Charlotte Pollard - Series Two Box Set

Unlike the previous collection, this second volume represents a single four-hour story rather than a collection of episodes linked by an arc. Unfortunately, it isn't one that works terribly well.

It starts with Charlie and her new beau Robert arriving in modern-day London just as a series of unexplained deaths and mysterious events occur. To begin with, it cleverly weaves together three different plot strands, with the events being investigated by our heroes, the government, and a journalist, each of whom collect parts of the mystery and don't get the chance to put them together until around the half-way mark.

This is excellent stuff, with tension, a few creepy concepts, and some good character moments for Charlie. The science fiction elements, of which there are many, are enhanced by the present-day setting, and the reaction of the characters to them is mostly believable. (There is even a throw-away line from a government minister about not wasting money preparing for disasters that will never happen... “such as a pandemic”). When I paused the story at the 2-hour point, I was fully prepared to give it the full 5 stars.

After three hours in, however, the whole thing falls apart. At this point, Charlie and Robert are suddenly whisked away to somewhere else entirely, and the other plot threads are all but ignored. Obviously, it eventually turns out that there is a connection, but after the tension of the first three hours I was left with a distinct feeling of “never mind all this stuff, when are we going to get back to the plot?” It's never a good sign when that happens.

In fact, much of the final hour is spent with characters refusing to explain to one another what's really going on, and our heroes being pushed about by the bad guys without showing any agency of their own. By the time the explanation arrives, it turns out to be incomplete, and things rush immediately into a dramatic cliffhanger ending that wraps up nothing.

One can't blame Briggs for using a cliffhanger, since a third volume was presumably planned at the time. Three years on, however, and there's no sign of one, leaving us with a very unsatisfying ending that, in hindsight, was probably a bad idea. [Edit: 7 days after I posted this, a follow-up was announced, although with no publication date as yet].