Product Description

The Novrosk Peninsula: the Soviet naval base has been abandoned, the nuclear submarines are rusting and rotting. Cold, isolated, forgotten. Until the Russian Special Forces arrive and discover that the Doctor and his companions are here too. But there is something else in Novrosk. Something that predates even the stone circle on the cliff top. Something that is at last waking, hunting, killing. Can the Doctor and his friends stay alive long enough to learn the truth? With time running out, they must discover who is really responsible for the Deviant Strain...Featuring the Doctor as played by Christopher Eccleston, together with Rose and Captain Jack as played by Billie Piper and John Barrowman in the hit series from BBC Television.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #131746 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

About the Author
Justin Richards is the Creative Consultant for the BBC’s range of Doctor Who books, and has written a fair few of them himself. As well as writing for stage, screen and audio, he is also the author of The Invisible Detective and Time Runners series of novels for children, and Agent Alfie for younger readers.

As well as collaborating with thriller writer Jack Higgins, he writes standalone novels for older children including The Death Collector, The Chaos Code, and The Parliament of Blood.

Justin lives in Warwick, with his wife, two children and a nice view of the castle.

Customer Reviews

Light and Breezy
This is my first dip into the Ninth Doctor books and it feels very much more like a TV tie in than the books we had while the series wasnt on TV. The books seem to have gone for a vaguely novella style as while the page count is the norm the font is quite large. Justin Richards has gone for a fairly action orientated book which means as soon as the location and characters are introduced its straight into the action.

An alien SOS signal draws the TARDIS to an isolated village and naval base in Russia. Mysterious deaths have occurred which have drawn the attention of the military who join up with The Doctor and co. The tension is soon raised as the obligatory monsters arrive resulting in more deaths as the bodycount rises. The problems of the book arrive as we get into the second half as it tends to get samey as characters are chased by 'blobs' for the most part. But if you plough through the second half in a single sitting this isnt much of a problem.

This is my first taste of this Doctor in print and this medium suits him well. The lonely survivor of the time war who doesn't let people get close to him fits in well amoungst the isolated community and scientists. Rose is shown to be quite brave and a good amount of action and characterisation however Capatain Jack stands out the most. He's given a good bit of depth considering his character is 90% actors charisma. He manages to hold the majority of the action when The Doctor gets on with investigating.

To sum up its a fairly light book that you'll whizz through in a few sittings. Nice characterisation and a good bit of action, although it does get samey. I'd have preferred a bit more oomph and bite which would have raised the book above 'standard'. Although as it reads it is a good solid little read.

A spooky adventure in Modern Russia for the TARDIS Crew...
The Deviant Strain, while not in my opinon the best of the current series of books, nevertheless provides a top read for fans of the new series, with perhaps the best balancing of the trio usage. Top form here is the newbie Jack, who demonstates brilliantly the changes that are turning him from the ruggish rogue of 'The Empty Child' to the heroic soldier of 'Parting of the Ways'.

The secondary characters are also made by Richards to be entertaining and also somewhat creepy, excellently capturing the mood he is trying to establish - this is a darker tale, yet feels completely different to any of the episodes that have gone before, mainly due to the perfect choice to have an adventure set outside London in the present day.

While this isn't quite as good as his first book for the Ninth Doctor, Justin Richards still manages to create a spooky atmosphere fitting of such a tale, complete with some shocking twists. If 'The Unquiet Dead' was your favourite episode in the new series, you'll be right at home with this.

Competent but formulaic
The fourth 9th Doctor novel finds the Doctor, Rose and Jack battling alien 'blobs' in an abandoned Russian submarine base. The setting is reasonably interesting, with the Russian military taking the more familiar UNIT role, and Richards keeps the plot moving quickly, but this is a rather generic Doctor Who story, replicating many of the standard scenarios from the old series (and with a story concerned with a crashed alien spaceship, alien matter taking over various humans, and an isolated snowy setting there's more than a whiff of John Carpenter's The Thing about it). The Deviant Strain is competently written, but a very formulaic 'traditional' Who adventure. Younger readers, and those new to Doctor Who will love it, but long-term fans will find this a little too familiar...