The novel “Judgement of the Judoon” by Colin Brake was published for the first time in 2009.
A Judoon squadron approaches the space freighter Tintin searching for the Invisible Assassin. The fugitive is not on board and the Judoon leave the spaceship half destroyed after having searched it so thoroughly that it’s been seriously damaged. The Tenth Doctor picks up Tintin’s request for help and when he finds out what happened he decides it’s time for someone to say something to the Judoon and follow them.
Arriving on the planet New Memphis, the Doctor materializes the Tardis in the Elvis the King spaceport, where a terminal is having a series of problems. When the Judoon arrive at the spaceport, other crimes are discovered and the coincidence leads the Doctor to suspect that everything’s connected. He manages to convince the Judoon Commander to start a discreet investigation together but the two of them will also have to face local gangsters. Meanwhile, young detective Nikki is engaged in an investigation that appears to be separate.
“Judgement of the Judoon” 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 in the final period of the Tenth Doctor era, of which only pieces were shown between the fourth and fifth seasons of the new television series, when the Doctor travels alone.
The Judoon appeared in the new “Doctor Who” television series on various occasions and once in an episode of “The Sarah Jane Adventures,”. They preform their work thoroughly and brutally and an example of this style is shown at the beginning of the novel. In their TV appearances they’re not exactly communicative but this would have been an impediment in a story in which one of them has to work with the Doctor. For this reason, the Judoon Commander uses a translator to communicate seamlessly with others on New Memphis.
In “Judgment of the Judoon”, the Judoon Commander ends up being a temporary companion for the Doctor. Together, this unlikely couple investigate some crimes that could be connected in a city where powerful criminal gangs operate, giving the novel some hard-boiled flavor. Their investigation intersects with that of young Nikki, who ends up assisting them by adding her personal story that includes her relationship with her father, another theme of the novel.
The plot tends to be convoluted with a series of events connected in various ways to the clashes between gangsters for the control over the city’s criminal activities. There are many characters that come and go and only a few are developed beyond some clichés, in particular the Judoon Commander, while Nikki is basically the local Veronica Mars. One of the messages of the novel is that we need to go beyond appearances but in some cases the fact that the characters are not what they seem is meant in a negative way.
In many moments I had the impression that the Doctor was a spectator in the whole affair or at least a sort of catalyst that brings together the characters who do most of the work. He has his role in the plot but compared to other novels he seems less a in the spotlight. Colin Brake included many typical expressions of the Tenth Doctor, almost trying to compensate for a role less marked than normal.
Overall, “Judgment of the Judoon” is in my opinion a novel with a dynamic between the Doctor and the Judoon Commander without any particular surprises and even as a hard-boiled mystery is developed with some twists but nothing memorable. It still seemed enjoyable to me, more for some moments than for the story as a whole so I recommend it to readers who want the complete collection of this series of “Doctor Who” books.
