The novel “Risk Assessment” by James Goss was published for the first time in 2010.
For Captain Jack Harkness’s team the situation seems normal at a time when the only Rift activity is the arrival of coffins containing bodies of aliens from who knows where. The task of collecting them and preventing someone else from getting their hands on them seems trivial, but for the moment there’s nothing else to do until an extraordinary event.
When Agnes Havisham awakens from her cryogenic sleep, it’s only the fourth time that that happened within a century. Torchwood’s systems only awakens her in the most catastrophic moments, but there seems to be no danger threatening the world. Jack Harkness has seen those past moments and, even though he and his team have overcome various crises, the possibility that something even worse might come upsets him deeply.
“Risk Assessment” is part of a series of novels connected to the TV show “Torchwood“, a “Doctor Who” spinoff. The size is the same as “Doctor Who” books starting from the Eleventh Doctor. In the first books the font was smaller while in the following one the font is the same size as in “Doctor Who” books.
This novel is set in a time when Torchwood is reduced to the shadow of the organization it used to be in the past and that’s what Agnes Havisham finds when she wakes up. The woman was given by Queen Victoria herself the task of overseeing the most serious crises that Torchwood had to face with the power to evaluate the work of her leaders. Initially, Jack Harkness and the others try to hide the situation from her, but they can’t do it for long.
The premise is interesting but it also presents some problems thinking about the crises faced by Torchwood during the television episodes, including those in which the organization was involved in “Doctor Who” episodes. James Goss doesn’t say much about how the system works, just that it estimates that a crisis so terrible that Agnes Havisham must be awakened is about to start. One would think that an attack by Daleks and Cybermen leading to the destruction of Torchwood One is supposed to be a catastrophe, but apparently it wasn’t considered so serious. Basically, you have to accept the premise without asking too many questions.
Agnes Havisham’s presence is interesting because she strongly alters the balance that exists in the Torchwood team. Jack Harkness knows her personally so he remains more destabilized by her awakening than Ianto Jones and Gwen Cooper. That’s a truly anomalous situation for a man who bravely faces any danger and suddenly finds himself frightened by the presence of the woman, with the result of losing his confidence.
On various occasions, Torchwood’s novels recounted past events from Jack Harkness’s life, in “Risk Assessment” there are flashbacks about Agnes Havisham’s past that contribute to her characterization. In some cases, the flashbacks also include Jack and help to understand what’s behind the complicated relationship between the two of them.
Readers who appreciate novels in which the relationships between characters are important should be rather satisfied with “Risk Assessment”. Rhys Williams also plays an important role in the plot with various moments between him and Gwen Cooper.
The beginning of the novel is rather slow, but after the attempts by the Torchwood team to understand what catastrophe risk led to Agnes Havisham’s awakening, the plot takes off. On the positive side, there are several twists that influence the plot with surprises that keep the reader’s attention. The problem is that in the end the plot looks like a mix of multiple stories put together to fill the length of these Torchwood series’ books. The result is a quite eneven pace with parts that seem too long and others that seem to be rushed.
In the end, “Risk Assessment” is a novel that gave me mixed feelings. The mix of elements with their strengths and flaws makes it difficult to recommend it, but all in all Torchwood fans might like it.
