The range of novella published by Telos are not part of the expanded universe I have any experience of. The novellas had a relatively high price point and something about them just never really appealed at the time of publication meaning I never bought any of them.

Two of the novellas were distinct in that they featured unspecified incarnations of the Doctor – The Dalek Factor and The Cabinet of Light. The Dalek Factor, obviously, had the draw of Daleks to compensate for this, but The Cabinet of Light is more of a curio. It is less a Doctor Who novella and more an original piece of fantasy fiction with a cameo appearance from the Doctor. True, the Doctor is central to the mystery but he only appears in person for a short section of the story, with the rest of the novella focussing on the main character of Honore Lechasseur – a time sensitive detective from New Orleans – who has been tasked with tracking him down.

Honore, and a young woman he meets in the course of his investigation, Emily Blandish, ended up spinning off into their own range of novels entitled Time Hunter and this is where we actually find ourselves experiencing The Cabinet of Light. The version I am reviewing here is the audiobook of the Time Hunter iteration of the novel which replaces the Doctor with the ‘completely different’ character of Doctor Smith… and is read by Terry Molloy.

The 1940s are drawing to a close but the aftermath of the Second World War still hangs over London. Buildings reduced to rubble, men dealing with the traumatic events of being involved in the fighting, Londoners happy to manipulate, cheat and squeeze every last financial opportunity from any situation they find themselves in. And within this, strange people, not of this time and place, operate in the shadows with their own unknowable agendas.

The atmosphere of this novella is dark and oppressive. Squalid boarding houses, dark streets and unsavoury people fill the story and it is equally engaging and unsettling. This tone is matched by the unknowable qualities of Lechasseur and the amnesiac Emily Blandish. Both characters are enigmatic and yet people you want to spend time with. Lechasseur’s eventual meeting with ‘Doctor Smith’ is a brilliant sequence and well worth the wait.

As a ‘pilot’ for the Time Hunter novels, this is actually a pretty successful book. It piqued my interest enough to want to find out more about Lechasseur and Emily – especially the mystery around how the Cabinet of Light (yes, that’s actually the TARDIS) caused Emily’s amnesia. I am also intrigued by the hints of Lechasseur’s abilities around time. It is a range of books it may take me a long time to get around to but they have gone on the list (helped by the entire range, as audiobooks, being available for free on Spotify Premium).

I was trepidatious going into The Cabinet of Light but it was an enjoyable, atmospheric experience even if, I have to admit, there were a couple of times I was a little lost as to what was actually going on.