Torchwood: Trace Memory...

[fajrdrako]

Today I read David Llewellyn's Torchwood novel Trace Memory. Like it very much indeed - and more than Torchwood: The Twilight Streets. Though it does use multiple points of view - all these Torchwood and Doctor Who spin-off novels do - it wasn't as obtrusive as it usually is, and I liked the depiction of Jack. He isn't in the first half of the book a lot, but makes up for it in the second half.

The story is about a young man named Michael Bellini, a dock worker in Cardiff in 1953 who is caught in the explosion of a mysterious alien object. From that point, Michael moves randomly - or maybe not so randomly - back and forth in time, pursued by the sinister Vandrox, and meeting each of the Torchwood team.

Not great literature, but a good story - a bit of a page-turner. I was only irritated once: when "fair" was written for "fare" and no editor caught it. Don't editors do their job these days?

Good bits:

1. There's a cute series of references to Gwen, Rhys, sofas and spag bol. Nothing new, just a nice glimpse of Gwen/Rhys domesticity.
   
   
2. There are secret organizations galore, and a wonderful James Bond subtheme: Ianto is treating himself to a James Bond marathon, and then increasingly, events in the story start to resemble a Bond story (complete beautiful, dangerous female soviet spies, a Torchwood double-agent, and nasty thugs with guns).

   'I...' [Ianto] said [to Jack], pausing to swallow a mouthful of pizza, 'am having a James Bondathon.'
   
   '...You're a Bond fan?'
   
   'Oh yes. He's the archetypal male fantasy, isn't he? the man all women want to have, and all ment want to be.'
   
   'Are you sure it's not the other way around?'

   
   
3. In the same scene, a cute passage between Jack and Ianto:

   'Taking it easy, I see?' said Jack, stepping out throught hte security door that led into the Hub itself. '...Whatcha doing there, Sport?'
   
   '"Sport"?' said Ianto. 'Not sure I like "Sport" as a term of endearment. "Sexy" is good,if unimaginative. "Pumpkin" is a bit much, but "Sport"? No. You'll have to think of another one.'
   
   'OK, Tiger Pants. Whatcha doing?'

   
   
4. And with totally no relevance to anything else at all, this conversation about a crossword puzzle delighted me:

   As they entered the reception of the Shangri-La Hotel, the owner looked up at them and smiled.
   
   'Evening, both. Capital city of Canada. Six letters. Something T something A something something.'
   
   'Ottawa,' said Jack.
   
   'Ah, that's it,' said the owner. 'I always thought it was Toronto. G'night, lads.'

   A totally gratuitous mention of my home town - and it's Jack who says "Ottawa". Cool.
   
   
5. In Torchwood:Another Life, Peter Anghelides said that Jack drank water instead of alcohol because he wants to remain hydrated. In Trace Memory, David Llewellyn says that Jack doesn't drink alcohol because it has no effect on him at all since he became immortal. That would contradict his apparent drunkenness in "Fragments" - but that might have been a con job anyway. I think I like the 'hydrated' explanation better, but they are not mutually exclusive - both could be true.
   
   
6. Though there isn't much emphasis on the Jack/Ianto relationship, it's there - aside from the "Sport" conversation above. And I liked the way it was handled.

   '...It's not two hours since I had my feet up and was watching Goldfinger. It's felt like a long night.'
   
   'Every night's long,' said Jack.
   
   'Are you being enigmatic with me?' asked Ianto. 'You know most of it goes over my head. I'd have to wade through the collected works of Sartre before I could properly get inside that skull of yours.'
   
   'Am I that enigmatic?' asked Jack.
   
   'Sometimes,' said Ianto.

   And this is followed by a passage even more interesting in terms of the parameter of their relationship:

   'Should I be jealous?' Ianto asked.
   
   Jack spun around in his chair.
   
   'What do you mean?'
   
   '...We've all met him before,' said Ianto. 'Before we came here. You said yourself that you knew him before tonight.'
   
   'And I did.'
   
   'How well?'
   
   Jack said nothing.
   
   'If there's anything you need to do,' said Ianto, 'you should just do it. I don't own you. I cant stop you.'

   Which I find interestingly ambiguous.
   
   
7. In the course of the story, in a scene from the past, Jack has sex with Michael. Not that we see any of it. It was disappointing in that Jack doesn't ever flirt with him, and it's unromantic - Jack is, in fact, even awkward about it. But the mutual affection is clear and very nice. I might add that there is nothing in this novel to hint that Jack is omnisexual; he's depicted as gay. I prefer the stories where he flirts with woman as well as men, if not more. I must say, though, I liked a moment where Jack was flirting with the Russian spy as the spy was murdering him.
   
   
8. There's a nice glimpse of Ianto's former life at Torchwood and Toshiko as a five-year-old.
   
   
9. Hugo Faulkner and his colourful band of 'revolutionaries' amused me.
   
   
10. An interestingly intriguing character: a friend of Jack's named Sam, whom he describes as a 'magus'.
    
    
11. Did Michael fancy the Somalian? I wasn't sure which of his co-workers he had a thing for.