BASIC PLOT
In 2003, Rebecca Whitaker died in a road accident. Her husband Mark is still grieving. He receives a battered envelope, posted eight years ago, containing a set of instructions with a simple message: "You can save her." As Mark is given the chance to save Rebecca, it's up to the Doctor, Amy and Rory to save the whole world. Because this time the Weeping Angels are using Mark himself as a weapon to change history.

DOCTOR
Eleventh.

COMPANIONS
Amy and Rory.

MATERIALISATION CIRCUIT
Pg 22 The Doctor and company are in Bromley when the novel starts, in October 2011, although we don't see the TARDIS materialise.

Pg 39 A high street in Bromley, June 1994.

Pg 42 Back in 2011, a week later.

Pg 51 In mid-air alongside a train, 1994.

Pg 147 On a path outside a church, November 2000.

Pg 150 On the village green opposite the church, twenty minutes earlier.

Pg 199 On a road outside Chilbury, April 2003.

Pg 228 The Doctor and company travel to 1993, but we don't witness it.

Pg 235 A few minutes' walk from Mark's flat, October 2011.

PREPARATORY READING
It's a good idea to have watched The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone.

CONTINUITY REFERENCES
Pg 24 "That which holds the image on an Angel becomes, itself, an Angel." The Time of Angels.

Pg 34 "Time can be rewritten." First said in Forest of the Dead, but more prominently in Flesh and Stone.

Pg 50 "A course of wibbly time stuff - stop me if I'm getting too technical - is heading north-west." Blink.

Pg 82 "'A Sally Sparrow survival kit,' muttered the Doctor, ruffling his hair." Blink.

Pg 125 "Cup of tea, jammy dodgers, comfy chairs." Victory of the Daleks, Flesh and Stone. But see Continuity Cock-Ups.

Pg 144 "The Doctor dug into his jacket and pulled out what appeared to be a large electric toothbrush." The sonic screwdriver (Fury From the Deep et al).

Pg 171 "A Blinovitch limitation field." Day of the Daleks.

Pg 181 The psychic paper makes an appearance (The End of the World et al).

Pg 194 "'Fez Rory!' the Doctor announced." The Doctor uses a Fez to distinguish two different Rory's, similar to what he did with himself in The Big Bang.

Pg 219 "They should know better than to put me in a trap!" The Time of Angels.

Pg 231 "Do that for me." The Parting of the Ways.

OLD FRIENDS AND OLD ENEMIES
The Weeping Angels return.

NEW FRIENDS AND NEW ENEMIES
Mark Whitaker, Lucy, Emma.

CONTINUITY COCK-UPS

1. Pg 125 "Cup of tea, jammy dodgers, comfy chairs." They're spelled "Jammie Dodgers", not "jammy" (and are capitalised).
2. Pg 145 "Hearing her voice for the first time in fifteen years" Except that Mark talked to her four years previously, in 1996 (and didn't make such a big deal about it), on page 101.
3. Pg 191 "'Is this strictly necessary?' asked Rorary as the Doctor ran the sonic screwdriver over him like a customs official with a metal detector." Customs officials are the ones who interview you from a booth. It's the security guards who have the metal detectors.

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

1. This may actually be the BBC quietly avoiding having to name a licensed product (ala "sticky-backed plastic" in Blue Peter). Either that, or a "jammy dodger" is a snack that's similar, but presumably tastes different, to Jammie Dodgers.
2. Mark was busy trying to slip his younger self a winning lottery ticket back then, so was presumably too distracted to notice he was talking to his dead wife.
3. Except on Bandraginous 5, where Rory went through some unusual customs amd immigration recently.

FEATURED ALIEN RACES
Pg 19 The Weeping Angels.

FEATURED LOCATIONS
Pg 7 London, April 2003.

Pg 13 October 2011.

Pg 34 June 1994.

Pg 89 April 1995.

Pg 91 February 1996.

Pg 95 December 1997.

Pg 103 August 1998.

Pg 129 October 1999.

Pg 137 November 2000.

Pg 161 June 2001.

Pg 187 April 2002.

Pg 228 May 1993.

IN SUMMARY - Robert Smith?
This is something of a miracle. Not only is it a New Series Adventure that's entertaining, but - possibly for the first time - it's actually one with something to say. And it doesn't pull its punches either. It's a book about death and facing up to the reality of losing loved ones, which simply isn't the kind of Doctor Who novel you expect to be reading in 2011. But it's more than that: it's by turns fun, funny (the time-travel screwball comedy of the wedding is gold), touching and sweet. Highly recommended.