System Shock

"We're dicing with death on the information superhighway to hell."

Writer: Justin Richards

Format: Novel

Released: June 1995

Series: Missing Adventures 11

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane, Harry

Synopsis 

A rebellion on another planet. A kidnapping in central London. The head of MI5 assassinated. A hostage siege suddenly and violently ended by the SAS. A computer CD slipped into the Fourth Doctor's pocked by a dead man...

It's 1998, and the global information superhighway is about to come on line. OffNet controls everything digital from cars to sliding doors, from interactive television to military command and control systems.

The Doctor and Sarah met join forces with an old friend in a race against time: to prevent the breakdown of technological society and foil an unconventional alien takeover bid.

Verdict  

System Shock was a very strong read! I thoroughly enjoyed this and it was a brilliant companion to have on an insane travel schedule to Turkey to watch my beloved Wales suffer another defeat. But enough  about football, the nature of the train trip from the Welsh valleys to Stansted meant that I nearly completed the entire thing in one sitting! It was terrific stuff but also very intriguing coming from the perspective of reading in 2023 with the slightly outdated technology now. Having Sarah Jane visit her near future was really strong to have her tackling technology that she was somewhat familiar with, but recent advancements meant she was rather clueless. Technology was advancing at a very quick pace and for Sarah jumping to 1998 was a bit of a step too far. The Doctor also had a battle with technology throughout which was fun stuff as he literally went through a love-hate relationship with it. That provided some humour as his mood on it changed quickly and frequently. What I wasn’t expecting from the story was the return of Harry Sullivan! That was a delightful treat and so well done as he emerged working for MI5 and certainly able to vouch for the Doctor’s UNIT credentials. It was so lovely to encounter him shortly after the Doctor and Sarah last did so in The Android Invasion from their perspective, but it had been two decades for Harry! That was a fun dynamic and it was nice that the final page ended with Harry meeting up with the older Sarah Jane of 1998 too. For her some considerable time had passed since the Voracian threat. That threat was fantastic and I thought they were a really fascinating enemy. They weren’t too dislike from the Cybermen in terms of their ideology and logical beliefs, but the distain they had for organics was excellent. The way they even despised the notion of a drink and having to bodily functions like using the toilet was very unique. So the revelation when it turned out they were trying to add organic parts to their own components was a big surprise! I liked the idea of Voractyll very much with him being essentially a sentient virus that was very close to gaining control of Hubway, and that meant control of basically everything electronic. Train signals, traffic lights and even everyday household items were threatened and the scale of the potential disaster looming was superb. I liked the descriptions of the Voracian appearance with the mechanical nature behind the horrible flesh and the brutal way in which Sarah Jane took out Johanna with the pen at the end through the eye and destroying her systems causing her head to blow off was gory to say the least. I loved the discussions the Doctor had with Voractyll on the CD as it tried to tackle with logic and the place of organics as slaves to them. The Doctor challenging it on reason, freedom and why organics were superior was terrific. I liked that he got the upper hand by explaining how organics had original thought to mark himself a genius. The internal power struggle amongst the Voracians was something that fascinated me with Stabfield the subject of being ousted by Lewis. All for a 3-5% chance of improving the outcome? That didn’t really seem warranted and was the major element of the book I didn’t enjoy. It didn’t impact my enjoyment too much as my rating reflects, but it just didn’t make too much sense to me. Both characters were really good and shared different but strong relationships with Johanna, and the moment that she made the nod that resulted in Lewis being killed when he thought he was overthrowing Stabfield was brutally good. They were such a good trio though to complement Hanson very nicely. He seemed to hang along a little too long at the end, but it was good for the Doctor to be introducing his own Voractyll CD with a few tweaks that would repair the damage done to Hubway by the original. The Doctor always felt in the upper hand which is extraordinary to say given that Sarah Jane was held hostage, but the moment he was hiding in the toilets was terrific! Fourth Doctor characterisation at its best. Overall, I thought this was a really solid book with a fitting end if not lingering. 

Rating: 8/10