had no problem suspending disbelief. It was an interesting story. Good suspense and good characterization. Ten is written true to form.

I liked it, but I didn't love it. Found it confusing in spots. So, I give it 3 stars out of 5. I would recommend it to others who enjoy Doctor Who, especially the Tenth Doctor, and who don't mind a little technical TARDIS jargon.