Publisher's summary
It is London, 1894. Amid the fog, cold and degradation, a gruesome business is being conducted. The bodies of the dead are being stolen from their graves - men, women and children alike - for the sinister purpose of a very mysterious gentleman.
When the Doctor and Sam arrive, they are witness to a horrifying scene in the evil-smelling fog: something rises up from the filthy waters of the Thames and devours a man - a man terrified for his life and on the run from the devil himself...
Teaming up with an old friend, pathologist Professor George Litefoot, the Doctor is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. Together with Sam, they discover there is a far graver threat facing London then just earthly grave robbers. Deadly alien beings the Doctor has encountered before are at work, and they bring a whole new twist to the word bodysnatchers...
Characters
- The Doctor
- Samantha Jones
- Is still 17.
- Sees a baby with only its spine attached (the rest chewed away by a Skarasesn) and goes and throws up down an alley.
- Professor George Litefoot
- Is almost 60 years old.
- Is still good friends with Henry Gordon Jago.
- Lives at 4 Ranskill Gardens
- Albert Rudge
- Balaak
- Emmaline Seers
- Jack Howe
- Nathaniel Seers
- Tom Donahue
- Tuval
References
- Sam's room in the TARDIS used to be Nyssa's.
- The Xaranti are the enemies that wiped out the Zygons.
- Zygons are from the planet Zygor.
- The Doctor eats some gumblejack fish fritters.
- Emmeline wears one of Leela's outfits that Lightfoot kept from her visit.
- Skarasens provide milk for the Zygons, baby Skarasens are about 30 - 40 feet long.
- The Zygons destroy the sonic screwdriver.
- The Doctor and Sam use Daxmoil suits to protect themselves in the Thames as they escape from the Zygon ship.
Continuity
- Litefoot first appeared in DW: The Talons of Weng-Chiang.
- The Zygons first appeared in DW: Terror of the Zygons
- The Xaranti appear in PDA: Deep Blue.
- The Doctor tells Litefoot that Leela is married with children (NA: Lungbarrow).
- In EDA: The Scarlet Empress Sam has a telepathic flashback to a scene that occurs just after the end of this novel (though before the Doctor re-meets Litefoot), it is possible that the scene never occured
- In the beginning of the story, The Doctor morosely evades Sam´s enquiry into the Jack Ripper's true identity. The reasons are for events that they occur in Matrix, in its previous incarnation.
Timeline
- This story takes place after EDA: Vampire Science
- This story takes place before EDA: Genocide