The first three original novels featuring the twelfth (or is it thirteenth of fourteenth) Doctor, as played in the hit TV series by Peter Capaldi have now been published by BBC Books
The Blood Cell by James Goss, has the Doctor locked in the most secure prison in the galaxy, and they’re calling him the most dangerous criminal in the quadrant.
However, the Doctor keeps escaping and walking round the prison as if he had every right to be out of his cell.
The Governer of the prison is also puzzled by a young woman (Clara) who turns up every day to visit the Doctor, but is always turned away.
Then the killing starts, and the Doctor has to find out who – or what – is behind it.
In Silhouette by Justin Richards, we, along with the Doctor and Clara are investigating mysterious happenings in Victorian London.
At the same time, The Paternoster Gang: Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint and Strax, are also investigating strange deaths separately.
It soon becomes apparent that they are all connected with the Frost Fair and the Carnival of Curiosities.
The Doctor and his friends then encounter a man who appears familiar to them all, and why are there folded paper birds near the body of Marlowe Hapworth?
Present day Wiltshire is the setting for The Crawling Terror by Mike Tucker.
The Doctor and Clara arrive just as the village of Ringstone is being terrorized by giant insects.
As the Doctor tries to decipher some strange symbols on an ancient stone circle, the villagers appear to become zombies and he must travel back to the end of the Second World War to put things right.
All three books are written by long-standing Who-writers and their grasp of the new Doctor is excellent, especially as they must not have had much information about Peter Capaldi’s portrayal.
The stories are taut, exciting and pacey with plenty of action, scares and humour – especially in Silhouette, which for me is the best of the three books.
A highlight of all three stories is the by-play between the ‘less user-friendly’ Doctor and Clara – his has been caught perfectly.