A Doctor Who Novel with not only Twelve and Clara, but Vastra, Jenny, and Strax? What current Who fan could turn that down? Well, not this one. This is not my first Doctor Who novel, it is not even my first staring the Twelfth Doctor. See my review of Doctor Who: The Blood Cell.  Now we come to Doctor Who: Silhouette by Justin Richards. This is another one of three Twelfth Doctor books that were released on September 9^th by Broadway books. This time around I am a bit more familiar with the latest regeneration, having seen a couple more episodes since I read the last story. As I have said in my last Doctor Who review, I hope anyone reading this already knows of the show. Other books are not necessary, but without knowing the current incarnation of the show, you will be a bit at a loss. I will not recap the characters or concepts from the show here either, because if you are not a fan of the show, I just cannot see reading this book or going further in this review.

We begin the novel with three sets of main characters, in three settings, investigating three mysteries. Let us start with the most important character: The Doctor. When we first join the Doctor and Clara, they are heading for Victorian London to investigate a power spike that should not exist. Next we are brought into a seemingly impossible murder where Madame Vastra is called upon to investigate by the victim himself.  Jenny assists in the investigate, as is to be expected.  Strax has a new drinking buddy, one of the few humans he can stand without thoughts of obliterating them with scissor grenades. After a night at the pub, Strax’s new friend is found dead. Strax is now on a hunt for vengeance. Eventually The Doctor and Clara cross paths with Jenny at a carnival which seems to somehow connect their cases, and their investigations coincidentally intertwine. Strax’s quest is clearly connected as well (from the beginning I might add, really would not call this a spoiler), though it take a little longer for all parts to come together.

As I mentioned earlier, I do have a better feel for the Peter Capaldi’s Doctor now. I now feel a bit more confident in discussing other portrayals of him. I think Justin Richards really did a great job in capturing this, at the time of publication, still relatively underexposed character. Nobody really knew him at the time, but I think this novel held quite well to the personality that has been developing on screen. In the show, Twelve is quite detached from humanity now and has become a bit of a grumpy old many who rather thinks himself more charming and handsome than he is. He is quite often unintentionally (at least I think) rude and his quips with Clara always become almost innocently insulting, like when talking to a child with no real filter. Richards manages to convey this quite well in his writing of the Doctor. The other characters were very well written and were true to their live action counterparts. Strax, I think, was the most well done among them. If there was any hesitation about reading this and having these characters ruined or not brought over properly, you can forget them.

The other important factor in any Doctor Who adventure, be it a novel, an episode, or even radio production, is the villain. The main antagonist in Silhouette is very well done. Now, there are a few “badguys” in here I suppose. While any of them are good Doctor Who antagonists, especially lately, the main opponent here is really well suited to be an adversary of the Doctor. He is intelligent, difficult to figure out and even more difficult to counter. There is enough character development here to get a good feeling of who he is. There is a fair bit of exposition, but it is done well enough, and in conversation, that it feels quite natural.

Well, here comes the real question. How did I like the story? I have to say that I really did enjoy it. I did initially worry about it being too forced with the other characters, but it felt right. Perhaps there were a few too many coincidences and I thought the Doctor would normally jump on that, but maybe this is just to show a change in the current Doctor. I enjoyed the ending, but the resolution felt a bit expected to me. I have not gotten that impression from other reviewers though, so maybe it is just me. Taking all into account, I would give it 4/5. Very good story and use of well known and loved characters. An enjoyable read I would feel confident about recommending to any fan of New-Who. One final bit of not-quite spoileryness, there is a scene with some great references for fans who know not only the new series, but the classics as well. Enjoy!