The Shining Man

"Shining Men don't exist. They're just some silly urban legend that's got out of hand."

Writer: Cavan Scott
Format: Novel
Released: 20th April 2017
Series: NSA 58

Featuring: Twelfth Doctor, Bill

Synopsis

"Being scared is the least of your worries."

The Shining Men are everywhere. You spot them out of the corner of your eye. Abnormally tall, with long lank hair, blank faces and blazing eyes. If they catch you, they'll drag you away to who knows where. No one is safe. They're on every street corner. Waiting. Watching. Shining bright.

Of course it's a hoax. It has to be, right? It started as a joke, a prank for Halloween. Then it went viral. Idiots dressing up as monsters. Giving folks a scare. Silly masks and fright wigs. No one gets hurt. Because bogeymen aren't real.

Until people start going missing and lights burn in the darkness. Burning like eyes.

But help is on its way, in the form of a strange man called the Doctor and his friend, Bill. The Doctor will keep us safe. The Doctor will stop the monsters. Unless the monsters stop the Doctor first...

Verdict 

The Shining Man was a very good novel and it was great to be doing another format of story for the Twelfth Doctor and Bill. I have taken a little longer than I would have liked to start reading these novels but I think it is definitely beneficial to read them alongside the TV series and I do hope I can fit in the next two before the finale airs in a few weeks' time. This story was obviously set a little earlier than the current point of the tenth series but that didn't really have any bearing on the story other than a hidden reference to what might lay inside the vault. Cavan Scott penned a very good novel and I must say I did enjoy some of the references that he included, with some homage being paid to Hattie from DWC and also a lovely mention of The Soul Garden which is the ongoing DWM comic strip story. Little things like that which tie in the stories across all formats and ranges really does appeal to me and I was really glad to read it. I thought the setting of a few months into the future was good and that helped with keeping things present day whilst getting the story to be set at Halloween. The characterisation of Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor was superb throughout the book which was great and with very little to go on, I was also impressed with how well Pearl Mackie's likeness as Bill was captured. There were some nice mentions of The Pilot, Smile and The Library of Alexandria and I thought that the relationship between the Doctor and Bill was very reminiscent with what we have seen on screen in the run thus far. The concept of the Shining Man craze was good and I liked the ambiguity over whether it could be real or if it was just people dressing up in costumes. It had gone viral and the way the story dealt with modern day technology and social media was excellent. I thought Charlotte was a terrific character and I was actually quite disappointed that she seemed to just disappear after the halfway point. PC Schofield was probably the best of the guest characters in this story and I really liked how quickly she came to believe the impossible because of the Doctor. She didn't want to believe any of what the Doctor was telling her throughout the story but she just couldn't help but find herself agreeing with him. That's a great quality that the Doctor has. Noah and Masie were great characters too and the sibling argument they had after Sammy, their mother, disappeared was quite emotional. Hilary was quite comical in moments stepping in as she would being their grandmother. The story dealt with goblins and boggarts in a very intriguing way and I really liked how we saw the Doctor and Schofield go to the Invisible. It was a place where the rules were different and it was very different to what we are used to. Even the Doctor was affected by the strange surroundings despite his assurances. The protection the sonic sunglasses provided was good but I must admit I was questioning things when trees were fighting each other. The battle between the Woodling and the Three was a little strange and I'm still not too sure what it accomplished. The way the Doctor worked out the resolution and how to free Sammy and return the Lost to the Fae was good and I liked how he told a fairy story whilst enacting his plan. It all seemed to make good sense but I can't help but feel it could have been a tad more exciting. Their was danger but I was just looking for a little more in the resolution. As a whole though, it was a very good novel and I was delighted to be reading a Doctor Who book once again!

Rating: 8/10