Doctor Who: Deadly Reunion [Paperback]

This book was a very quick read--nothing wrong with its pacing! Almost the entire first half is taken up by the adventures of a young lieutenant Lethridge-Stewart in the Greek islands. What starts as a boring foray into the world of intelligence quickly turns into a tale of derring-do, as Lethridge-Stewart is thrust into the world of the former Greek gods (an improbably immortal race with all sorts of powers who were the basis of the Greek pantheon way back when). Alistair helps save the day and gets the girl, but then loses her--not that he remembers any of it by the time it's all said and done. This first half is very well done, though the bombardment of British slang got to be a bit much for a Yank like me, even with helpful characters translating.

The second half takes place in "contemporary" times, with Brigadier Lethridge-Stewart, UNIT, the Doctor, and Jo. Everyone is characterized well, especially Benton, who is given several chances to carry a scene (whereas Yates is mostly window dressing). Not surprisingly, the baddie thought dispatched in the first part of the book is up to his old tricks, which leads to lots of investigating by the Doctor, and the resurfacing of old memories and feelings for Alistair. The first part of the second half was also well done, as the Doctor and Jo try and figure out what's going on, and the UNIT chappies get to stretch their own research legs. As the book reaches its conclusion, however, you realize that there's not too much to this story--the Doctor doesn't end up doing much more than investigating and talking to people; he's more of an enabler to get some of the other characters to act. Which I suppose might be in keeping with some of the 3rd Doctor TV shows, but still left me unsatisfied.

The whole thing wraps up with an unsurprising deus ex machina--literally. So, like I said, the first three-quarters are some good storytelling--but it seems like the authors were in a hurry to wrap up the story at the end, and took some shortcuts that ended up shortchanging the book. Still not a bad read, though.

One of the staples of "trad" (traditional) Who fiction is Terrance Dicks. He first joined the show in 1968, was the script editor for the entire Third Doctor era (1970-73), and has written many of the classic Who episodes. He's even written some of the new Dr. Who fiction since the television series ended. Barry Letts was the producer for the entire Third Doctor era. So you'd think that, writing a Third Doctor book, they could do no wrong. Right? Well, sort of.

Deadly Reunion is a 40th anniversary Who special, and in doing that Dicks and Letts have written a wonderful homage to the TV show. Unfortunately, what they forgot to do is make an interesting book. Sure, there's a lot of Who nostalgia in it, especially Third Doctor nostalgia. However, considering that Third Doctor fans are only a small part of a rather small to begin with fan base, you have to wonder who they're trying to cater to? And why they couldn't write a good book on top of the nostalgia trip. It can be done. Not this time.

Deadly Reunion throws in bits of Dr. Who clichés all over the place. There's the companion, running from the bad guys, tripping and injuring her ankle. There's Sergeant Benton threatening to "thump" somebody. There's the Third Doctor's Venusian Aikido. There's the Doctor's penchant for name dropping (he talks about running with the bulls with Ernest Hemingway, or "Ernie" as he calls him). An old friend stopping by (though he's really inconsequential and obviously just in there for the anniversary). Sedate English village where trouble is brewing. It's all there, in point form. Unfortunately, Dicks has also acquired some new, somewhat distasteful clichés as well. There's the numerous references to the possibilities of assault (first Sephie and then Jo), which just gave me the willies. It's like your elderly uncle sitting down and telling you dirty stories. Ick.

Then there are the structural problems. In fact, there's one huge internal continuity problem that I don't know how it was missed. When Jo and the Doctor are going down to Hob's Haven to get tickets for the festival, it's supposed to take place "next week." Then, events happen, but they're all confined to one day. All of a sudden, they're talking about the festival beginning "tomorrow night." Huh? There's no mention of it being moved up. In fact, the timeline is a bit suspect no matter how you think about it. All of the sequences involving Sergeant Benton and Captain Yates seem like they would have to take place over a matter of a couple of days, but given the text of the book, it's impossible for them to have done so. It all has to happen the same day. It was enough to tax my mind as I was trying to figure out just what was happening when.

I also had a problem with Lethbridge-Stewart falling in love that quickly. He sees Persephone and he's immediately in love. This is not like him at all. However, there is no indication there was any kind of mind-control, even unconsciously, on Persephone's part. She talks like she's instantly in love with him too. It was just too unbelievable, even more so if you know Lethbridge-Stewart's character like most Who fans do.

There are some good parts to the book, though. With the exception of Lethbridge-Stewart falling in love so quickly, all of the main characters are tremendous. These two authors know their Third Doctor and friends, and it's like old home week. The Doctor is wonderfully arrogant but also kind-hearted. He's offended when he's mistaken for one of the pop stars that are coming to the festival. He's witty and I can almost hear Jon Pertwee's voice when he's thundering at the policeman who can't seem to realize that somebody cannot cut their own head off cleanly with a scythe. Deadly Reunion was a wonderfully cozy book on this front.

Unfortunately, as the book was drawing to a close, I couldn't see any way out of it but the obvious deus ex machina. Granted, this was what the Doctor was trying to do in the first place, so I guess it doesn't totally fit that expression. I was hoping, though, that he would fail and figure out some other way to defeat the menace. I was wrong. The ending is trite, and more importantly, doesn't even use the "love" that's between Persephone and the Brigadier. When you think about it, there's no point for the love story between them, as it's only responsible for setting the brigadier off on a macho military plan that he ultimately would have decided to do anyway, even without the love story. Why was this in there? There's no "Aha!! Lethbridge-Stewart! So we meet again!" confrontation between the Brigadier and Hades. They never even interact again! I was left shaking my head.

I've gone on longer than this book probably deserves. It's a bit of nostalgic fluff, and it won't amount to any more than that. Thankfully, it doesn't try to. It won't be of interest to anybody but a Who fan, as it's not well-written enough to attract anybody else. Even a Who fan will see all its flaws. The question will be: are you so much a fan of Dicks and the Third Doctor that you will overlook it? I'm glad I read it, but I won't be racing to read it again.

David Roy

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