The Shining Man

I enjoy reading the Doctor Who tie-in books. Many are of high quality but I think this is probably the best of the many I've read over the last twelve years.

The Shining Men are everywhere, scaring children on street corners with their long hair, blank faces and shining eyes. But surely it's just a hoax, idiots dressing up for fun. Except people are going missing and the link is the shining men. Cue the arrival of the Doctor and Bill.

Clearly the idea of the shining men came from the real world 'killer clown' craze. There's plenty about the police dealing with idiots dressed up and the fear caused by them. Mostly though this book imagines what it would be like if the creepy things were actually terrifying killers rather than people dressed up.

In terms of Doctor Who continuity this book is set after the first three episode of Series 10 (The Pilot, Smile and Thin Ice). There's also lots of references to things discussed and shown in the Torchwood episode 'Small Worlds'. I think it really adds something if you've seen that episode.

If you know said episode, you'll know it's about fairies. Indeed this book explores the idea of fairies in some depth, using some scientific Doctor-technobabble to explain some of it but still essentially being something from fantasy. Actually this has very few Doctor Who elements to it other than the Doctor and Bill being present and as well characterised as they are they don't do much. The Doctor is largely used as the character to explain the idea of fairies.

This had everything I wanted from a Doctor Who book. A good sci-fi/fantasy idea, warmth, humour, drama and a portion too ambitious to have appeared on TV. If you are enjoying Series 10 of Doctor Who and want some more, this is the place to head.