Placebo Effect [PROSE/1998.7.6]

★★★★☆

  See, I'm rather partial to Gary Russell's writing. He's prone to stuff a paragraph with obscure Dr. Who lore references (as well as the odd Twin Peaks nod here and there), but when said references are simply so fun and add a ton of layers to an already detailed world inside his adventures, I really don't mind. I actively love it, even... and that probably explains my love for Placebo Effect.

  Placebo Effect is a long book, but one can read it in a breeze without even grasping how fast they're going through the text. It's written with a breathless pace and a loving prose style, clearly showing the writer's affection for all the characters and the future of 3999 that he created. Intergalactic Olympics, Foamasi criminal organisations acting like they're straight out of Brian De Palma's Scarface, Kleptons, Pakhars and Meeps, oppressive cultlike religions and the marriage of Stacy Townsend and Ssard from the Radio Times comics... oh my! Luckily, Russell is an old hand at all this, and the novel doesn't turn into a meandering slog but rather a love letter to the Wirr(r)n surrounded by a genuinely electrifying espionage/conspiracy narrative with a dose of commentary on Olympic athlete doping. Every page has something to interest you, be it a noteworthy line or a tiny detail that interests you... or even a great big assassination plot with the blood of royals as its goal. Glorious stuff, really. This is another winner for Sam Jones as well, and the Eighth Doctor is as fantastic as always (I always thought Russell had a good grasp on Eight in particular). What else do I have to say about it that hasn't been said? Placebo Effect fills me with such pleasure every time I read it, and I'm not ashamed to say it.