Title: Doctor Who: Judgement of the Judoon
Author: Colin Brake
Genre: Science fiction/ mystery
Format: Hardcover, E-book, or audiobook
Rating: 3.75 Stars
I picked this book up with a stack of other Doctor Who books at Half Price Books. The Doctor Who novels are one of my guilty pleasures, because I love the tv series. (Classic and new! I’m in the middle of watching a first-doctor story called The Space Museum right now.)
This one is a tenth-doctor story, so we get to picture David Tennant’s lovely face, scruffy hair, and billowing coat while reading. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on your point of view) The Doctor is without a companion for this novel. No Rose, no Martha, no Donna... you get the point. But he does run into a lovely lady named Nikki, who’s running her dad’s detective agency in his abscence. Nikki reminds me of Arianne Chavasse, Audrey Hepburn’s character from Love in the Afternoon.
As a rule, Doctor Who is science fiction, but this book wanders pretty far over into the mystery genre. That’s fine by me, but it may put off some fans. The Doctor is tasked with solving the problems that have been going on at recently-opened Terminal 13 on the planet of New Memphis. He has to find the mysterious Invisible Assassin, find a key to a luggage locker, etc. At one point there are bombs to be dismantled. Basic stuff, but still gripping. Colin Brake writes The Doctor well, and this story could easily be a real tenth-doctor episode. His portrayal of Judoon Captain Rok-Ma seems a little out of character, but that turns out to be part of one of the “lessons” The Doctor has to learn in this story: don’t pre-judge people based on their race (or in this case, species.) Don’t worry, the lesson aspect of the story isn’t too heavy-handed. I was left hoping that Nikki and Rok-Ma would get together, which shows that Brake’s original characters had as much life in them as his Doctor.
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