The novel “The Deviant Strain” by Justin Richards was published for the first time in 2005.

A distress call is picked up by the Tardis and when the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler come to check the Doctor says it’s OK because someone answered. Captain Jack Harkness admits he was the one who answered so the travelers have to go to the signal’s origin, on Earth at the beginning of the 21st century.

The Tardis takes the travelers to the Novrosk peninsula, where there’s an old Soviet naval base, now abandoned. When the Russian special forces arrive, it’s clear that something serious has happened and Colonel Levin who heads the operation explains that a body in really poor conditions was found in the circle of stones existing in the area. Who or what reduced him like that?

“The Deviant Strain” is part of a series of novels connected to the new “Doctor Who” series. They’re targeted to a wide audience by being linear enough to be appreciated even by very young readers but sophisticated enough to interest more mature readers.

This novel is set during the first season of the new “Doctor Who” series, after the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler met Captain Jack Harkness and he started traveling with them. For those who read it years after watching the TV episodes and possibly after watching “Torchwood” as well it’s important to remember that at that time Jack is still a mortal.

The kind of story told in “The Deviant Strain” is pretty standard, meaning that the protagonists arrive to a remote town that just survives after the closure of the nearby Soviet naval base and discover that something strange is going on. A mysterious death is attributed by some locals to Vourdulak, a kind of vampire and some authorities considered it necessary to send Russian special forces to investigate.

Thanks to the psychic paper, the presence of the Doctor and his companions is accepted by the military and together they sgtart investigating the strange death. The story is a sort of science fiction thriller in which many secrets are slowly revealed but at the same time the people involved in the investigation and the local residents constantly risk their lives.

The atmosphere loaded with a constant sense of threat is in my opinion the best part of “The Deviant Strain”. It’s a story with plenty of action that often sees the characters try to save their own lives. In these cases we already know that the protagonists will survive but anything can happen to to others and sometimes this gives some thrills. The effective description of the post USSR setting with a small town in decline after the closure of the local naval base helps the reader to feel the tension.

Unfortunately, “The Deviant Strain” doesn’t work very in the protagonists’ characterization, which is rather flat. In particular, Captain Jack Harkness is a character who on TV is really sparkling so his flatness in the novel is even more disappointing for the contrast.

For other characters Justin Richards uses some cliches such as that of the Russians who always drink vodka but in that case it’s understandable that the novel’s length limits require the use of these “tricks”. The real problem is with the protagonists and it’s a shame because I think “The Deviant Strain” had a good potential, even if the story isn’t exactly original.

The result is a novel that in my opinion works primarily as a science fiction thriller. Paradoxically, because of its characteristics fans of this subgenre might like it more that readers interested in a good “Doctor Who” novel. In the end, I could recommend it more than anything else to the saga fans who want to have the complete collection of books related to it.