BASIC PLOT
During the First World War strange events are troubling the inhabitants of a small English village. When the Doctor investigates he finds himself face to face with an ancient force as destructive as any extreme of human conflict...

DOCTOR
Eighth.

COMPANIONS
None.

MATERIALISATION CIRCUIT
'The North Yorkshire village of Hawkswick' in 1918, back-cover blurb, although the TARDIS can't yet maerialise.

PREPARATORY READING
None.

CONTINUITY REFERENCES
Pg 95 The note 'Meet me in St Louis', February 8th 2001. Fitz' is seen by Mary. Previously seen in The Burning, this note will go on to appear throughout the Caught on Earth arc and beyond.

Pg 163 "I was once involved in a rather curious exploit. [...] It involved a number of seemingly ordinary people who were able to burn others to death simply by the act of touching them." The Burning.

Pg 217 The Doctor mentions Nitro-Nine by mistake (Dragonfire et al).

Pg 237 "As Briggs clamboured to his knees he saw the clay, two or three inches thick, stopped dead at the chalk boundary, and Banham stood seething outside the circle, apparently unable to cross the line." A chalk circle is also able to protect those inside from magic forces in Battlefield.

OLD FRIENDS AND OLD ENEMIES
None.

NEW FRIENDS AND NEW ENEMIES
Mary Minett falls in love with the Doctor.

Constable Albert Briggs, Bill Cromby, Iris Cromby.

CONTINUITY COCK-UPS

1. Pg 71 "The only thing Constable Briggs's reports didn't contain was Bob Marley's ghost." Bob Marley the singer wasn't even born until 1945 and didn't die until 1981, over sixty years after this book is set , so how does Mary Minnett know who he is?
2. Pg 95 "Meet me in St Louis', February 8th 2001. Fitz" Strangely, the note has changed since The Burning. "St Louis" was "St. Louis" there.

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

1. There was an old villager called Robert Marley, whose ghost is said to haunt Hawkswick village. Either that or she's simply misremembering that Marley's first name in A Christmas Carol was Jacob. Not unlike Steve Emmerson, one suspects.
2. The note's already started to fade, so perhaps the full stop (period) faded first.

FEATURED ALIEN RACES
The elemental force is presumably alien in origin, although we're never given an explanation.

FEATURED LOCATIONS
Pg 1 Hawkswick, March 1918.

Pg 7 Hawkswick, August 1918.

Pg 52 Various flashbacks to the trenches.

Pg 246 In a netherworld created by Banham's Dark Forces.

IN SUMMARY - Gareth Jelley
Certain sections aside, Casualties of War is a superb debut. Emmerson displays, especially in the depiction of the relationship of Mary to the Doctor, a deftness of touch and a sensitivity to nuance. The epilogue is particularly touching. I look forward to seeing what Emmerson will do next, and hope that whatever it is, it has a strong premise, and a plot.