To date the Torchwood novels have been of varying quality, ranging from the pretty ordinary first three novels (which, admittedly, had the distinct disadvantage of having to be written after the very ordinary first season) to the slightly more enjoyable second trio (again, benefitting from coming after considerably better second season). The latest three novels - Pack Animals, SkyPoint and Almost Perfect - are easily the best the novel series has yet to release, completely embracing the new Torchwood philosphy, and presenting us with three slightly offbeat tales centering around a group of likable and friendly characters.
Pack Animals sees Gwen and Rhys preparing for their wedding (one notable aspect of these novels is that they are not consecutive, slotting into various points in Series II), but being attacked by a Weevil and a large flying dog in the shopping centre. More curious is that a "Magick" style game is on sale which features real aliens. Though this is an entertaining novel, it suffers from something that a lot of Peter Angelhides Torchwood work suffers from, and that's giving us mulitple examples of the situation that's occurring. We are subjected to copious alien attacks from the "Magick" cards, the majority of which don't really push the plot forward. Angelhides nails the characters marvellously (and indeed all these books do, but perhaps more impressively they also nail the character of Rhys really well), with some very witty moments including PC Andy stirring Rhys up about illegal parking. Angelhides brings us another group of people retreiving alien equipment, but we are shown quite clearly why it should be left to the experts. Of the three novels, though, Pack Animals is actually the weakest; that it is so good should give a lot of hope.
SkyPoint is more of a Tosh and Owen novel - which is about time, really - as, after Gwen and Rhys go looking for a new home, having recently been married, they discover a place where people are mysteriously vanishing. Enter Tosh and the deceased Owen, who become a married couple in order to discover what is going on - in this particular instance, a mobster who has a pet alien in the building that is randomly chowing down on people that take its fancy. As I said, this is Tosh and Owen's novel more than any of the others, and we get to see a great deal of their relationship and the motivations behind it, as well as some priceless moments, including Owen discovering that one of the occupants is a BDSM prostitute. Perhaps one thing that is not necessarily a criticism of this book as such, but of the book range in general, is the amping up of homosexuality. The criticism stems, not in the inclusion of it, but the apparent ignoring of lesbians. The Torchwood universe seems to be populated by a lot of open-minded people, but none of them are lesbians. In this book there is a gay couple who are simply gay, which is nice, but given the next book, perhaps it would have been just as effective if they were lesbians. 
Almost Perfect is easily the best of the three novels, partially because it is written in such a brilliant style - James Goss writes his stories with a large number of very short chapters, but more often than not he likes to play with the style just a little - one chapter, for instance, is nothing more than a few lines of conversations. Equally, he actually uses chapter titles, but all are in the style of Facebook status updates (Jack is..., Gwen is... etc). This novel is set after Series II, and as such has only three Torchwood characters to deal with, which is something of a blessing as it means that all three (as well as Rhys) get some nice development, although again, this is more of a Jack and Ianto novel. The entire premise of the story - that Ianto has suddenly become a very beautiful woman along with a restaurant full of skeletons turning up - is quite mysterious and quite curious. The book centers, to a certain degree in the last third, around a gay nightclub, and it is for this reason that there seems to be a slight dismissal of lesbians, as we are presented with nothing but male homosexual couples in the novels. That aside though, this is easily the best novel of the three, and certainly the best novel of the entire range. The Torchwood novels are really going from strength to strength as the writers get a better grip on who they are writing about and have more fun playing with the world Russell T Davies has created. Really looking forward to the next three.
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