| THE CITY OF THE DEAD by Lloyd Rose |
| Story 48 Synopsis: The Doctor has a strange nightmare, and finds a curious charm made of bone in his wardrobe. He lands the TARDIS in New Orleans to investigate, sparking a murder enquiry. Whilst Fitz and Anji work together, the Doctor helps out local cop Jonas Rust. It seems that local tour guide Jack Dupre is trying to summon a demon, and thinks the Doctor can help. Fitz and Anji learn of an incident back in 1980 where a family died in strange circumstances. The Doctor travels back there in the TARDIS, setting up future events. Dupre dies during a summoning ceremony. The Doctor is caught by the real culprit: Rust, who killed his family and has committed further atrocities since. He wants to bring more trouble, and recovers the bone charm, leaving the Doctor to die. But he is saved by another elemental creature, and returns safely to New Orleans. In a harsh storm, Rust meets the Void he has been trying to catch, and it finishes him. The Doctor survives, and rejoins his friends. |
| Review:- Another stateside sojourn for the Doctor, where a murder mystery soon takes a turn for the bizarre, and the macabre... The notion of magic has been tackled before by Doctor Who, with The Daemons and Battlefield being generally the key examples of magic being ridiculed or accepted, respectively. Here, it seems to be most definitely accepted, with magic spells summoning elemental creatures for which this amnesiac Doctor can offer no firm explanation. In a welcome if unusual twist, Fitz and Anji form an investigative team, leaving the Doctor to his own devices. The initial murder which draws in the cop, Rust, is but one facet of a plot that gets more complex as it goes on (which it should). For the first 2/3 - 3/4 of the book, things progress quite well. The atmosphere of New Orleans conveys a credible sense of drama to things, whilst the curious Jack Dupre and the dopey Swan Acree provide intriguing suspects. But it is the repulsive Vernon Flood and his enigmatic wife who prove to be most important in the long run. With the Doctor using the TARDIS to pop back to the night in 1980 when a tragedy happened, it's perhaps apt that he ends up caught in the nexus. However, eventually a culprit needs to be found, and in true shlocky fashion, it turns out to be Rust, in what presumably was a needless homage to Scooby Doo. He does at least get to prove his nastiness, since Anji & Fitz are conveniently written out of the book for 40-odd pages (1/7 of the whole story!). Once Rust has left the Doctor at the mercy of water sprites, the reader may well wonder how he can save the day cleanly. Amusingly, his earlier act of kindness to Mrs Flood is repaid, and he returns refreshed to New Orleans in time to finger the only other main character left loose, Thales, and let Rust bring himself down. By this stage, any hope for a plot to care about is long gone. The only other notable aspect of the book is the frequent tortures of the Doctor, something not seen since the early New Adventures of Kate Orman. Rose's next book, Camera Obscura, is a whole lot nastier than this, though. Fitz and Anji don't really contribute much, even with her subplot romance with Rust (she can pick 'em). They pay lip service to the town's reputation for jazz, but it feels like a writer ticking a box. On the whole, this is a decent enough little story, until it all falls apart, descending into tiresome silliness that would try anyone's patience. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |