| THE TAINT by Michael Collier |
| Story 19 Synopsis: The TARDIS lands near a garden centre in the grounds of a stately home, Earth, 1963. Whilst Sam meets Fitz Kreiner, the Doctor investigates the machinations of Dr Roley, who has found 6 patients who share an identical dream of a dark cave on an alien world. He finds they all have a leech creature inside. Sam accidentally traces the source of the leeches, a robot called Azoth, on a mission to eradicate dimensional creatures dubbed 'the Beast'. She is infected and escapes back to Roley's mansion. The Doctor learns that Azoth's mission began 140-odd years earlier, but the robot lay dormant for a long time and things have got out of hand. Azoth wants to destroy everyone on the planet to solve things, but the Doctor modifies its 'terminal solution' so that it just affects those patients with leeches, who are beginning to develop and use mental powers. As one of the patients was Fitz' mother, and the police want him to help with their enquiries, the Doctor decides to take Fitz with he and Sam in the TARDIS. |
| Review:- The TARDIS returns to Earth after a gap of 10 books, in time to meet a new friend... As Collier's previous book Longest Day didn't achieve too much acclaim, he was perhaps lucky to get another chance. This time, he creates a study of mental health, keeping things low-key. The most important part of the book is the new companion Fitz Kreiner, a likeable chap who gets rapidly out of his depth, but does his best anyway. He feels a more credible person than Sam ever does, and his smoking and music give enough personal touches to sustain interest. Dr Roley and his Nurse, Maria Bulwell, are a hapless pair of twittish villains, out of their depth and not glad to be told so. Then again, the bumbling Azoth isn't much better, struggling to put in practice the Benelisa program, with the help of his ageing pal, Tarr. There's a lot of tragedy in this book, and the doomed nature of Azoth's efforts is one such piece. As his energy runs out, and his faculties elude him, he's struggling to make the best of a bad job. Compared to Roley and Bulwell, though, he's a success. The not-that-good doctor is more concerned with his own career than the wellbeing of his patients, so it's slightly fitting that they put paid to his ambitions for himself. As for her, she only has eyes for him, and no heart for anyone much. Her grisly comeuppance might easily elicit cheers from a reader. The patients are a mixture, and illuminated by a series of vignettes as the story goes along, explaining something of their backgrounds. Of these, the most affecting for me are Lucy's, and especially Russell's. That section alone stood out the first time I read this book, and has lost none of its impact a decade later. But the implication that mental illness can be traced in some cases to external alien influence rather sticks in the throat (as it would do in the later PDA Relative Dementias). If only more sufferers could find release thanks to alien interference, eh? Whilst the story does give a fairly sympathetic portrayal of the topic, these little touches let it down. Sam gets clobbered yet again, for the 4th book in a row (which even she comments on!), and thus contributes little except getting riled at Fitz (perhaps especially when he tells her some truths). Thus, it falls to the Doctor to try to keep everyone alive (he fails), keep everyone calm (he fails), and put a stop to the spread of the Benelisa taint without stopping the leech-carriers (he fails). But otherwise, he comes across quite charmingly, especially in a scene where he persuades a stranger to watch his borrowed car for a few minutes. It's hard to enthuse about this book, but it does keep the reader guessing, which makes a change. Shame about that hideous cover, though. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy of the book. |