"Torchwood": Slow Decay [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio CD]

A must for Torchwood fans and lovers of audio books in general. Burn Gorman, Dr. Owen Harper of Torchwood, is a great actor. His voice is unique, expressive, and exciting. "Slow Decay" is a story about weight loss and alien technology gone awry. It's reminiscent of the Fourth Series Doctor Who Episode, "Partners in Crime" with the adipose, but with a much more gory twist. Over all these Torchwood audiobooks are highly enjoyable because they include the voices of some of the best actors on TV today.

This is the third in the Torchwood audiobook series. A nice treat in this first series is that the books are read by the actors themselves.

THE READING

This book is read by Burn Gorman (Owen's character). Like Eva Myles (Gwen's character), Gorman is exceptionally good as a reader. Being a good reader is not a easy as you might think: being a fine actor - which Gorman certainly is - taps into the same set of skills: being able to tap into a dynamic range of voice tones, evoking a range of feelings, changing the pace, volume, pitch, and more. Gorman does it all effortlessly. As impressed as I am with him as an actor (he's subtle, but watch him carefully and you'll see that he isn't using but half of his talent in Torchwood), as a professional speaker I recognize that he is superior as a reader as well. I'd love to see him in other roles.

THE STORY

I do not want to spoil the story for you, but in very general terms, it is about a new miracle diet pill that has amazing results. The story starts around Gwen and Rhys, the time setting around mid-first-season Torchwood, when they were still working out the terms of their relationship. A woman Rhys works with, attractively slim, is getting his attention, and Gwen isn't pleased. Rhys wants to improve his relationship with Gwen and decides to go for the same diet plan that woman has been using, because it seems to be working well for her: she used to be rather overweight.

Another plot thread involves Owen and a slim young lady Owen finds attractive, presumably because of HER successful diet plan, which just happens to be the same one.

Meanwhile, there are some mysterious grisly events happening around the city. Is it a coincidence? You know what they say in Torchwood: there's no such thing as a coincidence (this is a reference to the NEXT story in the series).

I won't say more, except that naturally things aren't what they seem, and in this grisly story things go horrifically wrong. I suppose there is a fine line between foreshadowing and predictability; I had a pretty good idea about what was going on in the first third of the book, though there was just a bit more to it than I saw.

In most Torchwood stories, we find the spotlight on one of the team members. The structure is a bit different here, because in the first half or so the focus is on the Gwen/Rhys/friend plot and the Owen/friend plot. Then it shifts gears and the focus is on the team as a whole. Sadly, Tosh does not get much play, nor does Ianto get very involved. Jack is often overplayed in any Torchwood story, but not so much in this book.

BOTTOM LINE

Despite the excellent reading by Burn Gorman, the story is one of the weaker ones of the audiobook series that I have heard so far. I am rating it as three stars ("It's ok").