| DEMONTAGE by Justin Richards |
| Story 20 Synopsis: The TARDIS lands on the Vega Station, a neutral space station with casino between the warring planets of Battrul and Canvine. The Doctor and Fitz challenge each other to see who can win the most in a week, Fitz losing his money in the first day. Sam meets Vermilian Kenyan, a hostess, who explains the brittle political situation. She soon disappears, possibly into a painting. Acts of murder and sabotage are committed, and the Canvine seem responsible. The Doctor find flecks of paint at the crime scenes. The President of Battrul arrives to ostensibly visit an art exhibition. Her aide wishes to renew hostilities with the Canvine, and has persuaded the people behind the art exhibition to assist in a scheme to get the President out of the way and restore war. They are exposed by the artist, who was believed dead, and it is the aide who ends up put on ice. The Doctor's ownership of the Vega Station is also settled in the melee. In fact, the President had no interest in the artist, and had come to negotiate a deal with the Canvine, leader, Bigdog Caruso. |
| Review:- Fitz' first foray into space brings him into a world of warring races, gamblers, hitmen, monsters and art. Richards, having written more and more of these books over the years, developed a vague style, pitching many seemingly unrelated elements together, until the baddies are revealed, and then dealt with. Here, it contrasts with the theme of montage in art, and it seems slightly more obvious than usual. The Martinique exhibition is the fulcrum of the story. The dead painter's works draw in the President, whilst also being the object of her doom. Two forging swindlers plan to use the exhibition to make a bit of money. The people behind the exhibition are framing the Canvine for attacks happening around Vega. And so on... The casino proves an artful misdirection, causing Fitz to stumble on Hazard Solarin's plot to kill the Doctor, which relates to his previous visit. Solarin turns out to be one of the good guys after all, dying heroically when he forgets chance and relies on instinct. The baddies, Blanc and Gath, turn out to be motivated by greed, having murdered Martinique (or thought they had), and used his machinery to unleash the beasts in his paintings, which is a novel methodology, if nothing else. The trick of a machine that can transfer its victims into the picture is also impressively frightening. The fate of Kenyan points up how lucky Sam was to escape. Quite how it doesn't work on the Doctor is left unsaid. Luckily, the weapon works both ways, and Martinique, having foreseen his demise, achieved an immortality of sorts, and his beasts defer to him as their creator above all. Again, makes a change. The con artists who try to flog an imitation painting of his are outclassed in the casino, and then back the winning side. Their forgery is the final straw for Gath and Blanc, who fail to spot its inauthenticity. That the big painting, Murdering art, should have such an obvious true name, is one of many small tricks which can be rumbled ahead of time. As Fitz' first big adventure, he does share a lot of the action, particularly his run-in with the Devourer, and his mistaken identity. Sam is more of a background character, and when she comes to the front, she is drearily moral. The Doctor takes a while to realise that there's anything wrong, then cannot deduce what the threat to the President actually is. But his usage of the money chip to fool the forgers, and his evasion of Solarin, are strong scenes. He even gets to show appreciation of opera. In the final analysis, the subject is well pictured, but the frame is nothing special. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy of the book. |