Okay, and my first thoughts as soon as the author described Doyle as clinging to the Capri's open door, while Bodie "didn't hesitate", and then "...Bodie to have run straight into hell, leaving Doyle with his knees turned to water, clutching at the car door..." was - as you can probably imagine - no-no-no-no-NO!
The author is still describing Doyle as "a Stepney beat-copper", completely ignoring the fact that he was a Detective Constable by the time he was recruited to CI5, and had served in the Drug Squad at least, as further experience from being a "beat-copper". Quite apart from the fact that he's surely already used to seeing pain and violence and injury at various levels through this experience, he was also in the Met in London in the 1970s - just checking Wiki for 1970-76 gives 50 terrorists incidents involving bombs (some of which were defused, but many went off). In 1976 there was the Olympia bombing, where "1976 Olympia bombing: A bomb placed by the Provisional IRA exploded in a litter bin at the top of an escalator in a crowded exhibition hall. 20,000 people were attending the Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition at the time. 70 were injured." Doyle is not likely to be unprepared to have to deal with this sort of carnage - quite apart from his own CI5 training!
And gaah for super-Bodie (in comparison) running straight in while Doyle cowers. That's just not a Doyle that I can see from the eps, or canon, or a realistic view of London and its emergency services at the time.
Yes, he redeems himself afterwards and is more the Doyle that I know - but why in the world set him up like that? It makes no sense to me... Just as I think I'm starting to believe in the characters, the author does something to make me back off again. By the end of this chapter I'm believing in them once more - but now I'm waiting to be knocked back again, to have them snatched away again...
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2019-04-27 11:24 am (UTC)The author is still describing Doyle as "a Stepney beat-copper", completely ignoring the fact that he was a Detective Constable by the time he was recruited to CI5, and had served in the Drug Squad at least, as further experience from being a "beat-copper". Quite apart from the fact that he's surely already used to seeing pain and violence and injury at various levels through this experience, he was also in the Met in London in the 1970s - just checking Wiki for 1970-76 gives 50 terrorists incidents involving bombs (some of which were defused, but many went off). In 1976 there was the Olympia bombing, where "1976 Olympia bombing: A bomb placed by the Provisional IRA exploded in a litter bin at the top of an escalator in a crowded exhibition hall. 20,000 people were attending the Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition at the time. 70 were injured." Doyle is not likely to be unprepared to have to deal with this sort of carnage - quite apart from his own CI5 training!
And gaah for super-Bodie (in comparison) running straight in while Doyle cowers. That's just not a Doyle that I can see from the eps, or canon, or a realistic view of London and its emergency services at the time.
Yes, he redeems himself afterwards and is more the Doyle that I know - but why in the world set him up like that? It makes no sense to me... Just as I think I'm starting to believe in the characters, the author does something to make me back off again. By the end of this chapter I'm believing in them once more - but now I'm waiting to be knocked back again, to have them snatched away again...