Island of Death

"That was one of the things she liked about the Doctor. Arrogant at times, yes, but always honest."

Writer: Barry Letts

Format: Novel

Released: July 2005

Series: PDA 71

Featuring: Third Doctor, Sarah, Brigadier

Synopsis 

"He would learn nothing from the internal organs - and for a very good reason: there was nothing there. The dead girl's body was literally just skin and bone."

A New Age cult worships a hideous God - or is it a demon? - called the Skang. What possible connection can it have with the mysterious corpse on Hamstead Heath?

Sarah Jane Smith enlists the help of the Third Doctor and the Brigadier, and their investigations take them halfway across the world, to a remote island that has been turned into a paradise for the followers of the cult. 

But the island is not what it seems, and neither is the Skang itself; and the Doctor and his companions are faced with the task of saving not only its devotees but the whole of mankind from a loathsome death. 

Verdict 

Island of Death was a fantastic read for what is incredibly my first original novel to feature the Third Doctor! I'm way over 500 blog entries now but it's only with this story that it's my first. I've obviously read many Third Doctor Target novelisations by now so I'm more than comfortable with this incarnation in prose but just not at this extended length. I thought the characterisation of Jon Pertwee's Doctor was superb throughout and Barry Letts captured the mannerisms of the great actor magnificently. I liked how he made Sarah the focus of this story and although she wasn't narrating, most of the events seemed to be perceived from her point of view. That allowed the bickering that comes with the Third Doctor and the Brigadier to be just as delightful as it always was on screen. The relationship between that pair is wonderful and I love how angry the Doctor makes the Brigadier. He seems to do it unintentionally but I'm not always convinced. He surely knows what he's doing most of the time and I noticed that in prose that feeling came across quite strongly. The characterisation of the Brigadier I imagined as actually being quite difficult but Nicholas Courtney was captured marvellously. The dialogue was absolutely spot on and I loved the humour of seeing what the Brigadier would be like high! That ability of the Skang was intriguing but it was certainly effective. They could show you absolute paradise and euphoria when actually what was there was nothing more than mediocre at best. I thought the journey to Stella Island was very good and I liked the events that came with the lengthy trek in having Alex on board. He'd been given an excision and was stuck in pure human form. Of course, at this point the truth about the Skang had only been hinted at but I liked the anger he vehemently ventilated. He was distraught at the punishment handed out by Mother Hilda but by boarding the Hallaton and directing the crew to the location, he would have a second chance. Redemption was definitely on his mind but he got more than that. His plan worked brilliantly as he actually deposed Mother Hilda! Only hours after being accepted back as a Skang, he was now their leader! The way he positioned himself was very clever and his allegiance with Brother Dafydd worked a treat. There were a lot of interesting relationships in the story. Jeremy took quite a fancying to Emma and he thought he could see himself marrying her until she jumped ahead of him in the queue and became the first victim of the Skang massacre. Thankfully, it was a full scale massacre that never came. Humans having two-thirds water inside our body was actually a main reason for the Skang deeming the human race a failure. The descending of the Great Skang wasn't as impressive as it could have been but it was still a good moment. I was intrigued by Sarah's thoughts about Sammy whom she obviously had a love interest in! Another thing that shocked me was the Doctor using the word orgasm. I've not got a problem with that at all as the use of it was just brilliant. He was trying so hard to rile Mother Hilda but it was to no effect. She stood firm. Her explanation of the Skang becoming almost fused with the human personality they took over was a very interesting concept of species. They had a whole togetherness about them but by planning on taking over the human race they would take on all kinds of different personalities. The plot played out very well and I enjoyed the pace a lot. The climax was quite fortuitous for the Doctor in that the TARDIS had humorously not brought them to Bombay but the piece he was repairing actually sent each Skang into a completely different time loop. After the horrific death of Emma, the Doctor found the resolution. Overall, a fantastic novel. 

Rating: 9/10