| THE MAN IN THE VELVET MASK by Daniel O'Mahony |
| Story ? Synopsis: The TARDIS appears to land in Paris, 1804. Dodo wanders off, and falls in with a group of travelling actors. The Doctor is arrested for breaking curfew, and the TARDIS is taken to the Bastille. During an altercation, the Doctor regains his liberty, picking up clues to why the Revolution has not ended yet. He goes to the Bastille, but meets Citizen Sade, who has him locked in Cell no 6, which is already occupied by a man wearing a velvet mask. Dodo is cast in the actors' play, but is unhappy at the nature of the role. Prisoner le 6 reveals to the Doctor that there is a facade behind which lies a clockwork machine. The Doctor removes the velvet masj, and then they escape, but when the Doctor tracks down the TARDIS, he meets the dwarf tyrant Minski, who rules the city. Minski wants to know the secrets of the Doctor's "trick box". Dodo finds the actors' leader, Fantomas, is somehow in league with aliens. Fantomas is really a woman named Arouette. The Doctor refuses to comply with Minski, and he is sent into the murder machine, a deadly maze, where he finds le 6, who helps him. Together, they escape, and recuperate. The players have their play cut by the State censor, and travel to the Bastille to give the performance. There, Arouette tries to kill Minski, but he has a mind control over most of Paris, and Arouette is attacked. Le 6 shoots Minski, and the Doctor tells him that he is the real Marquis de Sade. The so-called Citizen Sade is just a robot. Paris, indeed Earth, has been moved into a pocket dimension by aliens running an experiment based on giving power to Sade. But Minski was the result, and he took over. Sade and the Doctor re-enter the world-machine, to try and restore Earth's position, using Minski as a sacrifice to achieve the reconnection. Dodo knows she has become infected by one of Minski's killer viruses. She and the Doctor leave Sade and Arouette in the restored Paris. |
| Review:- Yet another chance meeting with a historical figure, but with a heavy sci-fi twist. Earth is in deadly danger at the hands of a demented freak, and the Doctor is not well... When I first read this book, it sailed over my head. It was quite perplexing to read other comments and reviews of what happened, as it seemed there was some major events going on, but they did not make sense to me. So, having finally got around to re-reading it, did it make more sense this time? Well, it did. The idea of alternate Earths is nothing new, although the locale and choice here means that this is focussed totally on the two halves of the plot: Minski's machinations and Fantomas' Players. The latter is fairly appreciable, well-described, but quite dull. Dalville and Bressac are fairly random creations, although Fantomas' amusing deception gives a bit of interest. This whole section seems in some way to just be there to make Dodo seem less dull than she is alledged to be, and fails terribly. Her character changes are presumably to make her more interesting, but all it does is suggest she is written by someone who has no idea who she is. But she comes out better than the Doctor, who is written as a decrepit wreck! I suppose there is some argument that he is all but gone during The Tenth Planet, but he is far from finished in either The War Machines or The Smugglers, so although it suits this story, it's a bit of a cheat. Not that the Doctor might have done much better otherwise. But he deserves a little more vitality, really. Perhaps it is impossible to enjoy this book without appreciating the finer points of the Marquis de Sade? There may be many allusions to his work here, but I wouldn't know where to look. If there are none, of course, then this is an inexcusably dull book. Minski doesn't convince as a dreadful villain, the Players are merely the broadest strokes of a pen, and the real Sade seems a boring twerp. Cameo has some depth, but is all but inessential to the story. Unless you're a completist, I can't see what would attract you to read this book. |
| Disclaimer: I have read a copy. |