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Reclusive billionaire Bratheen Traloor has lived in isolation
on the planet Rhinvil for over 20 years. Now he has invited
Bernice to examine a mysterious artefact unearthed during
building work at his sprawling mansion. But what became of
the construction crew?...
It's
been a good month for fans of Mike Tucker's writing, for in
addition to Big Finish's latest Doctor Who adventure,
Dust Breeding, he has also scripted this Bernice release.
Palpable sexual tensions are exuded during this psychological
drama, which combines elements from Psycho, 2001:
A Space Odyssey and even Hammer's The House That Dripped
Blood.
Unfortunately,
these single-disc releases are in danger of showing an over-reliance
on the device of the eccentric isolationist, something that
Big Finish's rival BBV has fallen foul of far too often. I'm
sure that it helps to keep the cast numbers down, but the
previous Bernice CD, The Secret of the Cassandra, featured
a similarly reclusive sea captain with a similarly sentient
computer to keep him company. Perhaps it's just a case of
lamentable bad timing that this release ended up swapping
places in the schedule with The Extinction Event, which
may yet offer more variety.
This
is an enjoyable enough 70 minutes of adventure, which keeps
the surprises coming even after you think you've working it
all out. However, I cannot help yearning for Bernice's earlier
double-CD days, when her audio adventures seemed to have more
substance about them.
Richard
McGinlay
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