BASIC PLOT
After a crash on an isolated road an ancient force begins to infiltrate the souls of disenfranchised youths via the performances of a supernaturally violent punk rock band...

DOCTOR
Third

COMPANIONS
Joe, UNIT

MATERIALISATION CIRCUIT
Not applicable

PREPARATORY READING
Not applicable

CONTINUITY REFERENCES
p. 13: The Doctor is working on the dematerialisation circuit.

p. 25: Bessie makes an appearance, and it has a 'tracking sensor' (p. 27).

p. 36: Ogrons, Axons, and Daleks are 'nothing compared to these freaks and villains.'

p. 86: The Prime Minister is male; which could quite plausibly be a literary subversion of 'real life' anyway.

p. 169: The Doctor experiences a vision where he thinks he sees Susan. Her husband, it is said, died in hospital. The Doctor's advice (enigmatically, when you consider recent events) was that you should 'never marry an alien'...

p. 187: Susan, Vicki, Ian and Barbara (both with flickering torches), Zoe (naked). And a reference to the movie The Wicker Man: 'He was a wicker man offered up to the hungry gods, etc....'

p. 224: Yates remembers the Keller machine, and its effects.

OLD FRIENDS AND OLD ENEMIES
Mike Yates, Benton, Brigadier, UNIT

NEW FRIENDS AND NEW ENEMIES
The Mummers; The Ragman.

CONTINUITY COCK-UPS

• Does anyone worry about UNIT continuity?

PLUGGING THE HOLES [Fan-wank theorizing of how to fix continuity cock-ups]

• Not Applicable. Yet. But if you're worried about UNIT continuity, I'll happily add your comments here.

FEATURED ALIEN RACES
Unimaginable Force of Evil from the Edge of Space and Time.

FEATURED LOCATIONS
Cidbury, Stonehenge, Dartmoor... The South of England generally.

IN SUMMARY - Gareth Jelley
Perhaps a little too violent for some tastes, and perhaps not focused enough on the Doctor, but beyond those two possible problems aside, Rags is a beautifully written novel about the terrors and horrors that lie beneath: however hard we try to keep the buttercups and daisies away, they will always push through to the surface.