TWIN PEAKS: THE FINAL DOSSIER

released OUT NOW! 160 pages | Hardback/ebook Author Mark Frost Publisher Macmillan

Last year’s The Secret History Of Twin Peaks was an elaborate compendium of myth and mystery that knitted UFOlogy, folklore and the occult into the Peaks universe. What Mark Frost’s book didn’t offer, however, was too much insight into what many of the TV characters had been up to in the decades between seasons two and three.

The same can’t be said for The Final Dossier. Presented as a report by Agent Preston, it expounds on backstories, explains why certain people were absent from The Return and gleefully tosses out the odd revelation. How’s Annie? You’ll find out in chapters that are heavy with three decades’ worth of expectation, but still eerie and satisfying.

At times this, along with the loose narrative, makes The Final Dossier feel more like an RPG sourcebook than a novel. Frost does a fine job of enriching the mythos, but there are moments where Preston’s mask slips and you can hear the author’s voice, not Chrysta Bell’s – notably in a cameo from a certain, much-loathed President. It’s also a less lavish volume than its beautiful predecessor.

That doesn’t detract from how essential the book is for fans, though. The Final Dossier offers reassurance following the show’s existentially unsettling final hour, adding context without ruining Twin Peaks’ sacred ambiguity. Will Salmon