mass market paperback, 288 pages
English language
Published July 28, 1998 by BBC Books.
Immediately after the events of the TV film, the Eighth Doctor finishes reading The Time Machine (a book written by his old friend H. G. Wells). After checking the Eye of Harmony in his TARDIS, he falls prey to a final trap set by his old enemy, the Master; which erases all of his memory. The only fact he knows for certain is that his name is "the Doctor" – but Doctor who? His instincts tell him to "trust the TARDIS", which immediately lands.
He lands at a scrapyard at 76 Totters Lane, London in 1997. There, he encounters Sam Jones, a young lady that is being accused by local drug dealers, led by Baz Bailey, of "grassing" them over to the police. The dealers intend to force Sam into taking drugs to get her addicted, but the Doctor saves her and falls foul of the local police who promptly …
Immediately after the events of the TV film, the Eighth Doctor finishes reading The Time Machine (a book written by his old friend H. G. Wells). After checking the Eye of Harmony in his TARDIS, he falls prey to a final trap set by his old enemy, the Master; which erases all of his memory. The only fact he knows for certain is that his name is "the Doctor" – but Doctor who? His instincts tell him to "trust the TARDIS", which immediately lands.
He lands at a scrapyard at 76 Totters Lane, London in 1997. There, he encounters Sam Jones, a young lady that is being accused by local drug dealers, led by Baz Bailey, of "grassing" them over to the police. The dealers intend to force Sam into taking drugs to get her addicted, but the Doctor saves her and falls foul of the local police who promptly charge him with possession and selling the cocaine he has confiscated from the thugs. Sam tells her two teachers, who have noticed her lateness, and takes them back to the junkyard to verify the story. In the confusion of Bailey's desperate attack on the local police station, the Doctor escapes and runs back into the TARDIS and it dematerialises – taking the cocaine with him to dispose of it safely. This leaves Sam alone, defenceless against the knife-wielding druggies.
A very good introduction to the 8th Doctor. Seemed a bit disjointed a points but it was very nice to have some of my classic favorites in the story.
A reasonably interesting easy read. It's not by any stretch of imagination the greatest book in the world, nor indeed is the subset of Doctor Who books but as an introduction to the ongoing 8th Dr. stories it works well.
There are two disappointing areas for me during the read. Firstly the 8th Doctor comes across as unnecessarily violent on a number of characters which doesn't sit well with the now established character trait.
Secondly the 7th Doctors contribution to the story is neglected, and almost tacked on.
Read or miss? As an introduction I'm going with 'Read'.
