After a creepy prologue, the tale begins with the time travellers already entangled with archaeological excavations, having wandered into the field of a rock-clearing explosion. Flashbacks reveals tell us how they came to arrive on the satellite and locates the story in time. Tegan has just returned to the TARDIS after the events of ‘Arc of Infinity’ and for all concerned the death of Adric is still raw.
Although presenting as archaeologists, the humans here soon turn out to have a far less noble purpose. They are prospecting for a rare mineral called Lexium, using the dig as a cover story to map and claim their find before a big corporation can. We meet a few colourful characters among the miners; Jyl Stoker is their cigar smoking leader, driven and fiercely loyal to her men, and the gentle giant Bunny Cheung is her right hand man.
Also among their number is an alien from the same race of mining experts as the ill-fated Vega Nexos from ‘The Curse of Peladon’. Sensitive to the earth, Vega Jaal senses a presence in the darkness of the moon and he warns of impending disaster if they do not leave.
Jaal is not alone in his fears as both Nyssa and the Doctor are susceptible to this presence too. Soon, when miners start to disappear and their bodies are discovered drained of blood, they realise the brooding presence is far more of a threat than just a provoker of nightmares.
When the situation becomes desperate, a mayday elicits the help of a Consortium ship, but its arrival brings complications on more than one level. As well as the threat to the mining rights, we discover a awkward personal history between its Captain and Stoker.
Atmospheric and quite horrific at times, Trevor Baxendale’s story puts this TARDIS crew through the wringer like never before. In the forward to this edition the author enthuses about Davison’s Doctor, the human hero who stood toe to toe with all manner of inhumanity during his tenure.
His stated aim was to push the Doctor to his limits and he does this with aplomb, allowing the enemy to impair the Time Lord’s judgement and providing seemingly insurmountable odds. Despite this, the story’s resolution is no cheat and all the pieces lay in plain sight beforehand.
When reading this novel in 2013, it is easy to draw similarities between it and the 2006 television story ‘The Impossible Planet’/‘The Satan Pit’. The original publication of ‘Fear of the Dark’ predates that tale by three years, but with some familiar themes its fair to say if you enjoyed that, you will surely love this – although you might want to read it with the light on!
Published on Thursday 7 March 2013 by BBC Books.
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