| THE DOMINO EFFECT by David Bishop |
| Story 62 Synopsis: The TARDIS arrives in Edinburgh, 2003, and Anji sets off for a return to her old life. Fitz turns tourist, and the Doctor, experiencing chest pains, heads for the library. Each soon realises that something is very wrong. The TARDIS is taken away, Anji fails to take the train home, suffers racial abuse, and meets up with Fitz in a cafe. A bomb explodes, and Fitz is accused of being a terrorist, and is forced to confess on live TV. He receives a death sentence, and is transported to the Tower Of London, where he makes contact with Alan Turing. Anji, who was caught in the cafe, and was taken to hospital, is linked to Fitz, and finds herself in a hospital ward. The Doctor makes a contact, and sets about rescuing Anji, then making their way down to London. It is Eastertime, and a mass public demonstration has been called. The Doctor and Anji are locked in a London cafe whilst the demo is put down by armed police. Sending Anji to rescue Fitz, the Doctor heads for the TARDIS, which is in the clutches of the Star Chamber, an elite group of five who secretly control Britain, with a puppet Prime Minister, and quell all scientific advancement. They are in turn run by the adjutant to an Oracle, a mysterious child-like alien who has arrived from outside time. The adjutant is Sabbath, but a parallel Sabbath, as this is a parallel Earth. Sabbath kills Turing, who was the only thing keeping the Oracle in check. Realising his mistake, Sabbath turns against the Oracle. Anji rescues Fitz, and they make it to the Star Chamber, where they scramble into the TARDIS. The Doctor tries to avert the meeting between Sabbath and the Oracle, but fails. They realise that the Universe is a little closer to the threat against which Sabbath has been warning them. |
| Review:- So, after a 3 month gap, we are plunged back into the latest crisis to face the Doctor, in his continuing struggles with Sabbath. Whilst The Infinity Race seemed to suggest that the chaos which assaulted time at the end of Time Zero was sorted, it is now clear that it didn't, and the TARDIS is struggling to find its way back to the correct, true as we know it, timeline. David Bishop's last DW book was Amorality Tale, which I maintain was the best PDA of 2002, although I have made the observation (perhaps the complaint) that its pace was rather languid. Well described, and fairly entertaining, but the pages fly by disproportionally to the action. Here, we get the same. I happened to read the first 100 or so pages before finishing the rest, and the change of pace is bizarre. The model seems to be The Seeds Of Doom, with the first third being almost a totally different style to the remainder. Indeed, the scene where Fitz gets hysterical at the thought of the Doctor and Anji coming for him seems like a nod to the audience, who have been expecting something like that to happen ever since he was incarcerated. The drop in drama from the start to the end is just too gob-smacking to be overlooked. The strange and unfamiliar Edinburgh which assaults our heroes is really well portrayed, although it's a shame that we start with a companion buried under rubble, and a scene-setting recap that brings us up to speed, when we get almost exactly the same narrative device in Fear Of The Dark, which only cam out last month! The Doctor's heart problems, and time sensitivity are also a pretty dodgy plot device, as indeed was the Doctor's sufferance of mind control in FOTD! At least when he reaches the Star Chamber, he comes into his own, bouncing off Sabbath, and making the right moves to try and save the day, even if he has to emote about the fate of the people he and Anji meet. Anji is still one of the strangest companions the Doctor has ever met, and as she clocks up her 2nd year in the TARDIS, it seems we are no nearer understanding what makes her tick, at all. Her go-getting attitude, and determination despite all the negative reactions she gets make her quite admirable, and the suffering she gets is cancelled out when she is rescued by the Doctor, and spends the rest of the book losing her temper with him, although at least she is concerned for Fitz. The 1963 relic himself has a rather weighty time, apparently oblivious to Edinburgh's time-warp, and determined to prevent the terrorists. His beatings and mis-treatment really bring home the savagery of this Britain, and his righteous anger when he realises the truth behind the bombers makes it clear he has the Doctor effect in him. It is a tantalising shame that he never knows that Alan the prisoner is Alan Turing, who I assume he'd have heard of. When he is released, that's pretty much all he has to do, and his involvement in the denouement is negligible. Sabbath is almost a joy to see, as the rest of this Earth's cast are quite horrid people who all seem to be double-crossers. The Pentarch is supposed to be a homage to the Brigadier (now, where's my copy of Blood Heat?), whilst Dee is a version of Ace. Quite what that is supposed to show, I fail to see. Hastings is probably the most clearly defined, and he becomes irrelevant when Fitz mocks him, and he allows it. Had he been shot dead in the Tower, then that would have merited attention, but no... The Oracle is too opaque to get an idea of, although he seems to be a sign of the shape of things to come. Oh good...!? On the whole, a fairly average book, and doesn't appear to further the overall storyline, other than to reverse the state of play from the end of the previous book. Whatever next? |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |