Doctor Who - Plague City

The second Doctor Who book featuring Bill Potts as his companion was even better than the first!  Author Jonathan Morris truly captured both Bill and Nardole (although, admittedly, I'm not a fan of Nardole - never really saw any purpose for him in this last season with Peter Capaldi), although at times, I think Morris' Doctor was a bit harsh.

Plague City returns the Doctor and his companions to Earth, albeit in the 17th century. And, wouldn't you know it, but they arrive right in the middle of the plague, which is taking lives left and right.  But something is amiss (as is often the case when the Doctor is involved) - there's a Night Doctor who pays a visit to those houses where someone is dying.  A dark, mysterious stranger in a black cloak and hat, wearing a bird mask with an elongated beak.  But who is he, and what makes the Doctor think there's more to his nightly counterpart than there appears?

It's a good, ol' fashioned Doctor Who tale as the Doctor and his companions stumble upon some strange goings-on that are somehow the result of an alien presence.  Edinburgh is suffering the affects of a horrific plague, and it seems anyone who is visited by the mysterious Night Doctor is doomed to die.  But for one family - Thomas and Isobel - their daughter was not only visited by the Night Doctor, but the next night, she was taken away by him, never to be seen again.

Until her ghost appeared ... along with the ghosts of everyone else who had died from the plague in this small Scotland community.  But the Doctor knows better.  He knows these astral projections are not ghosts.  They are a sign of something far more insidious, and with the help of Bill and Nardole, he's going to get to the bottom of it - ultimately offering his help to the alien presence that has been trapped under the small town since the Ice Age.  But there are grief-leeches that seem determined to stop him - for if the Doctor puts an end to the death, it will put an end to the grief, and they will not have anything left to feed on!

A perfectly-paced story that easily reads like I was watching an episode of Doctor Who.  There are support characters who are quickly likable (on, in a couple of instances, not-so-likable), and as the Doctor begins to put his plan into action to end the alien menace of the grief-leeches, clues spread throughout the book suddenly begin to make more sense, and I found myself smiling and saying, "A-ha!" a few times.  Morris expertly ties everything together, even placing some time-travel moments that are very reminiscent of things like "Bad Wolf" of the early seasons, or the election of season three.

It is truly a shame that Bill Potts will not be returning for the next season of Doctor Who, as it pretty much confirms that these three books (Diamond Dogs, The Shining Man, and this one) will be the only ones with her as a companion.  Although Donna Noble has managed to come back in some books and audio stories, so perhaps we will see more of Bill yet!  I hope so!

RATING:  10 flagons of cloudy brown ale out of 10 for perfectly executing a time-travel story that throws in some timey-wimey twists to surprise the reader!