GIVEN that John Barrowman and his sister Carole have already collaborated on a Torchwood story (a comic strip for the Torchwood magazine), both volumes of John’s autobiography and a children’s novel’ it was only a matter of time before they had a go at a full-length Torchwood novel.

And this is it.

Set initially in 1930’s Peru and the in the present day, the story centres mainly on Captain Jack Harkness (not surprisingly) and the fact that around the world, various groups of women appear to be going mad.

In Cardiff, Torchwood colleague Gwen Cooper is one of the affected women – especially when she tries to kill her husband Rhys.

The women, and to a certain extent Jack, are ‘seeing’ words and ‘tasting’ emotions.

Oh, and just to spice things up a bit – the world is ending; and Jack thinks that it’s all related and only he can put things right.

It’s just the sort of thing that Torchwood would normally investigate, but with Tosh, Owen and Ianto all dead, there’s not much of the organisation left.

There is no hub with banks of computers and both Jack and Gwen are affected by what is happening.

Luckily, Jack has a few friends he can call on for help, and they travel to Peru to try and get the world back to normal.

But what is the CIA doing there?

The story itself is set after the events of the TV story Miracle Day and  - as we should expect – John and Carole have the character of Captain Jack pretty much nailed.

It’s just a pity that Gwen seems to have been relegated almost to a minor role in the proceedings.

The book is well-written and pacy, with loads of action throughout.

The research done by the authors is evident from the first page and they have obviously done their homework regarding ancient Peruvian legends and mental disorders.

It would, however, be nice if we had more stories from the time when Torchwood had a base and a full team, so maybe John and Carole could address that – and place a little less emphasis on Jack’s immortality.

But – more please.

BBC Books.

ISBN 978-1-846-07907-8