| THE DEVIANT STRAIN by Justin Richards |
| Story ? Synopsis: The TARDIS lands on the Novrosk Peninsula, at the start of the 21st century. The Doctor convinces a delegation of Russian troops that he, Rose and Jack have also come to help. They find a dead teenager whose body has been sucked dry, and a girl who seems to have suffered extreme premature aging. The Doctor investigates what has composed a stone circle near where the TARDIS landed, and learns of a mythical creature, the Vourdulak, whom locals blame for the deaths, of which there have been many over the years. Jack investigates the submarines with some of the soldiers, where they are attacked by a couple of creatures. Rose meets a local blind psychic, who narrates an attack on someone, and Rose is later imperilled by Sofia, the cop who is supposed to be helping. The Doctor manages to dig up a previous victim to compare deaths, and sees the same causes. He finds the stone has aging properties. Rose finds a tunnel leading from Sofia's house to an undersea spaceship. Jack arrives, having had to swim out of his submarine through a torpedo hatch. They find some steps, which lead up into the Institute, where the Doctor is less than surprised to see them. He says the stone circle is drawing energy down to the spaceship, which crashed on arrival. Sofia attacks again, but falls victim to the blobby creatures. The Doctor explains the situation to the troops in the pub, also warning the villagers. Jack helps fetching villagers to the institute, but is delayed in getting back, and trapped between a staged blaze, and the advancing creatures. At the institute, the Doctor realises there must be a large secret compound where the villagers can hide. It turns out to be linked to the spaceship, and Klebanov, one of a group of scientists who have been leeching energy via the spaceship, tries to kill them. Jack, having made it through to the others, leads a way again. Klebanov leads his men to one of the nuclear submarines, which had been thought decommissioned. They start up a sequence so they can launch a missile, giving them a huge new energy source, whilst devastating the local area. But the Doctor has altered the flow into the missile, so that it fills with seawater. Thwarted, Klebanov and his team collapse, energy gone. |
| Review:- To Russia, and a small community threatened by terror from outer space... plus ca change... Jack joins Rose and the Doctor, and we get a mention of Bad Wolf, too. Beyond that, it's a pretty regular thriller. Given that it's Jack who answers the distress call to the TARDIS, he gets some stick from the Doctor, but is given a strong subplot with the stricken Valeria. He also manages to interact well with the Russian troops. The rather carefree start is not helped when the Doctor's psychic paper allows Colonel Levin to trust him immediately. Although this convenience saves having to work distrust into the plot, it seems ridiculously easy. Though Sergeyev resents Jack's seniority, that's as far as it goes. Of course, when the Doctor later proves his credentials of intelligence, then everyone is accepting, but cutting this corner means the story lacks something. Rose's encounter with spooky blind Georgi does provide a moment of terror when he foresees a death, in one of the best parts of the book. That Georgi's insight is rather blurred by his fear of a man with a wolf tattoo mars this. Minin manages to kill Georgi, as he feared he would do, but Rose does nothing to stop it, not even sharing Georgi's concern with the Doctor, ensuring this point dwindles to nothing. Minin's relationship with the others, being that they resent him as a spy, when he was actually responsible for killing the real spy, Chedakin, is a pretty bland subplot. The Doctor, of course, has no reason to distrust Minin, and seems almost surprised that nobody has tumbled the truth. It doesn't really help that Chedakin is very close to Chedaki, from The Android Invasion, either. That Sofia, the cop, is evil is interesting, although it's really dumb that the Doctor stresses the importance of safety in numbers prior to sending Rose and Sofia off alone. Klebanov being the other baddie is a matter of bland convenience. Richards uses the idea of a small community cut off from the rest of civilisation, with a lack of energy, harsh weather and extreme cold, not to mention darkness, all ideas which are pretty familiar, but at least they work together here. The book moves along at a steady pace, even if the aliens from the spaceship seem pretty generic. It's almost too simple, at times. So, a decent book with a decent story and decent characters, decently written. Some bad bits, but that's true of anything. |
| Disclaimer: I have a copy of the book. |