|
2001:
More than fifty years after an unidentified flying object
was shot down over it during wartime, the English village
of Turelhampton remains guarded by troops and off-limits to
the public. Meanwhile, a journalist discovers that the Nazi
menace is still very much alive...
The
current range consultant of the BBC's Doctor Who novels
and his immediate predecessor have pooled their talents to
produce this assemblage of crowd-pleasing elements, which
engage the reader's interest from the word "go". As well as
the return of that old favourite, the Brigadier, this is not
the first Who story to revolve around the Second World
War (in fact, it was the setting for Paul Leonard's The
Turing Test just a few months ago).
However,
such a major focus on Adolf Hitler as we have here has not
been seen since Terrance Dicks' popular Timewyrm: Exodus,
published by Virgin way back in 1991. Richards and Cole are
careful to neither confirm nor deny the events of that book
within their own narrative, which digs deeply into a fascinating
historical background. Before reading this well-researched
novel (which is backed up by a historical note at the end),
I had never realised how hazy were the facts and theories
surrounding Hitler's final days in his bunker.
A
complex but eminently page-turning plot keeps us waiting for
the reunion of the Brigadier and the Sixth Doctor. Instead,
the first six chapters each establish different locations
and/or sets of characters, each of which are then expertly
weaved and tied up by the end of the story. These characters
include several well-known historical figures, a strangely
ageless British army officer, a race of creepy shadow creatures
and a reporter who is every bit as nosy as Sarah Jane Smith
or the Scream trilogy's Gale Weathers, and just as
likely to get herself into trouble. For his own part, the
Sixth Doctor is splendidly realised, from his amusing penchant
for feeding his ample girth at every opportunity, to the more
subtle description of Colin Baker's trademark exhalations
of surprise.
Decidedly
high-class hokum.
Richard
McGinlay
|
