| THE FACE OF THE ENEMY by David A. McIntee |
| Story ? Synopsis: The Doctor thinks he has the TARDIS sorted, and takes Jo on a test flight. The Brigadier is asked down to see a crashed plane, containing a dead MP. A branch of Magnum Bank is attacked by a mysterious gang. The late MP appears to still be at work, suggesting he has been duplicated. With the Doctor missing, UNIT find other help, from Ian & Barbara Chesterton. Ian finds the crashed plane is lightly radioactive, and Barbara finds the last message from the plane before it crashed has been faked. Benton suggests asking the Master for help, but he declines. He is then subject to a botched kidnap from his detention centre in Aylesbury. He visits the Birnam Hotel, thinking he is taking over the Scottish gang, the 69 Krew, who robbed the Magnum Bank. But instead, he barely escapes from an attempt on his life. He realises Marianne Kyle, whom he thought just an associate, is working against him, and probably not from Earth. His TARDIS is stolen, so he decides to 'give' UNIT his help. He tracks transmissions down to the Faslane base. Barbara is kidnapped, and believed killed. The Master and Ian find that Faslane is only the landing ground, and Kyle actually comes from a parallel Earth. The Master builds a machine that can transport him there, and Ian and the Brigadier come too. Kyle believes the Master loves her, and will be her consort on her mission to take over Earth. But he wants his TARDIS back, and helps free Barbara. He takes her, Ian and the Brigadier back to Earth, having scuppered the plans of the Conclave, the fascist rulers of the parallel Earth. Kyle is aboard a nuclear submarine leaving Faslane. The Master pilots the TARDIS there, and reveals he has no interest in her. She flees, and the Master sends his TARDIS away for safekeeping. The Brigadier puts him back into custody. |
| Review:- McIntee has built a reputation for handling the Master well as a character, and here perhaps gives the ultimate examenation of the renegade Time Lord. The set-up is that whilst the Doctor and Jo are off tackling The Curse of Peladon, UNIT were not idly waiting their return. A crashed plane and a brutal bank raid are the tips of a rather nasty iceberg. Amusingly, Ian and Barbara are called in as help, but even they are no match for their enemies this time, and so they call on the Master as well. The idea of telling a story using characters other than the Doctor is a sound one, and McIntee has a decent plot to work with. However, there are smug bits, such as the referencing of so many UNIT personnel, from Bell to Beresford. The 'debut' of Harry Sullivan is as icky as the usage of Ian and Barbara. But, to be fair, it all just about works. The Magnum Bank attack makes for a compelling opening, setting up the ruthless nastiness of the bad guys. The duplication angle leads us to Marianne Kyle, the other main character in the book. Kyle is clearly meant to be dangerous and significant. The reader knows this because we get endless paragraphs of her thinking about her background, and her motivations. Sadly, there's a certain dishonesty to this, breaking the "show, don't tell" rule of storytelling. Plus, the fact that she repeatedly gloats of her success at overcoming the weak people she has known leads to the humiliation of her character when she finds the Master is more than a match for her. Whilst he seems pleased she has escaped, I'm not sure a reader would feel the same way. The Master gets to face his past, when he meets an alternate Koschei. This refers to McIntee's earlier book, The Dark Path, that showed what tipped the character over the edge. The Master is the star turn of the book, cunningly using an attempted break-out to enable an actual escape, surviving an assassination attempt, manipulating Ian to avenge Barbara's 'death', and putting paid to the ambitions of the people on the parallel Earth. His rescue of Ian, Barbara and the Brigadier suggests he must have some interest in their staying alive. He justifies his placing on the cover. The storyline of the parallel Earth follows that seen in Inferno. Whilst I'm not convinced that these characters survived the events of that story, McIntee makes a compelling job of their motivations and characterisations. Overall, this is a great book in most respects, and proves that the Doctor is not necessary for a good Dr Who story. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |