Option Lock by: Justin Richards

Justin Richards is one of those authors who got their start once Doctor Who was taken off the air and never really went away.  His first novel, Theatre of War, was published as a Virgin New Adventure in 1994, and his most recent work for Doctor Who was just last year with Jago & Litefoot Forever.  Whenever coming across a Richards story, the general fan consensus is that it will be a traditional Doctor Who story, and his first novel for the BBC Books range, Option Lock, is no exception to that.  Option Lock has a plot which is pretty standard Doctor Who: the Doctor and Sam arrive on present day Earth and get embroiled in an alien plot which could lead to the end of the world.  The cover of the novel is incredibly striking, showing the hand of a Khamerian on top of a nuclear explosion.  The contrasting red and yellows of the cover gives the reader a distinct impression that this novel is going to be one about the dangers of war and the potential of nuclear holocaust.  Indeed, Option Lock plays out in part more like a Cold War era thriller, yet within the traditional trappings of a Doctor Who story.  The first third of the story plays out as the Doctor and Sam are investigating mysterious goings on at the estate of Norton Silver where there is alien fauna and strange goings on.  It eventually is revealed that Silver is dealing with aliens who wish to cause a nuclear holocaust to take over the world.  There are shenanigans with an experimental doomsday weapon/space station called Station Nine, and much of the book focuses on American politics as there is a Cold War in full swing and using Station Nine becomes a last resort to potentially save/destroy the world.



Richards’ conclusion to the novel is perhaps the weakest element of the story as it feels Richards was working with a limited 275 page count.  This would not have been the same had this been a Virgin Book which would allow longer novels whenever it was required, the BBC Books generally enforced a strict page limit and word count of approximately 280 pages so it feels around page 260 Richards realized he was too close to the end so quickly wrapped things up.  The alien threat also feels tacked on to the novel as a way to keep the Doctor and Sam there when the conspiracy of Station Nine and the Silver family should have been enough.  Luckily Richards makes much of the book enjoyable with his characterizations of the Doctor and Sam.  Sam Jones spends much of the book having a romance with Colonel William Pickering, who could easily have become a companion.  Richards portrays Sam with quite a few of her edges sanded down to make her more palatable to the audience.  The romance helps greatly as it gives Sam a chance to feel more like a human being than a bland cipher for the audience to project themselves on.  Pickering also works well as a foil for Sam as they build a relationship on mutual respect for one another and mutual academic curiosity as they spend time on the Silver estate.  Richards portrays the Eighth Doctor perhaps the closest to his TV Movie counterpart: he’s the hopeless romantic who gets involved wherever he can.  Perhaps there’s a bit too much of the Doctor being placed in the background, but it wasn’t a big notice when reading the novel.  Penelope and Norton Silver both work well as characters.  Penelope is a touch too much of a background character while Norton is the over the top villain revealed in a pretty predictable trope, but they work well.  Overall, Option Lock is one of those books that may be traditional Who, but it’s still some pretty good traditional Who.  8/10.