Books: Doctor Who: Touched by an Angel By Jonathan Morris (2011)

 

In 2003, Rebecca Whitaker died in a road accident. In 2011, her husband Mark is still grieving. Then one day, he receives a strange letter and envelope full of money, written in his own handwriting. This package contains a set of instructions with a simple message: "You can save her." A few hours later, he is touched by a Weeping Angel and sent back to 1994. It’s there that the Doctor, Amy and Rory catch up with him after the TARDIS detects some wibbly-ness. There they try to convince him to live out his altered life away from his younger self to avoid paradoxes. Of course, this doesn’t go to plan and there’s a paradox waiting around every corner, along with six Weeping Angels waiting for their chance to feed. While Mark agrees with most of the Doctor’s request, he still wants to save Rebecca, and begins a master plan to do just that. All too late the Doctor, Amy and Rory realize older Mark’s plan, so it’s up to them to save the whole world. Because this time the Weeping Angels are using Mark himself as a weapon to change history.

There two things that make these tie-ins work for me (and probably a lot for the fans):

1). How much the writer(s) capture the characters we love and see on TV.

2). How much the story could be an episode if money was no option.

3). How much the Doctor and his companions are the focus of the story

Most of the original novels in franchises like Doctor Who usually can’t do all three, but Touched by an Angel feels like an episode that would’ve fit nicely during Matt Smith’s run as the Doctor (though not specifically stated, this story is seemly set after the events of the 2010 episodes Time of the Angeles/Flesh and Stone but before the two-part The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood). The book does have something to say about death and facing up to reality of losing those you love, as we learn much about Mark and Rebecca’s relationship (and though the Doctor, Amy, and Rory do sort of take a backseat here, it’s all for the best) from their first meeting in 1993 to the night in April 2003. This would be something excised from a TV script. 

The story is surprisingly heartfelt, sweet, and charming. It can be very touching, as well, especially near the books end. But Doctor Who without some humor is sad, so it also has fun with Rory, with Doctor's oddness and all sorts of timey-wimey bits, including a set-piece that takes place at wedding that is pure comedy gold.