An original Doctor Who novel, telling an all new story not done before in any other medium.
It runs for two hundred and forty seven pages, and is divided into nineteen chapters plus a prologue.
It's suitable for readers of all ages.
It features the Tenth Doctor, travelling on his own with no companion. And his dialogue is well written and you can imagine David Tennant saying the lines quite easily.
It is a somewhat restrained and moody version of the Doctor, though, the narrative allowing no chance for any humour or witticisms.
The story sees him visiting a spaceport which is supposed to be a fantastic new operation, but which is running into a lot of teething troubles [obvious parallels with the latest terminal at Heathrow, which was going through similar when this came out]. The Doctor finds himself caught up in the middle of a mob war.
Also in town are ruthless alien law enforcers the Judoon. On the track of an assassin.
And a young private detective is trying to find her missing father.
Many diverse people's lives are about to cross, and some will never be the same again as a result...
This one does hit the ground running, and manage to slightly confound some expectations the prologue may give you. There's a rich cast of characters who are well written, and the plot does allow for them to all grow and change very nicely over the course of the story.
About midway through you might start to wonder where it's going but things do turn out to be very well worked out, with some decent surprises in the final third.
The Doctor may not have as much to do as some might like, because the other supporting characters have a great share of the action as well, but that's the only minor complaint about a book that's a good read and an above average entry in this range.