Deceit [Paperback]

However, once you get over the fact that the story is pretty standard, and that the TARDIS doesn't even make it to the planet Arcadia until page 100, and that the Doctor and his two companions are separated for the entire book until the very last minute...well, you begin to appreciate in retrospect just why the NAs were so good.

"Deceit" takes place in roughly the year 2453, three calendar years after the seminal "Love & War". Within "Deceit"'s 300-odd pages, we see clearly the entire vision of future history, as the NA universe understands it. All the tiny little hints and elements carefully placed during the first two years of the NA's publication, come to fruition here. A textbook-style appendix, if you read it, makes things even more clear. A lot of thought went into planning the NAs and turning them into a coherent universe of novels, rather than just a random set of monthly TV tie-in publications. This is, to be honest, a stunning feat.

"Deceit"'s internal pacing is what turns the book into an also-ran. The Doctor should ideally be the star of "Doctor Who", but in "Deceit" he doesn't have a line of dialogue until page 81. There are no scenes told from his standpoint, and the way we see him through other characters' eyes is far from flattering. The return of Ace, absent for the previous three books, is more disturbing than rousing. Benny, as ever, is all over the map. One particular supporting characters are dragged across an entire book with nothing to say, and then, when it's all over, her fate is left rather up in the air. Yes. Thank you.

But, turning again to the Darvill-Evans afterword, even here you can see that the author learned from his own mistakes, and fewer and fewer books after "Deceit" would make them. "Deceit" may not bear re-reading, but its impact on the next 5 years of "Doctor Who" books was very positive indeed

The book begins slowly, and the quiet opening sections had me fooled into thinking this was going to be an absolutely brilliant story. There are nice quiet little character moments that hint at a story written with a lot of care. There are instances of surreal insanity that actually work. Several plot lines are developed at once, and each one manages to be both interesting and engaging. Parts of the narrative seem slightly confusing at first glance, but careful reading reveals a fairly complicated story apparently being built up.

A large and pointless action/battle sequence at about the halfway mark signals the beginning of the book's dive into tedium. It's dull, it's overly macho, it seems unending, and, unfortunately, it sets the tone for the rest. At some point along the line, everything that had been carefully developed was thrown aside in favor of senseless and dull action scenes. Writing a captivating battle sequence takes a lot of skill; one can't simply have a list of things that exploded and expect the audience to stay interested. Regrettably, PDE's writing simply isn't up to the level needed to keep the reader's attention.

While the beginning of the book showed promise, this isn't a New Adventure that I can recommend. It has several good moments in it though, and if you skip ahead during the gunfights, then the book may just be about worth it. However, reading DECEIT in its entirety will almost make you forget about the good stuff that was buried in among the nonsense. Read it to see what happens to Ace, but don't be afraid to skip ahead during the fights; you won't be missing out on anything.