The Seventh Doctor and Ace get caught up in RELATIVE DEMENTIAS.
© 2002 BBC Books

Mania Grade: A-
Author: Mark Michalowski
Publisher: BBC Books
Price: $6.95
Pages: 277
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DOCTOR WHO: RELATIVE DEMENTIAS

The Doctor receives a postcard from an old friend at UNIT who's worried about strange goings-on at the Alzheimers care facility where her mother is being treated. There's also something else the Doctor refuses to tell Ace about, and it's putting a strain on their friendship. But when they arrive in Scotland to find the Doctor's friend has vanished - along with most of the local cats, dogs, and livestock - they realize the "strange goings-on" have nothing to do with poor health care. Worse, when the patients start regaining their memories, it's not visions of afternoon tea and holidays by the seaside that are coming back...

It's comforting to know that good Seventh Doctor-Ace novels aren't a thing of the past, and even more so that there's still life in a Doctor-companion combo that seemed nearly done to death by the Virgin NEW ADVENTURES novels of the 1990s. Mark Michalowski's first novel RELATIVE DEMENTIAS proves both. True, it doesn't completely escape the specter of the NAs - the Doctor here isn't too far from the character we grew used to in those novels, and the clever "get out of jail free card" plot device had been used in at least one NA - but relatively few other BBC books have done the Seventh Doctor and Ace as much justice as this one does, and few have given the best of the NAs such a complete run for their money.

For one thing, Michalowski captures the tone of the "Season 27" Doctor-Ace relationship perfectly. Their friendship is an uneasy one at best, with Ace constantly feeling like she's not being told everything she needs to know (she's right, of course); and the Doctor has to deal with a young woman who's mature enough to handle herself, who can do more than simply blow up things and shout "wicked!" every few pages, and who can even outfox the sly old fox himself. That "outfoxing" provides one of the best surprises in the entire novel and one of the most intricately planned plot devices since Jonathan Morris's FESTIVAL OF DEATH - it's only by rereading the first thirty pages or so after finishing the novel that you realize just how beautifully it's put together. The rest of the book is just as well plotted and contains just as many surprises. I'd say more, but the joy is in the reading. Be warned: you'll get very pleasantly confused about two-thirds of the way in, but you'll enjoy every moment of it.

The other joys here are the creepy sense of atmosphere with which Michalowski manages to infuse the story - the Orkneys, for instance, haven't been this creepy since Mary Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN, echoes of which resonate throughout this novel. Also, the well-realized secondary characters, such as Dr. Joyce Brunner, her son Michael, and even the hilariously-named Mary Christmas, manage to do what few such characters can in a DOCTOR WHO novel: they hold our attention even when the Doctor and/or Ace is not "on stage." Brunner in particular is someone we'd like to see more of someday - perhaps Michalowski might be persuaded to bring her back in a Third Doctor story? He's certainly shown he can handle the old "alien menaces in rural England" trope, and she's a far more interesting companion-type character than Liz Shaw.

There are one or two bits that don't work quite as well - the seemingly groundless initial flirtation between Ace and Michael, for one, or his sudden and never-before-seen infatuation with barmaid Claire later in the story for another - but the pacing of the novel is such that these feel more like worn-down speed bumps than outright obstacles. But in every other way, RELATIVE DEMENTIAS feels like an event: not only the introduction of a talented new writer to the BBC range, but a major stepping stone in the ever-rocky relationship of the Seventh Doctor and Ace, and one of the best Past Doctor Adventures this year.

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